The very best films of the 2013 Lavazza Italian Film Festival will be presented during the opening week of the newly renovated Palace Norton Street - Sydney’s most sophisticated cinema experience. The new Palace Norton Street reopens on Thursday 21 November and will feature eight licensed auditoria with luxurious stadium seating, a magnificent foyer, bar and lounge area for you to savour the experience pre and post film. The festival has long been supported by audiences at Palace Norton Street, and so it felt only right to bring the best of this year's festival to our loyal festival go-ers in the area. The limited season runs from Thursday 21 to Tuesday 26 November, exclusively at Palace Norton Street.

We are giving Adelaide audiences 2 extra days to soak up the very best of this year's festival. Adelaide's Cinema Peroni Extra Sessions By Popular Demand will screen next Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 November. We've hand picked the most popular films of this year's festival - with favourites such as Sorrentino's stunning THE GREAT BEAUTY, the hilarious crowd-pleaser WOMEN DRIVE ME CRAZY and the wonderfully witty LONG LIVE FREEDOM. Don't miss your last chances for 2013 to escape to Italy on the silver screen. Read on for full schedule and to book your tickets now.

Although we officially close the festival on Sunday in Sydney and Canberra, we aren't ready to say goodbye just yet. We have scheduled Cinema Peroni Extra Sessions By Popular Demand - running from next Monday 4 to Wednesday 6 November at Palace Verona and Palace Electric. Only the very best of this year's fest features - from our breathtaking Opening Night film THE GREAT BEAUTY, to the captivating VIVA ITALY (featuring wonderful performances from Michele Placido and the gorgeous Raoul Bova). Don't miss these final days of the 2013 festival! Read on for full schedule and to book your tickets now.

Book now for Melbourne’s Cinema Peroni Extra Sessions By Popular Demand! Don’t miss your last chance to catch this year’s most popular films on the big screen – from critically acclaimed gems such as HONEY and SALVO, to side-splittingly hilarious comedies like THE WORST WEEK OF MY LIFE and WOMEN DRIVE ME CRAZY. Extra sessions run from next Monday 28 to Wednesday 30 October at Palace Cinema Como, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Westgarth and Kino Cinemas. Read on for the full schedule, and to book your tickets online.

It felt only right that after opening the festival in the spirit of Fellini, with Sorrentino's THE GREAT BEAUTY, that we should close the festival with something from the great Italian director himself - FELLINI'S ROMA. Similar in countless ways, both films are a grand homage to the spectacular Rome - its street life and vibrancy in all its glorious forms. Stunning art direction combines with vivid imagery and blazing colour, with cameos abound from Italian filmic luminaries such as Anna Magnani, Marcello Mastroianni, Feodor Chaliapin, and Alberto Sordi. Join us as we farewell another festival with this bold and fitting tribute to one of Italy’s most celebrated directors.

The festival is pleased to announce Brisbane's Cinema Peroni Extra Sessions By Popular Demand! Audience favourites return to the big screen for a few final screenings - don't miss your last chance for the year to soak in the best of contemporary Italian cinema. From the festival's grand opening film THE GREAT BEAUTY, to the mesmerising thriller SALVO, to the downright hilarious WOMEN DRIVE ME CRAZY - there's something for everyone on offer. Extra sessions run from Wednesday 23 to Sunday 27 October, at Palace Barracks and Palace Centro. Read on for the full schedule, and to purchase your tickets online.

The festival and Brown Brothers are thrilled to present Special Events featuring screenings of the epic Mr Volare: The Story of Domenico Modugno (2 x 100 min sessions, with 15 min interval). A man, a legend: Domenico Modugno charmed the world with his serenading voice, his songs becoming the symbol of the Italian grandeur in the 60s. Join us at selected screenings as we celebrate the great Italian cantautore - with pre-film receptions including drinks courtesy of Brown Brothers and live musica.

The festival is thrilled to welcome gorgeous rising European star Clara Ponsot as a guest of this year’s festival. Ponsot stars opposite Riccardo Scamarcio in COSIMO AND NICOLE, as the beautiful, impulsive Frenchwoman Nicole who embarks on a wildly passionate affair with Cosimo (Scamarcio) during the dramatic Genoa G8 riots. Ponsot has appeared in numerous French films, but this is her first Italian-language role.

Clara Ponsot will attend the Festival’s Opening Night Gala in Melbourne, along with COSIMO AND NICOLE Q&A events in Melbourne and Brisbane as follows:

La grande bellezza Directed by Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo, This Must Be the Place).

This year we boldly open the festival with Sorrentino's sweeping, evocative tale in style of Rossellini and Fellini. Toni Servillo delivers a career-defining performance as the charismatic Jep, a famous journalist and single man-about-town who early promise as a novelist was never fulfilled. From the grandeur of Rome’s most famous palaces, aqueducts and fountains to a secret garden locked away by key, The Great Beauty is carnival for the senses and a cinematic feast - at once delightful, nostalgic, and inspiring.

“…a brilliantly executed, glitteringly hypnotic film.” THE GUARDIAN