Breath-taking seascapes, towering mountains, erupting volcanoes, Arcadian pastures, age-old mountain villages, burnished wheatfields, bustling metropoli, Greek theatres, ancient traditions and paradisiacal beaches...
...just some of the reasons why so many location managers and directors choose to film in Sicily
Roberto Rossellini filmed Terra di Dio on Stromboli in the Aeolian Islands and also found the time to have an affair with the film’s star, Ingrid Bergman.
Visconti could hardly keep way,first filming The Earth Trembles in Aci Trezza and large sections of The Leopard in Palermo and elsewhere.
If you’ve ever seen Tornatore’s wonderfully gentle film Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, you might have noticed, amongst other places, Palazzo Adriano and Cefalù.
The lovely Il Postino, starring Massimo Troisi, Philippe Noiret and Maria Grazia Cucinotta, was made partly on Salina, while extensive parts of Godfather II and III were filmed in Forza d'Agro, Savoca and in and around Palermo, most notably the dramatic final scenes at the Teatro Massimo.
Roberto Benigni spent time in Taormina making Il Piccolo Diavolo and in Letojanni and Palermo for Johnny Stecchino.
Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith used footage of Mount Etna’s 2002 eruption to help out with special effects and Woody Allen decided that Taormina’s Greek-Roman theatre was the perfect setting for the Greek chorus and Cassandra in Mighty Aphrodite.
One of the final scenes of Ocean’s 12,starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, was filmed at the Tonnara in Scopello and Tornatore filmed Malena with Monica Bellucci in Noto, Syracuse and Taormina
Even more recently, Wim Wenders shot The Palermo Shooting in Palermo and Giuseppe Tornatore made Baaria in Bagheria...
All those locations managers can’t be wrong!