FAQ

Widowed shopkeeper Cesira (Sophia Loren) and her 12-year-old daughter Rosetta (Eleonora Brown) leave Rome for the safety of the Ciociaria countryside during World War II. After a year in the country, during which they face near starvation, they decide to return to Rome, only to face further hardship along the way.

La Ciociara (Two Women) is a 1958 novel by Italian author Alberto Moravia (1907-1990). The novel was adapted for the movie by Italian screenwriter Cesare Zavattini and director Vittorio De Sica. La Ciociara was remade for TV, also titled La paysanne aux pieds nus (1989), in 1988. Sophia Loren starred as Cesira in both versions.

Ciociaria (note the third "i") is the name of a region in central Italy. "La Ciociara" (note no third "i") translates as "the woman from Ciociaria" as if to be the feminine demonym to correspond to the region.

The original movie as made in 1960 was in Italian, but there are dubbed and/or subtitled DVDs available.

The majority of the film was shot in and around the towns of Itri and Saracinesco, south of Rome in the mountainous region known as Lazio. The town of Fondi, as mentioned in the movie, is also located there. Interior studio shots were made at Titanus Studios in Rome.

They were Moroccans from North Africa, commanded in Italy by the French army.

After Cesira and Rosetta are raped by the aliied soldiers in the bombed out church, they return to the road and continue to walk to Rome. They are picked up by a young man named Florindo (Renato Salvatori) who offers them a bed at his mother's house near Fondi. Dead tired, Cesira goes to sleep. She wakes up later to find that Rosetta is not in the bed with her. She goes looking for her and is told that Rosetta went out dancing with Florindo. She is also told that Michele (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is dead, having been shot by the Germans who forced him to lead them through the mountains. Cesira waits all night for Rosetta to come back, but she doesn't return. The next morning, Rosetta returns carrying some nylon stockings given to her by Florindo. Cesira becomes irate over the stockings and the fact that Rosetta went out without telling her. When she calms down again, Cesira apologizes to Rosetta and tells her that Michele is dead. For the first time since the rape, Rosetta cries and allows her mother to comfort her. In the final scene, Cesira holds Rosetta and murmurs over and over, "Enough... enough."