Name: Miracle in Milan
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Drama
Released: 1951-02-08
Duration: 97 min
Rating: 7.4
Cast: Emma Gramatica, Francesco Golisano, Paolo Stoppa, Guglielmo Barnabò, Brunella Bovo

1951·Comedy·1h 37m

7.4

★

Once upon a time a wise and kind old woman discovers a baby in her cabbage patch. She brings up the child and, when she dies, the boy, Totò, enters an orphanage. Totò leaves the orphanage a happy young man, and looks for work in post-war Milan. He ends up with the homeless and organizes them to build a shanty town in a vacant lot. But when greedy developers threaten the community’s land, Totò will need all the help he can get in order to find an impossible way out.

Directed by Vittorio De Sica

homeless person

based on novel or book

slum

magic

angel

milan

poverty

orphan

kindness

foundling

magic realism

shantytown

Trailer

IMDB

N/A

Where to Watch

Cast

Emma Gramatica

La vecchia Lolotta

Francesco Golisano

Totò

Paolo Stoppa

Rappi

Guglielmo Barnabò

Mobbi

Brunella Bovo

Edvige

Anna Carena

Marta, la signora altezzosa

Alba Arnova

La statua che prende vita

Virgilio Riento

Il sergente delle guardie

Arturo Bragaglia

Alfredo

Checco Rissone

Il comandante in secondo

Enzo Furlai

Egisto Olivieri

Crew

Vittorio De Sica

Director

Cesare Zavattini

Screenplay

Vittorio De Sica

Screenplay

Eraldo Da Roma

Editor

Vittorio De Sica

Producer

Cesare Zavattini

Story

Gianni Di Venanzo

Camera Operator

Suso Cecchi d'Amico

Co-Writer

Cesare Zavattini

Novel

Popular Reviews

50 reviews

Federico Lynch

8.0★ · 05/15/26

A boy filled with kindness in a world stricken by war and filled with destruction gets a gift of fulfilling other people's dreams or needs. Loved the characterization of toto. Even when people were ready to beat mobbi for evacuating the slums, he didn't want to.
Liked the touch of surrealism this film goes for, a bit different for neorealism in those days but this is the thing which makes it different.
First part > second part

Samuele

a milano un vetrinista può diventare molto grande, può diventare un re!

ReginaAle25

whimsy

Devin Esser

9.0★ · 08/26/25

Criterion Collection Challenge #103.5

Miracle in Milan is Vittorio Di Sica's most masterfully created film he has made and when it comes to the aspect of camera work and cinematography this may be one of the single best films ever. Regardless of the film really succeeding in plot at points or feeling slightly tedious as the plot is fairly low to the ground every shot is just masterful. A film that is really lost in the spectacular filmography of Di Sica that I am so glad to have found and gotten to appreciate.

89.2/100

My Lists that include Miracle in Milan: The Criterion Collection ChallengeEvery Film I watched in August 2025 RankedMy Top 25 Films of the 1950s4.5 stars comprehensive list and ranking.

AiBets

7.0★ · 07/30/25

Edvidge and Toto >