George Clooney Comes Out at Venice Film Festival

George Clooney was spotted arriving in Venice Monday sporting something that's all the rage in Italian trends – TV presenter Elisabetta Canalis. The day before the premiere of his movie, Men Who Stare at Goats, the couple – who landed at Venice's Lido Nicelli Airfield Monday evening – made a grand arrival at the Venice Film Festival following a water taxi ride across the city's lagoon, prompting Italian papers to gush over the pair as the next brad and Angelina.

Clooney, 48, and the woman better known to local media as "La Canalis" or simply "Eli" have been together for the past three weeks, spending time at Clooney's home on Lake Como.

Clooney was introduced to his new girlfriend in Rome. According to actor Alessandro Siani, who costarred with Canalis in a 2006 Italian movie called Christmas in New York, a mysterious car would follow Siani and Eli every day after filming, when Siani accompanied her back to the hotel where they were staying. "One day I finally decided to go over and confront the occupants of the car. I went over and to my surprise, who was sitting in the car? George Clooney!" Siani told an Italian magazine. "This isn't a new fling."