Who invented the cinema? Well, the Lumière brothers. That is not the correct answer! The first machine for shooting and reproducing moving pictures was the kinetograph, created by Filoteo Alberini in 1894 in Florence. Unfortunately, the patent was accepted only after the projection in Paris of the first films by the two French brothers from Besançon.

But the bond between Florence and the seventh art has always been and will be indissoluble.

Many films have been shot in Florence or in the surrounding hills, first of all, "A Room with a View", winner of three Oscars. The film tells the story of two English tourists who, disappointed by the view from their apartment in Florence, accept the offer of two fellow countrymen to exchange their rooms; an apparently innocent offer... that will originate a romantic love affair.

Then you have the "Amici Miei" (My Friends) saga - Mario Monivelli directed the first film in 1975, while Nanni Loy directed the last episode -, which tells the pranks organized by a group of fifty-year olds (Ugo Tognazzi, Gastone Moschin, Philippe Noiret, Duilio Del Prete/Renzo Montagnani and Adolfo Celi).

Unforgettable is the scene of "I Laureati" (The Graduates), one of Leonardo Pieraccioni`s films, in which the protagonists challenge each other in a race among Florence palaces and apartments. The last one will offer the dinner at the restaurant... actually, when the waiter gives the starting signal, the group of friends simply disappears.

Worth a mention are also Francesco Nuti, Alessandro Benvenuti and Roberto Benigni, although he is from Prato.