Only foreign film buffs may be familiar with many of the names and films listed here, but rest assured, they are, collectively, important representations of Italian culture, and testimony to how Montalcino has remained a choice location for the film industry.
Alongside the famous Brunello wines, Montalcino is renowned as the film set of many great directors. Their cameras “captured” the beauty and poetry of the territory. Take Franco Zeffirelli, who for “Brother sun, sister Moon” (1972), a masterpiece of Italian cinema with Graham Faulkner, Judi Bowker and Valentina Cortese, chose Montalcino and the Abbey of Sant’Antimo. Or in 1988, the French director, Otar Losseliani, who shot the documentary film “A small monastery in Tuscany”.
But already in 1941, the director, Esodo Pratelli, had set the historical film “La Pia dei Tolomei” in Montalcino. Since then, the range and list of films has grown: (1955) “Il Falco d’Oro”by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, and in (1957) “Io Caterina” by Oreste Palella, (1961) “La viaccia” by Mauro Bolognini, with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Claudia Cardinale. In (1965) came the masterpiece “L’armata Brancaleone” by Mario Monicelli with the great Vittorio Gassman who played the timeless role of Brancaleone da Norcia.
The 70s opened to “La Calandria” in (1972) by Pasquale Festa Campanile, with Lando Buzzanca and Barbara Bouchet, followed by the 1975 film “Irene, Irene” by Peter del Monte.
In 1983, the “Bonnie and Clyde all’italiana” (1983) was directed by Steno, with Paolo Villaggio and Ornella Muti, and “Le Novelle del Boccaccio” was shot in (1986) by Swiss director Grytzko Mascioni.
The cinematic love story with Montalcino continues today: (1998) “Thanks for everything” by Luca Manfredi, with Nancy Brilli and Nino Manfredi; “At the right moment” (2000) by and with Giorgio Panariello, from “L ‘ love found “(2004) by Carlo Mazzacurati, with Stefano Accorsi and Maya Sansa; ” Letters to Juliet “(2010) by Gary Winick, with Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave in the vineyards of Caparzo; ” Maraviglioso Boccaccio “(2015) by the Taviani brothers, with Lello Arena, Kasia Smutniak, Carolina Crescentini, Paola Cortellesi, Riccardo Scamarcio, Vittoria Puccini, Kim Rossi Stuart and Jasmine Trinca at Castello Romitorio.
Even the pandemic couldn’t keep the cameras from rolling. Just a year ago, James d’Arcy chose Montalcino for “Made in Italy” (2020) with Liam Neeson, in Argiano.
