How will Professor Langdon solve this problem? The Vatican has banned the producers and actors of the movie Angels and Demons, now filming in Rome, from entering the Holy See and any churches in Rome. Ron Howard is directing the film version of Dan Brown’s prequel to the popular book and film, The DaVinci Code. You may remember that actor …
“Angels and Demons” Now Filming in Rome
With the great success of the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, it was a forgone conclusion that Brown’s other book, Angels and Demons, this one centered on Vatican intrigue, would be made into a film. In fact, as Trovacinema.it reports, director Ron Howard is filming in Rome this week. Actor Tom Hanks (does his hair look any …
Receive a FREE DVD of an Italian Film Classic!
One of my favorite things to do is to give away new travel books or DVDs related to Italy. Well, here we go again… This month three films by Italy’s Taviani brothers are being released on DVD for the North American market. Don’t know the Tavianis? Well here’s how The New York Times described them: “Before the Coens, the Hugheses, …
Movie Travel: “The Night of the Shooting Stars”
Titled La Notte di San Lorenzo in Italian, The Night of the Shooting Stars takes place in the fictional Tuscan town of San Marino, based on the real town of San Miniato, where the filmmakers were born and lived during World War II. The film is told in flashback by a mother (Cecilia) of her experiences as a 6-year-old caught …
Movie Travel: Italian Monastery from “The English Patient”
When director Anthony Mingella set sight on the former Benedictine monastery of Sant’Anna in Camprena, a little town outside Pienza, he knew he had found the perfect place to shoot the scenese where a convalescing English patient reveals his tragic past to his nurse in the film The English Patient. The interior features frescoes by Sodoma (1477-1549). Guests can now …
Movie Travel: Tuscan Villa in “Much Ado About Nothing”
Sitting atop a hill two miles from the town of Greve in Chianti, Villa Vignamaggio didn’t need Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 film version of Shakespeare’s classic Much Ado About Nothing to put it on the map. The estate was already famous as the birthplace of Mona Lisa in 1479. Yet another of Vignamaggio’s other claims to fame is that its red …
Naples: “Scarface” Mansion to Become Community Clinic
Talk about rubbing salt in the wounds of Mafia member Walter Schiavone, who was arrested for murder in 1999, Italian authorities have decided to turn his “Scarface-esque” mansion into a physical rehabilitation center for Naples residents. According to The Guardian , Schiavone was so obsessed with the character of Scarface that he built a $ 2.5-million dollar replica of the …
Get in The Travel Mood: Watch a Clip of “La Dolce Vita”
If you’re counting the days until you arrive in Rome or if you’re just dreaming about the the city, you might want to get a copy of Federico Fellini’s classic film La Dolce Vita (1961). Considered one of the best movies of all time, the movie follows the “sweet life” of a tabloid journalist (Marcello Mastroianni) who covers the glitzy …