Palazzo Adriano(PA)

This remote and peaceful town is at the same time famous and a place of pilgrimage. Why? Giuseppe Tornatori's 1988 masterpiece "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso" was partly filmed here: the village stands in as the setting for Tornanbuoni's fictional Giancaldo. It's where the successful film-director(played by Jacques Perrin) returns aftera 30-year absencefor the funeral of his childhood hero and mentor, Alfredo, the local projectionist, played by Philippe Noiret, who inspired his early love for film.

In the film, the Nuovo Cinema Paradiso is pulled down after the death of Alfredo. Unsurprisingly, there is no trace of it in the town today! The original film has recently been released, resoring its full length: the version screened in 1989 in UK, US and elsewhere was a truncated versionb - which still won a string of awards (including the Grand Prix at Cannes).

Below are a few pictures which I took during a sadly brief visit in 2008 - and a lovingly-made YouTube tribute (including some of the Ennio Morricone music)

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  Wild flowers at roadside on the way to Palazzo Adriano
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