Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (Italian: [luˈkiːno viˈskonti di moˈdroːne]; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter. He was one of the fathers of cinematic neorealism but later moved towards luxurious, sweeping epics dealing with themes of beauty, decadence, death, and European history, especially the decay of the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Critic Jonathan Jones wrote that "no one did as much to shape Italia
b. 2 November, 1906, Milan, Lombardy, Italy d. 17 March, 1976, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Visconti's work, and especially 'The Leopard,' has a way of portraying the passing of time and the melancholy of fading beauty that I find incredibly inspiring for my own films.