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 The
Godfather (Il Padrino)
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The
Godfather is a 1972 American gangster film
directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the
1969 novel by Mario Puzo. The fictional story,
spanning the years between 1945 and 1955,
chronicles the experiences of the Italian-American
Corleone crime family. Two sequels followed: The
Godfather Part II in 1974, and The Godfather Part
III in 1990.
IMPORTANT: Since
Corleone --Sicily-- was too developed even in the
early 70s to be used for filming, the Sicilian
towns of
Savoca and Forza d'Agro outside of
Taormina were used instead. Savoca is is a
small village
where the Bar
Vitelli and the wedding church are. Upon arrival
in Savoca we should see this village, so small, so
lovely, off the beaten track, it is like living a
movie. The Bar is just like in the picture, the
table where Michael, Fabrizio & Calo sat it's
different, but there is one in
 the
same place, the rest is all the same, even the
door curtains, is absolutely amazing. We can also
have the pleasure to meet the owner, Signora
Maria, who was actually there when the movie was
shot.
We can also visit
the wedding Church, that you can see very little
in the movie actually, and after that I've made
the same walk Michael and Apollonia did after the
wedding along with family and friends, to end at
the front of the Bar Vitelli to celebrate".
On the same day we
can also continue our trip onto the small village
of Forza d'Agrò. This one appears in
Godfather II, in the scene when Vito escapes to
America hidden in a donkey, while Don Ciccio's men
threaten the neighbors; also behind young Vito and
family during their visit to Corleone; and in
Godfather I, the church that appears when Michael
goes to Corleone for the first time along with his
bodyguards." |
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New
Cinema Paradise (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso)
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 Nuovo
Cinema Paradiso (New Cinema Paradise) offers a
nostalgic look at films and the effect they have
on a young boy who grows up in and around the
title village movie theater in this
Italian-Sicilian comedy drama that is based on the
life and times of screenwriter/director
Giuseppe Tornatore. The movie evokes the magic
of motion pictures, in a style both nostalgic and
poetic. It takes place in small Sicilian villages
in the years before television, where motion
pictures were a social event, and the people who
gathered for them knew each other by name. If you
would like to explore the villages showed in the
movie, do not desperate looking for GIANCALDO
because this village does not exist. Giancaldo is
just the mountain placed close to Bagheria, the
native village of Tornatore. The Sicilian
villages important for the movie are located in
Palermo province such as: Bagheria,
Castelbuono (in the middle of the Madonie
Nature Park), Lascari Scalo, Chiusa Sclafani,
Palazzo Adriano, Santa Flavia, San Nicola
L'Arena, Termini Imerese. A lot of them are off
the beaten track and for sure the most evocative
of the movie is for sure Palazzo Adriano. Is like
a must no miss. |
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Baarìa
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 The
film, by Tornatore, was shot in both Bagheria,
in the province of Palermo, and in an old
neighborhood of Tunis, Tunisia; the latter
location used because it could better depict what
Bagheria looked like in the early 20th century.
The title of the film, Baarìa, is the actually
Sicilian slang for Bagheria where Tornatore was
born. The film recounts life in the Sicilian
town of Baarìa, from the 1920s to the 1980s,
through the eyes of lovers Peppino (Francesco
Scianna) and Mannina (Margareth Madè). A Sicilian
family depicted across three generations: from
Cicco to his son Peppino to his grandson Pietro.
The film evokes the loves, dreams and
disappointments of an entire community in the
province of Palermo over five decades: during the
Fascist period, Cicco is a humble shepherd who,
however, finds time to pursue his passion: books,
epic poems, the great popular romance novels. In
the days when people go hungry and during World
War II, his son Peppino witnesses injustice by
mafiosi and landowners, and becomes a
communist. After the war, he encounters the woman
of his life. Her family opposes the relationship
because of his political ideas, but the two insist
and get married, and have children. The film has
two versions, the original in the local
Baariotu --one of the Sicilian dialect-- (LOL with
Italian and English subtitles); the second
dubbed in Italian. |
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Commissario Montalbano (Detective Montalbano)
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Detective Salvo
Montalbano (played by Luca Zingaretti actor)
is a fictional character created by
 Italian
writer Andrea Camilleri in a series of
novels and short stories. Set in the picturesque
Sicilian town of Vigàta (modeled after
 Porto
Empedocle, Camilleri's home town), the fractious
detective's character and manner encapsulate much
of Sicilian mythology - brooding philosophy, whip
smart dialogue, rugged beauty, superb food - and
astute detective work. The original books are
written in a curious mix of Italian, strict
Sicilian slang, and a Sicilianized Italian. The
name Montalbano is an homage to the Spanish writer
Manuel Vázquez Montalbán; the similarities between
Montalbán's Pepe Carvalho and Camilleri's
fictional detective are remarkable. Both writers
make great play of their protagonists' gastronomic
preferences.
Inspector Montalbano
lives and works in the fictional town of "Vigàta",
in the equally fictional district of "Montelusa".
Camilleri based Vigata on his home town of
Porto Empedocle, on Sicily's south-west coast,
while Montelusa, the district headquarters, is
based on Agrigento. However the
dramatizations of the Montalbano stories were
mainly filmed at Ragusa, while the seaside
and harbor locations were at Punta Secca,
Scoglitti and Licata. |
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