Allen screens To Rome With Love

Woody Allen has screened his latest film To Rome With Love in Italy - but some local critics have already disputed his romanticised assessment of the country.

Allen told journalists in the Italian capital that Americans think of Italy as an "enormously warm... easygoing place to live."

That assessment of Italy, which is now enduring economic austerity measures, sparked objections from some Italians at Friday's screening, with one contending it was superficial.

The Mail Online reports Allen saying: "It's like no other city. It's extremely exotic!

"I grew up on Italian cinema. It would have been impossible in the years that I grew up not to be influenced by the Italian movies that were coming out in New York."

The film stars Allen himself alongside Penelope Cruz, Alec Baldwin and Italian Oscar-winning comic actor/director Roberto Benigni, all of whom are in Rome for tonight's premiere.