Alessio Della Valle was born in Florence, Italy in 1978. From a young age, his life was steeped in art. At 17, he spent a summer assisting in fresco painting under Master Luciano Guarnieri at the Church of Badia in Tuscany — working with a centuries-old technique also used by Michelangelo and other Renaissance masters.
Those early experiences, including time spent on high scaffolding painting frescoes, profoundly shaped his aesthetic sensibilities. He would later draw upon this formative background in visual arts in his filmmaking, underpinning his cinematic work with a strong sense of visual craft and art-history rooted creativity.
Education
Alessio’s formal training is broad and international:
- He earned a DAMS degree (Drama, Art, Music Studies) from Bologna University, graduating cum laude.
- He studied Theatre and Drama at the Samuel Beckett Center, Trinity College, Dublin.
- He completed Film Directing studies at The Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood.
- He also studied at the Music Academy of Florence, giving him further grounding in musical composition and performance.
Multidisciplinary Artistic Work & Early Career
Della Valle does not limit himself to filmmaking. He is a multidisciplinary artist: painter, photographer, musician, and composer.
Some notable early-career work and roles:
- Directed commercials, music videos, and worked for major broadcasters including Fox, MTV, Rai, Disney.
- Directed the opera The Girl of the Golden West by Giacomo Puccini in Los Angeles.
- Founded an art movement called The Art of Awakening, for which he wrote a manifesto. The manifesto was published by UNESCO and the historic Vallecchi publishing house. His visual art (painting, photography) has been exhibited in major European cities including Florence, Rome, London, Paris, Prague, Budapest, Dublin, etc.
Feature Film: American Night
One of his most prominent works is American Night, his feature film debut. Key details:
- Written and directed by Alessio Della Valle.
- Cast includes Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emile Hirsch, Jeremy Piven, Paz Vega, Michael Madsen, among others.
- Genre: Neo-noir thriller. The story centers on the theft of Andy Warhol’s painting Pink Marilyn, which triggers a collision between art dealers, mafia interests, and cultural icons.
- The film premiered at the 78th Venice Film Festival.
- It has been distributed in the U.S. by Saban Films, in Italy (and elsewhere) by Lionsgate.
Style, Themes, and Artistic Philosophy
From his interviews and writings, several recurring elements emerge in Della Valle’s approach:
- Icons & Symbolism: He is interested in what makes something iconic. Using the Warhol Pink Marilyn as a centerpiece in American Night is an example. He treats symbols, artworks, and visual icons not merely as ornament, but as narrative agents.
- Noir elements, anti-heroes: Many of his characters are double-layered — heroes/anti-heroes, people with moral ambiguity. The noir framework (betrayals, darkness, moral grey areas) features strongly in American Night.
- Visual rigor and color: He emphasizes visual design, limiting palette often and using colors (and changes in color) as a storytelling device. Costumes, cinematography, production design are handled consciously to build the film’s psychological and symbolic world.
- Combining disciplines: Drawing upon his painting, music, and visual art background, his films often fuse sound, visuals, production design in integrated, intentional ways.
Recognition & Accolades
- He was awarded the Fulbright Sergio Corbucci Scholarship in Film Directing.
- He received an “Honoring Proclamation” from the Los Angeles City Council in 2007 as a Fulbright student for his work at PBS.
- The screenplay of American Night was requested by the Academy (Oscars) to be preserved in its permanent core collection.
Significance & Impact
Alessio Della Valle is part of a newer generation of filmmakers who combine multiple art forms, theoretical reflection, and high production value. He bridges the gap between the classical art heritage of Italy (frescoes, opera, visual art) and contemporary genres (neo-noir, symbolic storytelling). His works are international in scope — both in production and distribution — yet they retain distinctive, deeply personal stylistic markers.
Challenges and Outlook
Some of the challenges Della Valle has spoken about include:
- The complexity of getting visual style and symbolic details right without letting form overwhelm story.
- Navigating distribution and film festival circuits as an independent filmmaker.
- Using modern tools without losing the human, tactile sensibility that comes from traditional arts.
Looking forward, with American Night completed and premiered, Alessio Della Valle appears poised to further explore his themes of identity, art, icons vs reality, and morality. Given his background, we can expect more works that blend visual art, music, strong symbolic design, and narrative risk-taking.