Italy geared up on Tuesday to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of one of its best-loved actors, Marcello Mastroianni.
The three-time Academy Award-nominated star, best known as the weary-eyed journalist in Federico Fellini's masterpiece La Dolce Vita, died of cancer aged 72 on December 19, 1996 in Paris.
The capital's 'Casa del Cinema' (House of Cinema) museum in the Villa Borghese park is paying tribute to the handsome star with a retrospective of his films.
These include some of his less famous movies, like L'Aramata Ritorno (1983).
In a separate initiative, a new documentary entitled Marcello - Una Vita Dolce (Marcello - A Sweet Life) was released on DVD.
The film by Mario Canale, which was presented at the last edition of the Cannes Film Festival, brings together interviews with the actor, clips of his films and the recollections of family members.
As well as the show-business persona, the documentary uncovers his slightly melancholy soul, his love of food, his chain-smoking, his charm and his notorious laziness.
This final characteristic, however, never kept him away from the cinema set as he regarded filmmaking as "fun" and played in over 140 movies.
Italy's terrestrial and satellite TV channels have made room for Mastroianni films in their schedules for Tuesday so the public can feast on the cinematic treats he made too.
One of the world's most admired screen actors was born in a small village in the Apennines in 1924 and grew up in Rome and Turin.
During World War II he was sent to a Nazi labour camp, but he escaped and fled to Venice.
Shortly after the war he was discovered by director Luchino Visconti.
But his real breakthrough came in 1960, when Fellini cast him as the lead in La Dolce Vita opposite Anita Ekberg.
The hugely influential film was the start of the 'Latin Lover' persona, which stayed with Mastroianni for the rest of his career despite his frequent attempts to escape it by choosing sensitive, even homosexual roles.
Mastroianni was also Fellini's alter ego in his portrayal of a troubled movie director in 8 1/2 (1963).
The legendary filmmaker went on to use Mastroianni again and again. He appeared in Fellini films such as the City of Women (1979), Ginger and Fred (1985) and Interview (1987).
In Italy Mastroianni is perhaps best loved for his performances opposite Sophia Loren in Vittorio De Sica's two masterpieces Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963) - in which Loren does a memorable striptease - and Marriage Italian Style (1964); and again in Ettore Scola's A Special Day (1977).
He earned a best lead actor Oscar nomination for A Special Day, as well as for his performances in Divorce Italian Style (1961) and Dark Eyes (1987).
He also won two best actor prizes at Cannes for Dark Eyes and A Drama of Jealousy (1970).
Mastroianni was married to Italian actress Flora Carabella (1926-1999) and they had one child together, Barbara.
The couple split up but never divorced.
He later had a relationship with Catherine Deneuve, the mother of his second daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, who is also an actress.
