A Personal Perspective by Peter Nichols
' A man who has not been in Italy,' said Dr Johnson, ' is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see.' The importance of Italy as the place to see what a man should see has not diminished. The ancient marbles still stand. But today they have a new dimension, as the symbols of that civilisation which we all share, which is under siege from the modem world.
For PETER NICHOLS , correspondent of The Times in Rome for the past 20 years, the fascination of Italy is that it is against this background that the problems of the 20th century stand out most clearly defined. Italy is a half-capitalist, half-Marxist, Catholic country emerging from the greatest upheaval in its history. Out of the turbulence, new ideas are being generated which will affect us all. There has never been a time in history when Italy has not had something to offer us and we may be at one of those moments now. Italy is a country we do not take seriously enough. We would do well, thinks Peter Nichols , to watch it.
Film cameraman UMBERTO GALEASSI Film editor HUGH NEWSAM Producer PATRICIA MEEHAN