I just watched Fellini's "8 1/2"...

You got the right shore, but the wrong town.
It's set in Rimini, region of Romagna. And yes, Fellini's home town.
"Amarcord" means "I remember" in Riminese dialect.
The part I like best is when grandpa gets lost in the thick fog.

I agree with Lightwizard about "Giulietta degli Spiriti"; enjoyable, but not Fellini's best.

Rimini! That's it. I got it mixed up because I once was enthused about a piazza in Ascoli Piceno - for piazza enthusiast reasons - though I've not been there, I just saw the piazza in a photo.

I think I'm becoming a Fellini nut! I mentioned to my boss, who is into this kind of stuff, that when I saw 8 1/2, I didn't really get it. He told me that with Fellini, it doesn't matter whether you "get it" or not, and that you should just watch and let the beauty of it wash over you.

I thought that made a lot of sense, and that is the genius of Fellini, in my newly-formed and oh so humble opinion. His movies are filled with symbolism and philosophical musings, and a depth that can be pondered and studied if one so desires, but one can also simply watch and enjoy the beautiful madness.

It's like toys for kids today. Whatever happened to Erector sets where kids actually had to think and build something? As adults were asked to sit in the dark of the theater and watch obvious, banal stories unfold in front of us that are as predictable as President Bush. Fellini is one of the few directors who can be properly labled an auteur and that requires cinematic genius. It's wonderful to discover his visual language which is more foreign at first than the Italian spoken. The other two I can immediately think of is Kurosawa and Kubrick.

Another scene in "Fellini's Roma" that sticks in my mind is the digging of the subway when they break through a wall and find ancient wall paintings. You'll have to see it to appreciate it. The end of the film features Gore Vidal.