“I’ve stood on that spot!” I squeal with delight each time I recognise a fleeting scene – be it a landmark, lookout or al fresco café – in a movie or TV series.
When planning a holiday overseas, I’ve been known to go to great lengths to visit backdrops to big- and small-screen blockbusters (Prague comes to mind on my first trip to Europe, where the INXS clip for Never Tear Us Apart was filmed).
Others, including The Sound of Music locations in Salzburg, Austria (remember Do-Re-Mi in the Mirabell Gardens?), and Roman Holiday’s Vespa stops (the Spanish Steps or the Mouth of Truth/Bocca della Verità, anyone?) were must-dos for me long before they became ‘Instafamous’.
I once dragged hubby all over Ireland’s Wicklow Mountains National Park, looking for the wedding scene of Leap Year (Upper Glendalough lake) and stumbled upon other locations in the Aran Islands (Dún Aonghasa cliffs) and Dublin (St Stephen’s Green and Dublin Castle, for example). We stayed in pretty Dingle, where the story begins and ends, but found no trace of the real coastal village in the movie!
Set-jetting is the new name for the phenomenon where tourists plan itineraries inspired by filming locations. It offers them the chance to immerse themselves in places tied to the stories they cherish and the characters or stars they long to emulate.
In more recent times, the HBO American black comedy/drama TV series The White Lotus has heavily bolstered tourism in Hawaii (season one), Sicily (season two) and Thailand (season three).
Global fans have been clambering to have ‘location vacations’ there – at any cost – to walk in the footsteps of the ensemble casts and have their own small taste of the high life.
I visited Sicily for the first time recently, but only watched its local instalment of The White Lotus – largely set in a luxury hotel in Taormina on the east coast – on my return.
Needless to say, I was thrilled to recognise scenes from stays in Isola Bella/Taormina and the provincial capital of Palermo, while Cefalù’s starring role stole my heart all over again.
Cefalù features heavily in The White Lotus as Taormina – despite being 200 kilometres and about two-and-a-half hours’ drive away.
The combination of its Norman/Arab/Byzantine/Moorish architectural influences, sun-kissed beaches (including near the prestigious Sea Palace) and nightly golden glow feels surreal – like something conjured up by Hollywood.
For our stay in Cefalù, we took an hour-long train ride for about 70 kilometres along the northern coastline, east of Palermo.
We then dragged our suitcases over winding cobblestone streets to Hotel La Giara (close to Porta Pescara, the only remaining gate of the four that once made up Cefalù’s city walls), before making a beeline upstairs to its rooftop bar.
The following hours were filled with Birra Messinas and pinot grigios as we snacked on a tasting plate of local specialities, while gazing over terracotta rooftops to the water in one direction, or towards the stunning Rocca Di Cefalù mountain above the Cathedral of Cefalù (this Roman Catholic basilica is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalù and Monreale.)
The oranges, reds and pinks of a champagne sunset slowly merged into a glorious midnight blue.
The next morning, a long stroll on the flat seaside promenade (Lungomare di Cefalù) – with the distinctive umbrellas and lounges of various beach clubs – balanced our dismay in having to dodge smart cars and motorbikes up and down the narrow alleyways bursting with eye-catching boutiques, souvenir shops and fast-food outlets for pear-shaped arancini.
The afternoon called for ‘people watching’ from behind designer sunglasses in Bar Antica Porta Terra – with mandatory Aperol Spritz in hand.
But swimming in the cool Tyrrhenian Sea, bordered by the balconies and back walls of old apartment blocks built on absolute beachfront real estate, and sharing a funghi pizza on the waterview terrace of Via Roma Vecchia Ristorante and Pizzeria really made us feel like celebrities holidaying in this Sicilian beauty.
Filming is expected to begin soon for The White Lotus season four at Château de La Messardière – a 19th-century palace-turned-luxury hotel in Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera. So, along with the hugely popular Emily in Paris franchise, France should provide set-jetting fans with its own glamorous travel inspiration well into the future.
PALERMO
On the northwestern coast, by the Gulf of Palermo, Sicily’s capital is also its cultural, economic and tourism hub.
Sightseeing should take in the 12th-century Palermo Cathedral, the royal Norman Palace, begun in the 9th century, and its Palatine Chapel with its Byzantine mosaics, the neoclassical Teatro Massimo (opera house), Pretoria Fountain and a plethora of churches that are works of art in themselves.
Our B&B was just around the corner from the year-round ‘party street’: Via Maqueda. Via Maqueda crosses with Via Vittorio Emanuele to form the Quattro Canti (Piazza Vigliena). It is a focal point of the city, boasting Baroque architecture, including the Palazzo Comitini and the Church of San Giuseppe dei Teatini.
We watched the procession of happy faces on Saturday night from Ruvolo Bar before moving across the pedestrian strip to Villena for a special sardine pasta dish and tagliatelle with sausage ragu (bolognaise is never done with spaghetti here!).
We also had been recommended the popular Bisso Bistrot and gladly waited in line for a Sunday lunchtime table to devour the spaghetti with mussels, and busiate homemade pasta with fried zucchini Napoli and basil.
TAORMINA
Perched on top of Mount Tauro, Taormina is on the east coast, overlooking the Ionian Sea, and a 45-minute drive from Europe’s largest active volcano, Mount Etna.
Tourists have been coming to elegant Taormina since the 19th century for its beaches (including the Isola Bella nature reserve, accessed by the aerial tramway, built in 1992), arriving by train or the highway from Messina in the north and Catania in the south.
Piazza IX Aprile – the distinctively paved main square, the ancient theatre of Taormina (believed to be from Roman times but rebuilt on the foundations of an older Greek theatre) and the Giardini della Villa Comunale municipal gardens are among my favourites.
GETTING TO SICILY
Many airlines and cruise companies connect Italy to Australia.
From Rome to Cefalù: fly from Fiumicino International Airport to Palermo Airport or Catania-Fontanarossa Airport and catch a train; take a train or two buses; or combine a hire car with the ferry.
MOVIES WITH A SICILIAN TOUCH
Unsuspecting movie fan beware: things are not always as they seem. And that’s what makes the global hunt all the more intriguing.
Scenes may be shot on a set, not on location. The storyline might take place in one country, but all filming is done in another, less-expensive one. Or set designs could disguise a humble spot’s true nature, disappointing fans on arrival. All are edited through the magic of moviemaking to appear ‘just around the corner’.
From drama to comedy and romance, dozens of films have actually been set and filmed in Sicily – some in which the island is almost another character.
Here are some Sicily-set movies you may recognise…
The Godfather Trilogy (1972, 1974 and 1990), directed by Francis Ford Coppola and with an ensemble cast featuring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton and Andy Garcia.
Stromboli (1949), directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring Ingrid Bergman.
Ocean’s Twelve (2004), directed by Steven Soderbergh with an all-star cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), directed by James Mangold, with Harrison Ford in the lead.
Cyrano (2021), directed by Joe Wright, with Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage as Cyrano de Bergerac.
The Sicilian (1987), directed by Michael Cimino, starring Christopher Lambert and Terence Stamp.
Divorce Italian Style (1961), directed by Pietro Germi, starring Marcello Mastroianni.