One of the fathers of the Italian cinema of the second post-war period. He was born in Vaprio d’Adda in the province of Milan on the 14th of November 1914. His father Felice was a composer. During high school with Arnoldo Mondadori and Mario Monicelli he founded the periodical magazine Camminare. Alberto was involved in art criticism. He debuted in film direction during the war with Giacomo l’idealista (1942). In the post-war period he made four important films, including Il bandito and Il delitto di Giovanni Episcopo (neorealistic genre), Senza pietà (an opera) and Il mulino del Po (based on Riccardo Bacchelli’s novel). In 1950 he gave Federico Fellini the chance to debut in direction with Luci della ribalta that they both signed.In 1952 with Il cappotto based on Gogol’ tale, he gave Renato Rascel a magnificent interpretation. His sensitivity in making films with women as protagonists gave him the way to film in the 1950s: Anna, La lupa, La spiaggia and Guendalina. In 1960 he discovered Catherine Spaak (Dolci inganni and Lettere di una novizia) and directed actors like Alberto Sordi (Mafioso), Totò (La mandragola) and Lando Buzzanca (Don Giovanni in Sicilia). In the 1970s he directed from Ugo Tognazzi (Venga a prendere il caffè da noi) to Sophia Loren and Adriano Celentano (Bianco rosso e… in 1972); from Giancarlo Giannini (Sono stato io! in 1973) to Luigi Proietti (Le farò da padre), Renato Pozzetto (Oh Serafina) and Marcello Mastroianni (Così come sei). He made many actresses debut: from Valeria Morriconi and Jaqueline Sassard to Dalila Di Lazzaro, Therese Ann Savoy and Nastassja Kinski. In the 1980s he filmed La cicala with Virna Lisi and Clio Goldsmith. He died in Orvieto on the 3rd of July 2005.
