Focus Features

There's a line in Il Postino where Mario, played by Massimo Troisi, tells Pablo Neruda that he's fallen in love. Neruda tells him there's a remedy for that, but Mario says, "No. No remedy. I want to stay sick." When I talk about, write about, or visit Italy, I'm giddy and in love. The film, which is set in a small fishing village, also promotes focusing on the small things – like the poetic sound of the sea – and I think being in Italy can also do that. You can find beauty there in the most out-of-the-way corners as well as in the everyday.

Cinema Paradiso is as much a love letter to filmmaking as it is to Sicily. There are so many tender scenes here. I also love the way sun-soaked Sicily is juxtaposed with the cool darkness of the cinema. And - spoiler alert! - those beautiful kissing scenes! If you're not a hopeless romantic, Cinema Paradiso will turn you into one.

This epic and touching film follows the lives of two brothers through the major events of the 20th century from an Italian perspective. Turin, Rome, Palermo, and Florence are all settings in the film. But The Best of Youth also covers tumultuous times, such as the flooding of Florence in 1966, the dark days of the Brigate Rosse, and mafia murders. This film shows that Italy, while beautiful, is not the fairytale land we all think it to be.

The scenes of Nanni Moretti on his Vespa zooming around the streets of Rome––under the umbrella pines and past the pink-and-ochre-hued apartment blocks––are so iconic for me. As Jennifer Beals says in the film, Moretti's character is "quasi scemo" (kind of an idiot). He reminds me of an Italian Woody Allen––a good thing.

Oh, Stefano Accorsi! Although his character grew up in the recent sequel Baciami Ancora, he was at his best in L'Ultimo Bacio. This is simply a superb romantic comedy starring Italy and some very handsome Italians. Also, the scenes set in the Giardino delle Cascate (an artificial lake and waterfall) in Rome's EUR district prompted me to seek that area out.