ROME CINEMATIC TOUR

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Highlights of this tour

stroll in the core of Rome with private expert
famous movie locations
explore hidden corners
learn about facts during shooting
learn about Cinecittà

ROME CINEMATIC TOUR

Rome cinematic tour, is a walk in the central core of Rome, the Eternal cinematic City, using old and new ‘classic’ movies as a wonderful guide to discover its Great Beauty, to spy some of its hidden corners.

Eternal and decadent, monumental and picturesque, sumptuous and derelict, colossally ancient and miserably modern, every aspect of this millenary capital has inspired filmmakers of any sty end tendency.

Piazza Navona, Baroque jewel and fascinating scenography, is the set of the first Roman scene of Anthony MIngella’s psycho thriller “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999). Matt Damon/ Tom Ripley has been charged by an American millionaire to convince his son (Jude Law) to return to the States…

Other film locations in Rome are the Capitoline Hill, Spanish Steps and Piazza Mattei, near the Jewish Ghetto.The 2,000 years old Pantheon and its charming Piazza della Rotonda inspired Peter Greenaway in its “Belly of an Architect” (1987). Kracklite, an American architect (interpreted by Brian Dennehy). The protagonist, obsessed by Roman cupolas, that he associates with his huge painful stomach, finds haunting paralles between his life and that of Caesar Augustus…who (like him?) might have been poisoned by his younger wife…

Piazza Pantheon is also at the center of a scene in “Ocean’s Twelve” (2004), by Steven Soderbergh, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Catherina Zeta-Jones and many others. The shooting of scenes in central Rome took forever and drove Romans crazy!

Nearby, at Piazza di Pietra, with its scenic stone colonnade – once Hadrian’s Temple, is the set of an intense scene in Michelangelo Antonioni’s “The Eclipse” (1962), where young Monica Vitti and Alain Delon, who both frequent the nearby Stocking Exchange, start gazing at each other.

Rome cinematic tour heads now to Trevi Fountain
where one of the most iconic scenes of Italian cinema ever was shot by Federico Fellini. If was a cold March night, but Swedish Anita Ekberg had no problems at staying in the cold water for the time necessary. Do you remember the famous phrase: ‘Marcello…come here!’? Marcello Mastroianni (Marcello Rubini in fiction) wore a diving suit under his clothes and drank vodka to stand the cold.

Spanish Steps (or Piazza di Spagna) is the world-famous spot where Audrey Hepburn (Princess Ann) bumps again, ‘by coincidence’ into Gregory Peck (Joe Bradley), with whom she had spent an adventurous (but chaste) night in “Roman Holiday” (1953). Directed by William Wyler, this movie was supposed to be entirely shot in the States. But was instead entirely shot in Rome and in the studios of Cinecitta’.

The choice fell on young Audrey Hepburn, still unknown, to spare on the budget. Audrey and Gregory visit Rome on a Vespa, and touch many of the ‘must-sees’, including the famous ‘Mouth of Truth’, by Santa Maria in Cosmedin.

Not far is calm and hidden Via Margutta, where Federico Fellini lived. Your guide will tell about the times in which Rome was called ‘the Hollywood on the Tiber’, back in the 50s and 60s, and Cinecitta’ was the cradle of a myriad of national foreign productions. Those were the times of ‘La Dolce Vita’, Via Veneto and the ‘paparazzi’! Julia Roberts

(LIz Gilbert) lives at Via dei Portoghesi, near Via di Ripetta in “Eat, Pray, Love” (2010, by Ryan Murphy) and, in her quest for happiness and beauty, takes us through the most intriguing and gourmet alleyways of Rome. Has a gelato at Piazza Navona, lunch at Piazzetta San Simeone, orders Jewish style artichokes at Largo Febo, and more!

Of course, “Angels & Demons”, and James Bond’s “Spectre”, and Woody Allen’s “To Rome with Love”!

Alberto Sordi interprets Nando Mericoni, “An American in Rome”, directed by Steno in 1954. A Roman obsessed by all things American. One night he walks about the surreal ruins at Portico d’ Ottavia, at the heart of the Jewish Ghetto, imagining improbable spy stories. In another memorable scene he threatens to throw himself down from the Colosseum…

ROME CINEMATIC TOUR GOES ON…
Finally, our “Rome. cinematic tour” has reached the Heart of the Empire, with its Colosseum and all the other glamorous ruins, that have been source of inspirations for generations of film directors, giving life to a countless series of ‘cult movies’, from “Quo Vadis? (1951) and “Ben Hur” (1959) to Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” (2000), passing through Stanley Kubrik’s “Spartacus” (1960) and many, many others!

A special mention goes to Federico Fellini’s “Satyricon”, that the famous director defined ‘an essay of science-fiction of the past’. Last, but not least the scene in Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty”(2013) in which the ‘hero’, Jep Gambardella, relaxes on his hammock in front of a spectacular ‘picture postcard’ of the Colosseum at sunset.

If you enjoyed our Rome cinematic tour

you might also like our similar tour in Venice: ITINERARY