And the Oscar goes to…

The maestro took home the famous golden statue for his soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s epic western The Hateful Eight. Just weeks ago, on stage at the Golden Globes, cult film king Tarantino had defined Morricone as his favourite composer of all time – better than Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert.

Though Morricone was previously awarded an honorary Oscar in 2007, this one was the one. Revealing the winner, producer Quincy Jones followed it up by tenderly calling the veteran Italian “mio fratellino” – my brother.

It means Italy returns to the top table of the film world once again, courtesy of a bona fide Romanista. A lifelong fan, Morricone was a part of the AS Roma Hall of Fame panel which in 2012 was tasked with electing the all-time best Giallorossi XI. This was Morricone’s proposed side: Franco Tancredi, Cafu, Pietro Vierchowod, Luigi Brunella (“Brunella was the best of them all, you guys know that,” he said), Francesco Rocca, Fulvio Bernardini, Agostino Di Bartolomei, Paulo Roberto Falcao, Alcides Ghiggia, Roberto Pruzzo and Amadeo Amadei.

Yet Morricone’s win is not the first time the Giallorossi’s path has crossed with that of the Academy Awards.

That honour went to Ladri di Biciclette – Bicycle Thieves. Vittorio De Sica’s moving black-and-white neorealist film was the winner of the Best Foreign Film category at the 1949 Oscars. De Sica wasn’t a Roma fan, and neither are we sure as to the loyalties of the two main actors in the film, Lamberto Maggiorani and Enzo Staiola. But the film does make reference to a match between Roma and Modena at the Stadio Nazionale.

“Are Modena a good side?” Antonio Ricci (Maggiorani) asks his son Bruno (Staiola), as he briefly considers taking his son to see the game to take his mind off scouring the city for their stolen bicycle, which is vital for Antonio to start work and earn some money at a time of widespread poverty. Bruno shakes his head and the two go to get something to eat instead.

Later on, one of the film’s final scenes is set outside the Stadio Nazionale in the Flaminio area of Rome, capturing the fans streaming away from the stadium after the game. Antonio decides to take justice into his own hands by stealing a bike of his own, only to be caught by the owners. In a heart-wrenching ending, we see the tearful Bruno walking hand in hand with his father, the desperation all too clear in their eyes.

More recently, Paolo Sorrentino’s sensory depiction of modern life in the capitalLa Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) won the same award in 2013. Interestingly, on stage to accept the Oscar in Los Angeles, the Neapolitan director cited Diego Armando Maradona as one of his sources of inspiration. There’s room in the film for a nod to the Giallorossi too, however, with the opening sequence, set on Rome’s Pincian Hill, featuring a women smoking a cigarette and reading a paper with the headline “Scare for Totti”.

Last but not least, Anna Magnani is undoubtedly deserving of a mention. Magnani won the Best Actress Oscar for La Rosa Tatuata (The Rose Tattoo) in 1956. And though some sources will have you believe she was a Lazio fan, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, a certain Pedro Manfredini used to tell a story of having played football with her in Piazza del Popolo in the late 1950s. These are urban legends, of course, committed to print in Tonino Cagnucci and Massimo Izzi’s book Le 100 partite che hanno fatto la storia dell’AS Roma (100 games that changed the history of AS Roma).

But there is some evidence as to Magnani’s support for the Giallorossi. In 1983, a decade after the actress’ death, club president Dino Viola decided to pay tribute to one of Rome’s greatest daughters as the Giallorossi received the Scudetto trophy ahead of their 3-1 defeat of AC Milan. In the centre of the pitch, Viola awarded Luca Magnani – Anna’s son – with a plaque bearing the inscription: “To Anna Magnani, a true artist who always kept her passion for the Giallorossi in her heart. Roma, the Champions of Italy, remember her fondly.”