In his art Fellini reflects an Italy facing harsh and complicated realities yet fortified with the traditional wisdom of the centuries. He offers an image of hope, an image of a magic land which has rejuvenated itself throughout history more than any in the world….

Though his vision includes sin, Fellini is too Christian for despair, too convinced, even in the face of the worst human perversity, that God is love and cares for us through those ministering angels which find their way into every Fellini film….

Significantly, Fellini reflects the Italian character in his view of poverty: the absolute lack of a future without any corresponding despair seems alien to the Anglo-Saxon character. In "The Nights of Cabiria," Fellini takes it all in stride: it manages to assimilate the whole burden of poverty, misery, and shame without surprise or emphasis. (p. 640)

Simpatico, the one characteristic an Italian must find before he can approve of another, would be almost an understatement in Fellini's case. Yet, despite Fellini's bounce, there is always a sense of the lacrimae rerum, as is exemplified in "La Strada," Fellini's magnificent conception of the road of life down which, no matter how fast one runs, one cannot escape the Hound of Heaven. Using extraordinarily poetic cinema but always clinging to realism, Fellini mixes fun and sadness, gaiety and sorrow, beauty and bestiality in a work that breathes the incomparable humanity of the Italian spirit….

For him friendships are not interludes in our travels, but rather our travels are interludes in the comradeship and joy of our friendships. In a world where so many live as if friendships—the communication of ideas, ideals, dreams, hopes, joys and experiences—were mere incidents or side issues to the main problems of human existence, Fellini proclaims that reality is quite otherwise: we live our lives for our friendships; they are the goals, not the means. This is the true wisdom of Christian Italy which grounds the contemporary significance of Federico Fellini. Communication with others, the striking of a human spark, is Fellini's truest joy. (p. 641)