Cinema chooses Taormina
Cinema chooses Taormina and its surrounds: the splendid locations
A good way of reading and getting to know about Sicily and its history and traditions, and a good way to obtain glimpses of Sicilian landscapes unique to the rest of the world, is no doubt through cinema. Sicily is an unlimited source of history and suggestive, inspiring atmospheres which are of interest not only to cinema, but also to literature. These represent two forms of communication which often unite, whilst always maintaining their respective identities in an effort to offer something more, to offer different points of view.
Both foreign and Italian cinematography have often expressed interest in Sicily. The most renowned names to represent the island are Visconti, Germi, Rosi, Taviani, not to mention the names of young directors already winners of oscar prizes, such as Tornatore and Benigni. Many directors have been intrigued by the idea of realising a screenplay about the masterworks of Sicilian literary heritage, which happens to be very rich. In fact, films have been produced about the works of Luigi Pirandello and Luigi Capuana, Federico De Roberto and Elio Vittorini. The greatest interpretations have been inspired by the works of Leonardo Sciascia. We can surely recall "Il giorno della civetta" (The day of the owl), with the splendid Claudia Cardinale, "A ciascuno il suo" (Each to their own), for which the splendid town of Cefalù was selected as the location, and the more recent "Il consiglio d'Egitto" (The advice of Egypt), a historical genre starring Silvio Orlando and shot between Catania, Noto and Palermo. In 1984, the Taviani brothers from Pirandello produced the film Kaos, shot in Acireale. There are so many films which could be mentioned, however we are limited to naming just a few here, in order to intrigue the reader and encourage a deeper interest.
Moving away from the literary scene, "Divorzio all'italiana" (Italian style divorce), whose actors include the great Marcello Mastroianni and Stefania Sandrelli, was produced in 1961 and directed by Pietro Germi. For this film of illustrated recognition, given the three oscar nominations it received, one of which was for best screenplay, the Nebrodi park was selected as the natural screenplay, and in Adrano, a small town forming part of the territory, cinematography scenes were shot in the Bellini theatre.
