Tuscany, a wonderful place with
“movie-landscapes”, is for sure the perfect setting for Hollywood
movies, known and less known. Here is a sample:
- UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN (2003)
Plot: Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) is a 35-year old American
writer who lives in San Francisco,
whose perfect life is turned upside down. Her recent divorce has caused her a
writer’s block and she is deeply depressed. Even her best friend, Patti (Sandra
Oh), starts to think that she might never recover. Dr. Patti’s prescription is
very simple: a vacation of 10 days in Tuscany,
Italy.
When she gets there, Frances
falls in love with a villa named Bramasole – that literally means “who longs
for the sun” – and decides to buy it. The villa needs a lot of restoration, but
what could be better than the cradle of Renaissance to begin a new life? While
settling into her new lifestyle in her villa, surrounded by the wonderful
Tuscan countryside, Frances
makes new friends among her neighbours.
Tuscany: in this movie Tuscany is for sure the
absolute protagonist. The town where the movie was shot is Cortona, near Arezzo, and another place to note that also appears in the
movie is Montepulciano, a small medieval town near Siena. To a lesser extent, Rome and Positano also appear.
- THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON (2009)
Plot: Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) decides to end
his relationship with Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) to avoid her the danger of
living close to the vampire world. Her childhood friend Jacob Black (Taylor
Lautner), member of the mysterious Quileute tribe, eases Bella’s pain over
losing Edward, who has left her in the greatest of sorrows. But danger
continues stalking the girl: new supernatural creatures will cross her path,
and Bella will have the only support of Jacob, with whom becomes closer each
passing day. Suddenly, Bella finds herself immersed in the werewolves’ world, ancestral
enemies of vampires, and her loyalty will be tested…
Tuscany: the movie was shot in
part in the beautiful Tuscan countryside near Siena,
particularly in the medieval town of Montepulciano.
- GLADIATOR (2000)
Plot: In the year 185 the Roman
Empire rules the known world. After the victory against the
barbarians, the old Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) decides to give
the power to Maximus (Russell Crowe), a capable general of his armies and a
loyal soldier. But his son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) does not accept his
father’s decision and plans to murder him.
Tuscany: a part of this movie
was shot in Tuscany.
The scene where we see the protagonist’s home - set in Andalusia,
Spain – was in fact shot
near Pienza, in southern Tuscany.
Russell Crow himself stayed for 10 days at Hotel Il Chiostro in Pienza.
- QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008)
Plot: Betrayed by Vesper, the
woman he loved, James Bond feels the urge to turn his latest mission into something personal. Determined to discover the truth,
Bond and M interrogate
Mr. White who reveals that the
organization (Quantum) who blackmailed Vesper is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined. The Forensic intelligence binds a
betrayer of Mi6 with a bank account in Haiti, where a wrong identification
brings Bond to meet the beautiful and combative Camille, who is seeking for her
own revenge. Camille conduces Bond directly to Dominic Greene, a ruthless business
man and an important member of the mysterious organization. This mission brings
him to Austria, Italy and South America;
Bond discovers that Greene is conspiring to take control on one of the most
important natural resources of the world, by setting a deal with the exiled General Medrano. Using his allies in the
organization and manipulating his powerful contacts inside the CIA and the
British Government, Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in
a Latin American country, giving the
General control of the country in
exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land. In a minefield full of betrayals, murders and deceptions, Bond allies
with his old friends in a battle aimed to unveil the truth. As the man who is
responsible of Vesper’s betrayal approaches, 007 has to keep himself one step
ahead from CIA, terrorists and also M, to unravel Greene's sinister plan and stop his organization.
Tuscany: Some scenes with the
sea were shot in Talamone, a small town near the sea in Southern
Tuscany. Siena
also appears in the movie: in the scene where James Bond blows up you can see
behind him Piazza del Campo, where the Palio is held.
- A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1985)
Plot: Lucy Honey Church
(Helena Bonham Carter), a young English woman from a good family, is is touring Italy with her older cousin and chaperone,
Charlotte Bartlett
(Maggie Smith). At the same hotel where the women are staying, they meet an
Englishman, Mr. Emerson (Denholm Elliott) and his son George (Julian Sands), who
decide to give the ladies their rooms so that they can have a window
overlooking the city.
Tuscany: Florence is the absolute protagonist, since
the movie was shot entirely there, with the beautiful monuments as background.
- LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (1997)
Plot: Some years before the beginning of World War II,
the young Guido (Roberto Benigni) arrives in a small village in Tuscany with the
intention of opening a library. He then meets Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), who is
engaged to the fascist Ferruccio, but he will succeed to marry her and to have
a son with her. After the beginning of the war, since Guido is Jew, the family is
taken to a concentration camp. Guido will make the impossible in order that his
little boy believes that the terrible situation they are experiencing is only a
game.
Tuscany: the square where
Benigni rides the bike with his “principessa” is San Francesco Square in Arezzo. Other scenes were shot at Caffè dei
Constanti, in the same square.
- STEALING BEAUTY (1996)
Plot: after the suicide of her mother, an American teenager
(Liv Tyler) goes for the summer to the house of some friends in the beautiful Tuscany. There she will
discover not only love and the first passions, but also new feelings coming
from the cohabitation with the family that hosts her. She will turn herself
into the center of attention of this family and will establish a special
friendship with a dying author (Jeremy Irons). The young woman will start to
believe that she can probably discover the identity of her father, a secret
jealously kept by her mother.
Tuscany: thanks to this movie, a
little more fame was given to the already famous hills of Chianti and to the
beautiful San Gimignano.
- THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996)
Plot: the end of World War II. A wounded man travels
on a caravan on a road in Italy,
but his condition is so much severe that he has to stop in a semi-destroyed
uninhabited monastery, cared only by Hana, a Canadian nurse. His body is
completely burned as a result of an accident in Africa,
but he still has time to tell her the tragic story of his life, when he worked
as a German spy…
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