Lee's Tuscan Odyssey: Films set in Tuscany

In 2001 I came to live in Italy. I had some fun, wrote a journal and this is the blog of my story...

"Tuscany is a state of grace. The countryside is so lovingly designed that the eye sweeps the mountains and valleys without stumbling over a single stone. The lilt of the rolling green hills, the upsurging cypresses, the terraces sculptured by generations that have handled the rocks with skillful tenderness, the fields geometrically juxtaposed as though drawn by a draughtsman for beauty as well as productivity; the battlements of castles on the hills, their tall towers standing grey-blue and golden tan among the forest of trees, the air of such clarity that every sod of earth stands out in such dazzling detail. The fields ripening with barley and oats, beans and beets. The grape-heavy vines espaliered between the horizontal branches of silver-green olive trees, composing orchards of webbed design, rich in intimation of wine, olive oil and lacy-leaf poetry. Tuscany untied the knots in a man's intestines, wiped out the ills of the world. Italy is the garden of Europe, Tuscany is the garden of Italy, Florence is the flower of Tuscany." Irving Stone from my favourite book " The Agony and the Ecstacy" A fictional biography of Michelangelo

There have been many, many films set and shot in Tuscany. Here are some of my personal favourites, with a few added anecdotes...

1. The English Patient

The English Patient was partly set in Tuscany in the beautiful Val d'Orcia. The scenes where Juliet Binoche was caring for Ralph Fiennes were set in an old monastery, Sant Anna in Camprena. I've visited it on many occasions and you can rent rooms there in the summer.

2. Gladiator

The Gladiator scenes of Maximus' country house were also filmed in the beautiful Val d'Orcia

3. Casino Royale

The car chase scene at the beginning of Casino Royale was filmed in the Carrara mountains in the north of Tuscany. A friend drove me up and down those white mountains and I thought I was going to die! Also there is a roof-top chase sequence which the crew shot during the famous horse race 'the Palio' in Siena.

4. Hannibal

Hannibal was filmed in Florence. Here you can see Anthony Hopkins walking away from the Ponte Vecchio on the rowing club lawn.

5. Life is Beautiful

The Oscar winning Actor and Director, Roberto was born just outside of Florence in a small town called Vernio in Prato. His masterpiece film La Vita é Bella was set in the beautiful city of Arezzo.

6. Room with a View

Probably the film that epitomises Florence more than any other was the Merchant/Ivory film adaptation of the E.M.Forster novel A Room With A View

7. Tea with Mussolini

Tea with Mussolini moves from theUfizzi in Florence to San Gimignano, where Judi Dench attempts to restore and save the frescoes of Santa Fina!

8. Much ado about nothing

Kenneth Branagh's all star cast and wonderfully shot, Shakespeare classic was filmed at the Villa Vignamaggio just outside Greve-in-Chianti. We got to have private tour by a cleaning lady by mistake! Annette's brother stayed there and we had dinner and a swim in their pool with an unbelievable view! A beautiful place...

9. Stealing Beauty

This classic Bernardo Bertolucci film starred Jeremy Irons, a very young Liv Tyler and Rachel Weisz. There is a scene featuring a large Holm Oak tree near Gaiole-in-Chianti which I visited a few years ago.

10. Miracle at Sant. Anna

One of the latest films to be set in Tuscany was this Spike Lee Joint about a black corp based in Sant. Anna and the subsequent Nazi Massacre. Oh I was at the World Premiere in Florence in 2008 and managed to meet some of the cast!

11. A Midsummer night's dream

Another Shakespeare film set in Tuscany was this all-star cast of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The Portrait of a Lady

The Portrait of a lady starring Nicole Kidman and John Malkovic was the film adaptation of the Henry James classic novel and set in Florence and Lucca.