Inside George Clooney's Love Affair with Italy

Long before he was set to marry there, George Clooney was spending time in Italy. In Milan in 2001 he took a spin on a scooter specially equipped for cardiological first aid to promote a program aimed at administering prompt emergency help to people struck by heart attacks.

Clooney loves hosting his friends at his home on Lake Como. And his friends happen to be an exceptionally glamorous bunch – including Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, whose wedding took place there in 2010.

Director Clooney made a splash at the Venice Film Festival with his 2005 drama, Good Night, and Good Luck. The actor has made several appearances at the famed festival in the years since.

Another year, another glamorous Venice Film Festival! The star arrived in style – via water taxi, of course – in Venice in 2008.

The part-time resident met locals as he toured earthquake damage on the sidelines of a G8 summit in St. Eusanio in 2009.

Clooney greeted fans at the 2010 premiere of his thriller The American, which was filmed in Rome and Sulmona, among other picturesque Italian locales.

He's so comfortable in the city's water taxis, he can drive them! Arriving at the Venice Film Festival at sunset to promote his 2011 drama The Ides of March, Clooney took the wheel, to the bemusement of pals Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber.

Clooney indulged in two of his great joys – motorcycling and the sights of Lake Como – in 2012.

Clooney and fellow Oscar winner Sandra Bullock made for an out-of-this-world pair at the Venice Film Festival to promote their 2013 space film, Gravity.

Honored with a humanitarian award, the groom-to-be used the Celebrity Fight Night gala in Florence on Sept. 7 to reveal that his wedding to Amal Alamuddin would take place in Venice. "I met my lovely bride-to-be here in Italy," he told guests.