Mario –

Mario is from Puglia, in the heel of the Italian ‘boot,’ but has lived in Rome for the most of his life. Mario restores antiques at a shop with no name, just off the Campo de’ Fiori. He has worked there in this family business for nearly twenty five years. We also happened to see his father there, but he couldn’t hear us, so we conducted the interview with his son. This shop restores all types of antiques, from furniture, paintings, candelabras, chandeliers, antique hardware and lamps to name just a few. He showed us the tools he used to fix the antiques. Mario specializes in antiques from the 1700’s. Mario only had a few minutes to spare for us, but we enjoyed talking to him a great deal anyway.

Arnese: Tools

Settecento: 18^th century

Mobili: Furniture

Marco -

Marco was born in Rome, and has lived here for his whole life. For as long as Marco can remember, he has worked at this little video and DVD retail and rental store off the Campo de’ Fiori called “Hollywood.” He has quite an expansive collection of films, posters and other cinema paraphernalia. His favorite director is Pier Paolo Pasolini, who directed such films as “Mama Roma” and “Accattone.” He is a very stylized artistic director that is very well known in the independent film crowd. However, Marco was not surprised when we hadn’t heard of him because of his relative lack of commercial success. Marco’s favorite film is “A bout de soufflé,” a French film by the director Jean-Luc Godard. When asked whether he prefers Italian or American films, he said it depends, that while some Italian films are very beautiful, many are also very stupid. The same goes for the American films. When asked about Tom Cruise, he says that he was very lucky to have been married to Nicole Kidman, who he finds to be the most beautiful actress in the world. He thinks that Tom Cruise, when directed properly, is a very good actor, although Marco finds his personal life a bit… strange. Marco thinks that comedies are the hardest films for directors to make because making people laugh while still retaining an intelligent manner is no small feat. Marco was a very likeable and talkative man, and if anyone wants to rent a movie, we highly recommend his shop.

Invidiare – to be jealous (that is how Marco spoke of Tom Cruise and his relationship with Nicole Kidman)

Regista – director of films

Catalogo – a public catalogue (as opposed to a collezione which is a private collection).