Fortunella

Fortunella is a 1958 Italian-French co-produced comedy directed by Eduardo De Filippo, from a screenplay team that included Federico Fellini and Ennio Flaiano. Giulietta Masina heads the cast, with Alberto Sordi, Guido Celano and De Filippo himself among the supporting players.

The story follows Nanda Diotallevi, nicknamed Fortunella, from Rome's secondhand-dealers quarter. To shield her lover Peppino, she confesses to a crime she did not commit, only to find on her release from prison that he lives with another woman. Her one consolation in poverty is the fantasy that she is the illegitimate daughter of Prince Guidobaldi, owner of the palace in her neighborhood. Meeting a traveling professor draws her into a theatre troupe and, finally, toward the truth. Nino Rota's score later resurfaced in La Dolce Vita and The Godfather; the resemblance famously cost his Godfather music its Academy Award nomination.