Nino Rota (December 3, 1911 - April 10, 1979) was an Italian composer. He is particularly remembered for his work on film scores, especially The Godfather series and a number of films by Federico Fellini. Rota was born into a musical family in Milan, and studied at the conservatory there under Ildebrando Pizzetti. Later, the conductor
Arturo Toscanini encouraged him to go to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to study. This he did, where he worked under
Fritz Reiner, amongst others. He later returned to Milan, where he wrote a thesis on the renaissance composer Gioseffo Zarlino.