Born on 15 November 1922 in Naples, Italy. As a young man he was enormously influenced by the rich intellectual and cultural ferment of Naples, an influence that was to be strongly felt in his later work. Many of his friends from the early years in Naples went on to become prominent intellectuals and remained his close friends in Rome, after the war. When Rosi was a child, an uncle gave him his first taste of theatre and show-business, raking him to the circus, operettas, and Neapoli ran variety theatres. Rosi went to classical high school, then studied law at the University in Naples and was very int1uenced by the anti-fascist atmosphere there. Rosi has a strong interest in comic books, influenced perhaps by his father, a successful illustrator, and did his own illustrations of Alice in Wonderland. Immediately following Liberation, he worked at Radio Napoli. In 1946, Rosi moved to Rome. He acted in several plays, then worked as an assistant director to theatre director Ettore Giannini. Transferring his efforts to the world of cinema, he worked as an assistant director to Luchino Visconri, Michelangelo Anronioni, and Mario Monicelli. He began writing and co-writing film scripts in 1951, and his credits include Bellissima with Visconri. His first directing experience came in 1952 when he substituted director Goffredo Alessandrini on the set of " Red Shirts". In 1955 he and Virtorio Gassman co-directed the filmed version of a play by Kean. His first solo directing credit came in 1958 with La sfıda / The Challenge, a bard hitting unromantic look at organized crime in his native Naples. A thriller very much rooted in neorealist tradition, La Sfıda won a prize at the Venice Film Festival for the best film by a first-rime director. His next film, I magliari / The Swindlers (1959), is a sharp comedy about immigration characterized by the social criticism, civic passion, and moral rigor which would become the hallmarks of his later works.