''The Pizza Triangle'' (), also released as ''A Drama of Jealousy (and Other Things)'' and ''Jealousy, Italian Style'', is a 1970 romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by

Ettore Scola Ettore Scola (; 10 May 1931 – 19 January 2016) was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He received a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1978 for his film ''A Special Day'' and over ...

, who co-wrote the screenplay with the screenwriter duo of

Age & Scarpelli Age & Scarpelli () is the stage name used by the pair of Italian screenwriters Agenore Incrocci (1914–2005) and Furio Scarpelli (1919–2010). Together, they wrote the scripts for about a hundred movies, mainly satirical comedies. The duo st ...

. It stars

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (26 September 1924Come da lui stesso dichiarato a 1'10" dquesta intervista/ref> – 19 December 1996) was an Italian actor. He is generally regarded as one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20t ...

Monica Vitti Maria Luisa Ceciarelli (3 November 1931 – 2 February 2022), known professionally as Monica Vitti, was an Italian actress who starred in several award-winning films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni during the 1960s. She appeared with Marcel ...

and

Giancarlo Giannini Giancarlo Giannini (; born 1 August 1942) is an Italian actor and voice actor. He won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' Love and Anarchy'' (1973) and received an Academy Award nomination for '' Seven Beaut ...

. Spanish actors

Manuel Zarzo Manuel López Zarza (; 26 April 1932 – 16 or 17 June 2025), better known as Manuel Zarzo (), was a Spanish film actor. He appeared in more than 200 television and film works over his 7-decade long career. Zarzo made his film debut in ''Day b ...

and

Juan Diego Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474–1548), also known simply as Juan Diego (), was a Nahua peasant and Marian visionary. He is said to have been granted apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe on four occasions in December 1531: three at the hill o ...

were dubbed into Italian.

Plot

At Festa de ''l'Unità'' in Rome, a florist named Adelaide Ciafrocchi meets Oreste Nardi, a middle-aged communist bricklayer. She tells him that she once saw him passing her flower stand at the

Campo Verano The Campo Verano (Italian: ''Cimitero del Verano'') is a cemetery in Rome, Italy, founded in the early 19th century. The monumental cemetery covers a surface area of 83 hectares which is currently divided into several sections: the main Catholic ...

cemetery, and they fall in love, despite the fact that he is married to the much older Antonia. Upon discovering the affair, Antonia confronts Adelaide at her flower stand. When Adelaide vehemently refuses to leave Oreste and mistakes Antonia for his mother, Antonia physically attacks Adelaide, who ends up hospitalised. Visiting Adelaide at the hospital, Oreste excitedly tells her that they are free to be together now that he has left Antonia. While dining with Oreste at a pizzeria, Adelaide catches the attention of a young Tuscan pizza chef, Nello Serafini, who sends her a heart-shaped pizza. Oreste and Nello later bond after they both attend a

PCI PCI may refer to: Business and economics * Payment card industry, businesses associated with debit, credit, and other payment cards ** Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, a set of security requirements for credit card processors * Prov ...

protest march. Oreste formally introduces Nello to Adelaide, and the three soon become inseparable friends. Adelaide begins an affair with Nello, but finds herself torn between the two men as she loves both. After seeing Adelaide and Nello in bed together, a vengeful Oreste takes her to the pizzeria where Nello works and publicly exposes their affair, causing a scene. Adelaide expresses no remorse, prompting Oreste to beat her, and she is hospitalised for the second time. Adelaide undergoes psychoanalysis to discuss her obsession with both Oreste and Nello. Overcome with guilt, she attempts suicide by inhaling gas and is rushed to the hospital for the third time. Still unable to choose between Oreste and Nello, Adelaide proposes a threesome, but the men end up fighting and she abandons both of them. On the advice of her older sister Silvana, a prostitute, Adelaide begins a relationship with a wealthy and crude butcher, Ambleto, for the purpose of marriage, but she eventually leaves him to reconcile with Nello, who has attempted suicide because of her. In a desperate attempt to win Adelaide back, Oreste, who is now unemployed, pleads with a Gypsy couple to cast a love spell, to no avail. Shortly after their wedding, Adelaide and Nello drive by Oreste as he sleeps in a street market. Nello stops to talk to Oreste, who becomes angry when he realises that Adelaide and Nello have married without telling him. The newlyweds attempt to drive off, but the car will not start. Oreste pulls Nello out of the car and beats him with a stick. To defend himself, Nello attacks Oreste with a pair of shears. In the ensuing chaos, Oreste grabs hold of the shears and inadvertently stabs Adelaide. As she dies, she declares that she loves Oreste more. Using the

insanity defense The insanity defense, also known as the mental disorder defense, is an affirmative Defense (legal), defense by excuse in a criminal case, arguing that the defendant is not responsible for their actions due to a mental illness, psychiatric disease ...

, Oreste is sentenced to five years in prison and two years in an insane asylum. After serving his sentence, he wanders around the city and, now completely out of his mind, engages in imaginary conversations with his beloved Adelaide, convinced that he will always have her by his side.

Cast

Dramma della gelosia - Mastroianni-Vitti-Giannini

Accolades

won the Best Actor award at the

1970 Cannes Film Festival The 23rd Cannes Film Festival took place from 3 to 18 May 1970. Guatemalan author and Nobel Prize laureate Miguel Ángel Asturias served as jury president for the main competition. The ''Grand Prix du Festival International du Film'', then the ...

References

External links

* *
The Pizza Triangle
' at

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

1970 films 1970 comedy-drama films 1970 romantic comedy films 1970 romantic drama films 1970s Italian films 1970s Italian-language films 1970s romantic comedy-drama films 1970s Spanish films Commedia all'italiana Films about adultery in Italy Films directed by Ettore Scola Films scored by Armando Trovajoli Films set in Rome Films shot in Rome Films with screenplays by Age & Scarpelli Films with screenplays by Ettore Scola Italian romantic comedy-drama films Italian-language comedy-drama films Italian-language romantic comedy films Italian-language romantic drama films Italian-language Spanish films Spanish romantic comedy-drama films Titanus films {{1970s-Italy-comedy-film-stub