Filming has begun in New York for Il Newyorkese – A New York Story, a romantic comedy written and directed by Davide Ippolito, founder of ilNewyorkese. The film starts from the world of the newspaper, which was created to tell the stories of Italians in New York, but it does not seem to be a film about journalism in a narrow sense. Its subject is the life that begins after arrival: when New York is no longer just a place imagined from abroad, but the city where someone has to work, love, stay, and deal with distance.
For NEWYORKTODAY, the project is interesting because it looks at New York from inside one of its many immigrant communities, without treating the city only as a backdrop. The Italian presence in New York is often told through memory, food, family history, and neighborhood identity. Il Newyorkese – A New York Story appears to move through that same world, but from a more contemporary angle: Italians who are still arriving, still choosing the city, and still trying to understand what they lose and gain by staying.
The film is executive produced by Ippolito, Simone D’Andria and Emanuele Scamardella for N41 Studios. The team has already worked between Italy and the United States on projects including Final Broadcast, released in American theaters, and The Perfect Pitch, a series broadcast on Mediaset. The production also includes Mattia Panico as production coordinator and William Santero as director of photography. Ippolito had previously directed New York Solo Andata, a 2023 film available on Prime Video, which focused on the first encounter with New York and the idea of America as a place of possibility.
This new film seems to begin where that kind of story usually ends. The plot has not been disclosed, but the production has said that it will not simply tell another version of the American dream. Its focus will be what comes later: loneliness, distance from family, the compromises of building a life abroad, and the slow process through which a foreign city becomes familiar without ever becoming simple. It is a New York story, but also a story about the private cost of moving across an ocean.
The cast includes Alice Lussiana Parente and Marco Fanizzi. Lussiana Parente was born in Turin and has worked for years in the United States. She trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, was part of the resident company at the Flea Theater, dubbed for Disney and Audible, and lent her voice to Ron Howard’s documentary Pavarotti. Fanizzi was born in Taranto and trained at the Silvio d’Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome. He won the Premio Hystrio alla Vocazione in 2019 and the Premio Gigi Proietti for best male performer in 2025. The music will be composed by Cristiano Cosa, who had already written the themes for New York Solo Andata and Final Broadcast. Blues guitarist and composer Davide Pannozzo will also appear in a cameo. Filming will continue in the coming weeks across recognizable parts of New York and less tourist-facing places, where the city is less of an image and more of a daily life.
