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On location: ‘The Trip to Italy’ with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon

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By Joanne O’Connnor

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

It might seem an unlikely format for a comedy series but The Trip , which saw Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon eating their way around northern England while indulging in unscripted banter and competitive Michael Caine impersonations, was a big hit. Now the pair are back for a second helping, against the somewhat sunnier backdrop of the Italian coast.

On location

The six-part series follows Coogan and Brydon as they embark on a road-trip from Piedmont, in the north of Italy, south to Capri. Ostensibly, they are travelling in the footsteps of romantic poets Shelley and Byron but, in reality, the food is the star of the show. The trip starts with a lingering lunch at the acclaimed Trattoria della Posta ( trattoriadellaposta.it ) in Langhe, 40km east of Cuneo, where they try guinea fowl and the local Barolo wine.

In a nod to The Italian Job (1969), the pair have chosen a Mini Cooper for their journey through sun-soaked vineyards. Elite Rent-a-Car ( eliterent.com ) hires out four different Mini models in Italy, including convertibles like the one driven by Coogan and Brydon (from €140 a day).

There’s time for a brief stop at Byron’s house in Genoa before heading south to the Italian Riviera and the charming seaside village of Camogli, where terracotta-coloured houses cling to steep hillsides overlooking the aptly named Golfo Paradiso. Nearby, the fishing hamlet of San Fruttuoso is a picture-perfect setting for a plate of fritto misto on the beach at La Cantina ( www.lacantinasanfruttuoso.it ).

Continuing their grand tour, Coogan and Brydon drive through the rolling hills of Tuscany, before stopping off in Pisa and then Rome, where they visit the Protestant Cemetery where Shelley’s ashes are buried, the Colosseum and the Spanish Steps, and enjoy a meal at German chef Oliver Glowig’s two Michelin-starred restaurant ( oliverglowig.com ) near Villa Borghese.

Next stop is the Amalfi coast, where the highlights include a visit to Pompeii and a long, boozy lunch on the terrace of the elegant Villa Cimbrone hotel in Ravello. The trip ends in Capri with yet another memorable meal, this time at Il Riccio, the breezy seafront restaurant of the Capri Palace Hotel.

Where to stay

In Camogli, Brydon and Coogan stayed at the seafront Cenobio dei Dogi ( www.cenobio.it ), which has elegant bedrooms and access to a private beach (doubles from €190). Villa Cimbrone ( villacimbrone.com ) in Ravello, a medieval palazzo perched above the Gulf of Salerno, has played host to many illustrious guests, from Virginia Woolf and DH Lawrence to Winston Churchill (doubles from €360). The Capri Palace Hotel ( capripalace.com ) is the grand dame of Italian hotels, with a spa, Michelin-starred restaurant and exclusive beach club (from €395). Tour operator Citalia ( citalia.com ) can provide a tailor-made self-drive holiday from Liguria to Capri with prices from £1,335pp for nine nights.

‘The Trip to Italy’ is being screened by the BBC in the UK; it will be shown in Australia and the US next month, and other countries later in the year

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10 Movie Locations in Italy You Can Visit

While many movies these days are filmed on Hollywood sets or in front of green screens and full of fantastic animation, there’s nothing that can quite compare with a stunning – and real – Italy backdrop. So if you’re wondering where some of your favorite movies were filmed, here are 10 movies filmed in Italy – and where you can go to see the movie locations for yourself.

The Talented Mr. Ripley

The Passion of the Christ

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Under the Tuscan Sun

The English Patient

The Red Violin

My House in Umbria

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Trip to Italy

Two men, six meals in six different places on a road trip around Italy. Liguria, Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi and ending in Capri. Two men, six meals in six different places on a road trip around Italy. Liguria, Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi and ending in Capri. Two men, six meals in six different places on a road trip around Italy. Liguria, Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi and ending in Capri.

• Michael Winterbottom
• Steve Coogan
• Rosie Fellner
• 92 User reviews
• 104 Critic reviews
• 75 Metascore
• 1 nomination

Top cast 15

• (as Timothy Leach)

• La Suvera Receptionist
• Villa Cimbrone Receptionist
• Villa Cimbrone Porter

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia Like the previous film, The Trip (2010) , Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan improvised their scenes together.
• Goofs Toward the end of the movie (33 minute to the end), they are showing and commenting about a fruit they call "kumquat" which is in fact a "Physalis" also called "Cape Gooseberry", a fruit originally from Chile and Peru. A Kumquat is like a miniature orange, which can be eaten whole, or used in making marmalade. It has a very sharp flavour. A physalis has a paper-like husk like a tomatillo and is very sweet when ripe.

Steve : [In reference to Alanis Morissette] You know I can see the appeal in a woman like this. Volatile women are always sexy when you first meet them but two years down the line you're sorta saying things like, 'can you just put the lids back on eh... on these jars please.'

• Connections Edited from The Trip (2010)
• Soundtracks All I Really Want Written by Glen Ballard and Alanis Morissette Published by Bucks Music Group Limited on behalf of Penny Farthing Music; Universal/MCA Music Limited Performed by Alanis Morissette Licensed courtesy of Warner Music UK Ltd.

User reviews 92

• Jul 26, 2014
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• April 25, 2014 (United Kingdom)
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• Official Facebook
• Villa Cimbrone, Ravello, Italy (Terrazzo dell'lnfinito)
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
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• Aug 17, 2014

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• Runtime 1 hour 48 minutes

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Italy Segreta

The italian culture magazine, the greatest guide to filming locations in italy.

Traveling with a purpose is always better! In this case, said purpose is Italy’s best filming locations… Our country looks pretty dashing on screen, but even better in real life!! Here, 135 places to visit that have been featured on the big screen:

• Serafino (1968)
• Ladyhawke (1985)
• King David (1985)
• The Name of the Rose (1986)
• The Bridge’s Journey (1997)
• Il ritorno di Don Camillo (1943)
• La Strada (1954)
• The American (2010)
• Pane e tulipani (2003)
• La Guerra degli Antò (1999)

Campo Imperatore

• No Time To Die (2021)
• Ben-Hur (1954)
• Wonder Woman (2017)
• Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo (1964)
• L’uomo delle stelle (1995)
• Cristo si è fermato a Eboli (1978)
• Il sole di Notte (1990)
• Ninfa Plebea (1996)
• Wertmüller e da La Lupa (1996)
• Terra Bruciata (1999)
• The Passion of the Christ (2004)

• Vorrei vederti ballare (2012)
• The Wolf of the Sila (1949)
• The Ballad of the Husbands (1963)
• L’abbuffata (2007)
• Un ragazzo di Calabria (1987)
• Corpo Celeste (2011)

Aerial view of Sumo village in Aspromonte

• Purple Noon (1960)
• Ciao, Professore! (1992)
• Star Wars Episode I (1999)
• Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)
• Il Giudizio universale (1961)
• Piedone lo Sbirro (1973)
• La Pelle (1981)
• Matrimonio all’Italiana (1964)
• Il Postino (1995) 
• The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
• Il disprezzo (Contempt, 1963)

Castellabate

• Benvenuti al Sud (2010)

EMILIA ROMAGNA

• Novecento (1900; 1976)
• Ferrari (2023)
• Ossessione (Obsession; 1943)
• La Donna del Fiume (The River Girl; 1955) 
• La Prima Notte di Quiete (Indian Summer, 1972)
• Amarcord (1973)
•  L’incredibile Storia Dell’Isola Rose (2020)
• Quo Vadis, Baby? (“Where Are You Going, Baby?”, 2005)
• Delta (2022)

FRIULI-VENEZIA GIULIA

• Il Commissario Montalbano: L’altro capo del filo (2019)
• Gli Ultimi (1962)
• La Forza del Passato (2002)
• Diverso da chi? (2009)
• Scappo a casa (2019)
• Medea (1969)

• Spectre (2015)
• Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio (The Temptations of Doctor Antonio, 1962)
• Caro Diario (Dear Diary, 1993)
• La Dolce Vita (1960)
• The Girls of the Spanish Steps (1952)
• Roman Holiday (1953)
• We Were So Loved (1985)
• Risate di Gioia (1960)
• C’eravamo Tanto Amati (1974)
• The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003)
• Umberto D. (1952)
• All the Money in the World (2017) 
• La Grande Bellezza (2013)
• Ladri di Biciclette (1948)
• Soliti Ignoti (1958)
• Roma Città Aperta (1945)
• Accattone (1961)
• Bellissima (1951)
• To Rome with Love (2012)
• House of Gucci (2021)
• The Two Popes (2019)

Trevi Fountain

• The Day of the Jackal (1973)
• Bewitched (1986)
• Genova (2008)
• Scent of a Woman (1974)
• The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
• The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) 
• Luca (2021)

• Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
• Casino Royale (2006)
• Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
• Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960) 
• Call Me By Your Name (2017)
• Quantum of Solace (2008)
• Io sono l’amore (I Am Love, 2009)
• Miracle in Milan (1951)

• Corsage (2022)
• The son’s room (2001) 
• Obsession (1943)
• The Killer Reserved Nine Seats (1974)

Riviera del Conero, Marche

• Don’t Move (2004)
• Sole a Catinelle (2013)
• The Law is the Law (1958)
• Continuavano a chiamarlo trinità (1971)

Art by @biancoshock for CVTA; Photo courtesy of @cvtastreetfest.

• Profondo Rosso (Deep Red, 1975)
• Double Game (1977)
• Santa Maradona (2001)
• After Midnight (2004)
• Il Divo (2008)
• Venuto al mondo (2012)
• The Italian Job (1969) 
• La donna della domenica (1975)
• Suspiria (1977) 
• War and Peace (1956)
• The Truffle Hunters (2020)

• LaCapaGira (1999) 
• Pinocchio (2019)
• Stardust (1973)
• The Life Ahead (2020)
• Mio Cognato (2003)
• The Girl with the Pistol (1968)

Polignano a Mare, Photo by Lavinia Cernau

• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
• The Man Who Bought the Moon (2018)
• Black Stallion (1979)
• Mr. Robinson (1966)
• The Bible (1966)
• Red Desert (1964)
• A Small Southern Enterprise (2013)

• Cinema Paradiso (1988)
• Baaria (2009)
• Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
• A Bigger Splash (2015)
• The Godfather (1972)
• La Regola d’Oro (2020) 
• The White Lotus (2022)
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith (2005)
• The Canterbury Tales (1972)
• Malena (2000)
• Il Postino (1994)
• Caro Diario (1993), episode titled “Islands”
• Stromboli (1950)
• L’avventura (1960)

TRENTINO-ALTO ADIGE 

• Everest (2015)
• Siberia (2020)
• La befana vien di notte (2018)
• Where the Road leads (2020)
• Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
• The Great Silence (1968)

Val Gardena, Trentino Alto Adige

• The Gladiator (2000)
• The English Patient (1996)
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999)
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
• I Vitelloni (1953)
• Amici miei (1975)
• A Room with a view (1986)
• I Laureati (1995)
• Portrait of a lady (1996)
• Tea with Mussolini (1999)
• ​​Hannibal (2001)
• Inferno (2016)
• La vita è bella (1997)
• Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
• Tale of Tales (2015)

• Benedetta (2021)
• Lezioni di cioccolato (2007)
• In Arte Nino (2016)
• Copperman (2019)
• A Perfect Family (2012)
• Romeo & Juliet (1968)

VALLE D’AOSTA

• Kingsmen: The Golden Circle (2016)
• Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Photography Valle D’Aosta, 1991 by Gabriele Basilico/Archivio Gabriele Basilico

• The Tourist (2010)
• Moonraker (1979)
• Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
• The Italian Job (2003)
• Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
• Death in Venice (1971)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
• From Russia with Love (1963)
• For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Rocca Calascio

Campo Felice

Rocca di Cambio

Castel del Monte

Reggio Calabria

Royal Palace of Caserta

Palazzo dello Spagnolo

Piazza Del Gesù

Villa Malaparte

Corso Canalgrande

The Grand Hotel Rimini

Cinema Fulgor

Castello di Torrechiara

Piazza Mazzini

Piazza della Mercanzia

Po Delta Interregional Park

Coderno di Sedegliano

Museum of Roman Civilization

Villa di Fiorano

EUR District

Harry’s Bar

Spanish Steps

Palazzo dei Conservatori

The Pantheon

Piazza Navona

Fontana Dell’acqua Paola

Porta Portese

Trattoria Biondo Tevere

Ristorante la Veranda

Necci dal 1924

Osteria Margutta

Santa Maria in Campitelli

Castel Gandolfo

Cinque Terre

Villa Balbiano

Piazza del Duomo

Santuario delle Grazie in Curtatone

Villa Necchi Campiglio

Il Salumaio restaurant

Piazza del Duomo, Milan

Gentile Theater, Fabriano

Venafro River

Porta Palazzo

Villa Capriglio

Valentino Castle

Gravina in Puglia

Polignano a Mare

Port of Palau

Hotel Cala di Volpe

Spiaggia Capriccioli

Marina di Arbus

Villa Palagonia

Tonnara di Scopello

Tenuta Borgia

Bar Vitelli

Piazza Duomo

Aeolian Islands

Val Senales Valley

Monticolo Lakes

Neves Reservoir

Three Peaks / Alta Pusteria

San Cassiano in Badia

San Quirico d'Orcia

Montepulciano

Carrara marble quarries

Santa Maria Novella

Torre in Chianti

Castello di Sammezzano

Casa del Cioccolato Perugina

Gressoney-La-Trinité

Gressoney-Saint-Jean

Ford di Bard

Rialto Market Santa Sofia

Piazza San Marco

Grande Canal

Hotel Excelsior

Palazzo Pisani

Grand Hotel des Bains

Chiesa di San Barnaba

Bridge of Sighs

Ca’ Rezzonico

Cortina d’Ampezzo

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Wednesday September 4th 2024

Films made in Italy

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FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

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GOODBYE MR CHIPS (1969)

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GÖTTERDAMMERUNG

HANNAH AND HER SISTERS

HUDSON HAWK

INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE

THE ITALIAN JOB (1969)

THE ITALIAN JOB (2003)

JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2

JULIET OF THE SPIRITS (GIULIETTA DEGLI SPIRITI)

LADRE DI BICICLETTE (BICYCLE THIEVES)

The Last Emperor

THE LEOPARD ( IL GATTOPARDO)

LETTERS TO JULIET

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (LE VITA E BELLA)

MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL

LE MÉPRIS (CONTEMPT)

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1999)

MIGHTY APHRODITE

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3

MODESTY BLAISE

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO

THE NAME OF THE ROSE

THE NIGHT PORTER

No Time To Die

NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO

THE OMEN (1976)

THE OMEN (2006)

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA

OTTO E MEZZO (EIGHT AND A HALF)

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

THE PINK PANTHER (1963)

PLEIN SOLEIL

PRIMA DELLA RIVOLUZIONE

PRINCE OF FOXES

Quantum of Solace

RACCONTI DI CANTERBURY, I (1972)

ROMAN HOLIDAY

ROMEO AND JULIET (1968)

A ROOM WITH A VIEW

SALÒ (SALÒ O LE 120 GIORNATE DE SODOMA)

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME

THE SPIDER’S STRATAGEM

The Spy Who Loved Me

STAZIONE TERMINI

STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE

STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES

STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH

SUMMER MADNESS (SUMMERTIME)

THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY

TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT

THE TREE OF LIFE

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON

VAMPIRE IN VENICE (NOSFERATU A VENEZIA)

IL VANGELO SECONDO MATTEO

LA VITA E BELLA (LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL)

I VITELLONI

THE WINGS OF THE DOVE

WONDER WOMAN

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Please send any corrections or additions to [email protected] . All material Copyright © 2024 The Worldwide Guide To Movie Locations

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The Trip to Italy

Time out says.

‘Second-album syndrome’ is how co-star Steve Coogan, in a meta moment of self-critique, describes his impending food tour with also-slightly-fictionalised Rob Brydon in director Michael Winterbottom’s sequel to 2010’s ‘The Trip’ (which existed as both a film and a BBC series) .  This time, the duo is headed to Italy’s glorious Amalfi Coast and several ridiculously good-looking plates of pasta. But if the new film is, indeed, a follow-up to what’s now looking like an essential comedy of middle-age desperation, they haven’t laid an egg as lacklustre as, say, the Stone Roses’s ‘Second Coming’ . All the expected notes are hit, and if the company has shoehorned in a bit of filler, there’s still another side of impressive, transitional maturity.

First, the hits: Coogan and Brydon’s duelling Michael Caine impressions are back, and it’s almost too much of a good thing, with riffs extending to the whole central cast of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (including a nervous assistant to Christopher Nolan). There’s another exchange later on that’s even more dizzying, Brydon’s shouty Al Pacino mingling with Coogan’s adenoidal Woody Allen in a mashup of the ‘Godfather’ movies and ‘Annie Hall’ . Outside of their competitive bubble, these sun-dappled locations – from Pompeii and Campania to Capri’s sexy Casa Malaparte (legendarily used in Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘ Le Mepris ’ ) – glow with easy luxury, making the endless sparring especially clueless. On a yacht, they sail via hot air.

The real richness of the movie, though, comes well in, as the improvised script gets around to deeper anxieties of ageing and avoidance. Brydon, this time, finds himself blown off by his too-busy wife and falls into the arms of a comely crew member (Rosie Fellner), guiltily. A through-line of commentary about expat English poets draws Coogan into a self-lacerating funk over a stalled TV show; he shifts gears to reconnect with his teenage son.

As is becoming clear, the ‘Trip’ stories bring their share of luscious, plated delights, but their title refers to something longer-term and uncertain. We know the recipe now – Winterbottom never departs from it, giving this instalment slightly less kick – but the guys have curious appetites they barely understand.

Release Details

• Duration: 115 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Michael Winterbottom
• Screenwriter: Michael Winterbottom
• Steve Coogan
• Rosie Fellner

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The Trip to Italy: How to recreate Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan's gastronomic journey through the European countryside

• MailOnline Travel visit the restaurants and landmarks from the 2014 hit film
• From pasta in Pisa to cocktails in Capri - the ultimate foodie break revealed
• Italy's Amalfi coast, Rome, Pievescola and more visited on tailormade tour 

By Sofia Zagzoule For Mailonline

Published: 05:03 EDT, 25 October 2015 | Updated: 15:01 EDT, 25 October 2015

View comments

Millions watched The Trip to Italy – not for the Michael Caine impressions really – but for those drop dead gorgeous views of the country, and for the food, mostly for the food. 

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan were ostensibly following in the footsteps of romantic poets Shelley and Byron but in reality the actors were eating their way around a country famous for its food and the show must have given the tourist board a massive boost. 

It certainly made me determined to see more of Italy. To find out if such a trip was manageable and affordable without being paid for by TV wigs I sought the assistance of Citalia, the Italian Holiday Specialists who have 85 years' experience of arranging tailor-made trips, and here are my findings.

Bagni Di Pisa  

Nestled in northern Italy's tumbling olive groves lies the luxurious 18th century restored palace Bagni Di Pisa 

The hotel's many thermal pools are rich in sulphur, calcium and magnesium and pumped out at 37 degrees

A seven-minute walk from San Giuliano Terme station, this hotel is four miles from the Leaning Tower of Pisa

In keeping with the grand ethos Rob and Steve become accustomed to during their trip, Bagni Di Pisa is an 18th century restored palace and the ancient summer residence of Grand Duke of Tuscany. 

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Nestled in northern Italy's tumbling olive groves think soft Tuscan hills, marble bathtubs, antique furniture, and 17th Century artwork just 10km from Pisa airport. 

We learn we've just missed Elton John and Billy Idol and that the poet Shelley was a guest back in the day at the 60 room five-star residence. No surprise given the splendour of our room which has two floors, an iron spiral staircase with original frescoes decorating a ceiling dripping in chandeliers. 

The beautiful hotel boasts a large spa with natural hot springs and a pool set in San Giuliano Terme, Italy

The spa programmes at the hotel have been developed to solve several problems caused by a bad nutrition

As well as an incredible spa and the hotel's many thermal pools – rich in sulphur, calcium and magnesium pumped out at 37 degrees - the indulgent five course dinner at the Restaurant Dei Lorena is what we talk about for days afterwards. 

Although there is a healthy option carefully selected for those on the spa's weightloss programme, we steadfastly avoided that.

We opted instead for the five course feast featuring heavenly tomato and cheese ravioli, full-fat mozzarella, Parma ham and a spicy fish soup packed with everything from mussels, clams, lobster and prawns to seabass and bream.

Relais La Suvera, Pievescola  

Located in stately medieval stone buildings, this hotel is close to the 17th-century Villa Cetinale's gardens

Perhaps our favourite stop was this extraordinary five-star villa in South Tuscany once belonging to the descendants of the King of France before being donated to Pope Julius II in the 16th Century - the ornate collection of furniture and art here is testimony to the status of the owners. 

If you're a history, architecture or art buff - La Suvera is the place for you. 

There's also a heated pool, a spa with an ancient medieval cistern and a well-equipped gym if you need to work off all that pasta. Stay in one of 35 rooms or suites in the Papal Villa, the converted farmhouse or stables.

Steve and Rob enjoy a cocktail in the hotel's gardens and then breakfast here after Rob has roped in a staff member to help him audition for a new Mafia drama in episode 3. 

Each room is adorned in the name of a historical figure, perfect for anniversary vacations or honeymoons

Steve and Rob enjoy a cocktail in the hotel's gardens and then breakfast here after Rob has roped in a staff member to help him audition for a new Mafia drama in episode three

Enjoy the exact same spot in Bar Limone that they did overlooking the incredible Tuscan countryside of vineyards and olive groves or take a stroll across the grounds viewing a church, a museum revealing the castle's history, endless fountains and ancient aviaries.

The food here is a major player with the bar and restaurant serving delicious evening meals the highlights of which included tagliatelle with homemade pesto and the best aubergine parmigiana we have ever tasted. 

When you have the added option of pairing the meals with organic, estate-grown wines there really isn't much reason to move.

If you should wish for a change of scene there's a village with the family run Ristorante Locanda Antica Pieve ( www.ristoranteanticapieve.eu ), eight minutes away complete with a framed newspaper cutting telling us the chef once served as Nicole Kidman's private cook. 

The standard of the food lends the claim some gravitas, here we enjoyed exceptional homemade ravioli, gnocchi , antipasti and delicious gelato.

Hotel Donna Camilla Savelli , Rome 

Set in a converted 17th-century convent in Trastevere, this hotel lies a minute's walk from a local bus stop

The area is streaming with live music and bars which are perfect for people watching in Rome

If you're seeking rooms in the Eternal City and want to do it style without breaking the bank, the four- star Hotel Donna Camilla Savelli Rome features a Fully Restored 16th Century Monastery and is situated in the Trastevere area, basically the Soho of the Italian capital. 

Even though this was my fourth trip to Rome it was by far the best thanks to the area which I can't stop recommending to every poor soul I hear heading that way. 

We were completely spoilt for choice for where to eat and drink and enjoyed gigantic and deliciously cheesy pizzas for €7 as street restaurants compete for the trade of hordes of tourists and locals along the main Via Della Scalla, a long winding street with a square at its centre.

Sofia said: 'We were completely spoilt for choice and enjoyed gigantic and deliciously cheesy pizzas'

The hotel is in walking distance is the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum and Fontana dell'Acqua Paola

For art buffs the Rafael frescoed ceilings and walls of renaissance Villa Farnesina (above) is a well-hidden gem

If you're bar hopping most places bring you a board of generous antipasti to go with your drink. The area's also teaming with live music and perfect for people watching. Grazia & Graziella, Taverna Della Scala and Il Tarallo Allegro all enjoyed our custom.

The hotel offers a roof terrace and is within walking distance is the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum and Fontana dell'Acqua Paola which affords incredible views across the city. 

Of course Rob and Steve enjoy an indulgent dinner at Oliver Glowig's Michelin starred restaurant in the picturesque Villa Borghese if your budget stretches that far.

For art buffs the Rafael frescoed ceilings and walls of renaissance Villa Farnesina - a short walk from the hotel – is a well-hidden gem that will give you respite from the crowds and room to admire the painted floors, walls and ceilings. Take refuge in the beautiful lemon gardens after ( villafarnesina.it ) 

Minori Palace , Amalfi Coast 

The historic and picturesque town of Rapello is just a few miles away from Minori Palace on the Amalfi Coast

The Minori Palace offers 44 bright rooms with furnished balconies, a nice bar area and a hall

The picturesque little town of Minori is an ideal base to explore the Amalfi region.

The historic and picturesque town of Rapello is just a few kilometres away, the beautiful coastal town where Greta Garbo found refuge in the Thirties, before Gore Vidal made it his home. 

There is a local bus that will take you along the winding roads that are a riot of colour -though having experienced this I would recommend one of the pricier taxis. 

Taking a stroll in the stunning grounds you will see the 'Terrace of Infinity' a natural balcony providing a breathtaking but stomach-flipping view of the Amalfi mountainside

Once here you'll find Villa Cimbrone that Steve and Rob visit in episode 5 and which has played host Virginia Woolf, DH Lawrence and Winston Churchill among others. 

Climb some steep steps to access it while admiring spectacular views of the Amalfi Coast snaking below, enjoy a two-course meal for two for around €80 at the restaurant.

Then take a stroll in stunning grounds and see the 'Terrace of Infinity,' a natural balcony providing a breathtaking but stomach-flipping view of the Amalfi mountainside and Tyrennhian Sea below. The structures date back to at least the 11th century AD and provide the perfect selfie spot. 

The Capri Palace , Capri 

Capri, an island in the Gulf of Naples, is known for its rugged landscape, beach resorts and high-end shops

Suites offer private pools, Egyptian-cotton counterpanes on four-poster beds, sound systems, and plasma TVs

Skip the crowds of day-trippers and get an early morning ferry from Naples or Amalfi to Capri (around 40 – 60 minutes). 

Ride around Anacapri in an open-top taxi marvelling at the luxury all around you. 

If sumptuous dining is what you're after The Capri Palace ( capripalace.com ) is the grand dame of Italian hotels, the place to see and be seen and the island's five-star flagship with a spa, Michelin-starred restaurant and exclusive beach club (featured in The Trip's final episode).

The hotel is the place to be seen and the island has a spa, Michelin-star restaurant and exclusive beach club

If sumptuous dining is what you're after The Capri Palace is the grand dame of Italian hotels

The Island of Capri is one of the most picturesque and visited locations in Campania, Italy

Should you wish for something a bit cheaper Le Arcate Ristorante is the highest rated place for pizza in Capri on trustworthy trip advisor and is a three minute walk. 

Here you'll find pages and pages of good honest Italian fare, pizzas and pastas, for around €6-€14.

Complete with suites offering private pools The Capri Palace Hotel (from €395) offers Egyptian-cotton counterpanes on four-poster beds, sound systems, plasma TVs and marble bathrooms. 

Pretty much the reserve of honeymooners or super rich but a delight to visit - a bit like going to the Ritz in London – and a cocktail on the terrace here watching the sunset is a Capri must-see. 

Dotted with exclusive Italian, international and contemporary art - including plastic mermaids and a boat made of TVs - don't miss the pool turned art installation you can peer into through its aquarium-like windows at the side. And take a dip if you dare. 

TRAVEL FACTS 

Leading Italian specialists Citalia (01293 731 753, www.citalia.com ) can arrange an Italian road trip taking in Liguria, Tuscany, Rome, the Amalfi Coast and Capri, on a B&B basis.

Starting from £1,189 per person including return flights from Gatwick, resort transfers and 10 nights car hire. Based on departures 2 May 2016. 

The BBC Trip To Italy is out now on Blu-ray. 

Share or comment on this article: How to recreate Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan's The Trip to Italy

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Lasting Impressions

It’s been said of great mimics that they capture not just the voice and the manner of their subjects but their very souls. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, master impersonators and stars of the new comedy “The Trip to Italy,” are after something less grand and, in many ways, funnier. The movie is a sequel to “The Trip” (2011)—both were directed by Michael Winterbottom—and it repeats the earlier film’s mixed tone of hilarity and melancholia, as well as its absurd premise: the two men (they play themselves) are on an all-expenses-paid trip for the Observer . Their tough assignment is to drive through beautiful country, eat lavishly, and stay in exquisite small hotels, all so that one or the other can write high-toned culinary drivel for the paper. (They don’t actually know anything about food.) “The Trip” was set in the bleakly magnificent scenery of the hills and moors of the North of England; this film is set mainly along the incomparable coast (Liguria, Amalfi) of Italy. As the men amble through paradise, savoring such dishes as polpo alla griglia and coniglio arrosto , they take turns topping each other with riotous impressions of movie stars. They aren’t interested in anyone’s soul; they see themselves simply as professionals in an exacting trade that requires getting Christian Bale’s guttural whisper and Roger Moore’s English-butter croon exactly right. They also try to one-up each other as men, vying for professional success and for the attention of the invariably lovely women they meet. Sharks have duller teeth than Coogan and Brydon. Both movies, in fact, are about the impossibility—and the necessity—of male friendship.

Each film began as a six-part series on the BBC, and what we see, presumably, are the highlights. Yet if I hadn’t known that the footage had been cut way down I wouldn’t have guessed it. Winterbottom laid out the gist of a given scene, and the men improvised the rest, often taking off on bizarrely intricate riffs. Driving, eating, checking into hotels, lying alone (and sometimes not alone) at night—the recurring scenes, like the refrain of a song, give the movie formal clarity and simplicity, while, within the scenes, the editors (Mags Arnold, Paul Monaghan, and Marc Richardson) smooth what must have been ragged exchanges into unbroken streams of conversation.

The pace almost equals that of Robin Williams doing standup, but Coogan and Brydon reprise their best sallies for rhythm and for emphasis, so you won’t miss anything that matters. Ogling the scenery in “The Trip to Italy,” you wonder if the men’s small car—a Mini Cooper—will drive off the edge of a cliff, or if, when they board a yacht in the Golfo dei Poeti, someone will fall overboard and drown. But the “plot” is no more than the men’s thorny emotional connection and their mutual fixation on death. The only conventional suspense is whether Brydon and Coogan will return to their families or remain among the young women of Sorrento and Positano, catching octopus and squid.

Brydon, who is largely unknown in this country, has a long pale face, a Bugs Bunny smile, and pitted skin like that of his fellow-Welshman Richard Burton. Brydon’s voice is like Burton’s, too—baritonal, musical, and expansive. When Brydon reads Shelley in his imitation-Burton voice, he sounds nearly as authoritative as the Master. (He also does a mean Ian McKellen.) Brydon’s voice can go up or down an octave, or shrink, through some glottal mystery, to the tiny sound of a man in a box, a favorite routine that he does on British TV. Perhaps the most extraordinary of his impressions is a long series in “The Trip” devoted to Michael Caine at different stages of his life, from a snarling young Cockney to the elderly, hyper-polite butler in the “Batman” movies. Even as Brydon delivers his rendition, however, Coogan disputes his technique. You have to talk through your nose, he says; you have to get the nasality right, and he honks through his Michael Caine. For both men, craft is a passion, and the voice is supreme. When Brydon does Hugh Grant, the meaning of the words gets lost in a thicket of Grantian hesitations, jokes, and daft circumlocutions, only to emerge victoriously in a proposal that few women could resist. An actor’s distinctive voice is not just an element of leading-man stardom (which the two know they will never achieve) but the main equipment of sexual prowess. Coogan and Brydon’s Hollywood envy keeps the comedy free of sycophancy and appropriately hostile. Imitating well is the best revenge.

Coogan is best known here for his work in the Stephen Frears movie “Philomena” (2013), in which he played the real-life journalist Martin Sixsmith, an argumentative skeptic who helps Judi Dench’s Philomena Lee, a forgiving Catholic Irish woman, search for her long-lost son. Working in a softened version of screwball comedy, Coogan and Dench bantered with spirit but without sentiment. Yet, even in that relatively gentle role, Coogan, frowning, his pursed lips bordering on a sneer, came off as an articulate grouch. In the “Trip” films, playing a version of himself, he’s intelligent and dyspeptic, a man too clever to live by illusions but too ambitious to give them up. He’s dissatisfied with everything—his career, his relationship with his children, his waning sexual attractiveness—and he takes it out on his friend. In return, Brydon, in “The Trip to Italy,” concocts no fewer than three fantasies of murdering him, including a precise reënactment of the famous retaliation scene from “The Godfather: Part II.” As a portrait of male friendship, the “Trip” films are a triumph of the lean British comic style over the maunder and the mush of American bromance—Jason Segel and Seth Rogen pinching each other’s blubber.

Both films pursue the high and the low: a complicated deep-running sadness courses through the cynical, sybaritic adventures. In “The Trip,” Coogan and Brydon visit the villages where Wordsworth and Coleridge lived; they invade the poets’ tiny rooms, and recite, under gray skies, stretches of their early work, most of it devoted to loss and grief. The readings are done straight, with love and skill. Yet we’re meant to notice the diminution: from nature as spiritual necessity to tourist site; from poetry to show business; from inspiration to career worries. Coogan and Brydon abhor self-aggrandizement and self-promoting bluster—they know that what they do isn’t poetry.

The implicit comparisons recur in Italy, where the men visit the towns in which the sexual outlaws Byron and Shelley lived, shortly before their deaths. The comics perform funerary obsequies for the poets and again recite in their own and others’ voices. “The Trip to Italy,” for all its japes, is haunted by mortality, as was its namesake, “Viaggio in Italia” (1954), the Rossellini masterpiece starring George Sanders and Ingrid Bergman as a warring couple dismally on tour. Like them, Coogan and Brydon visit the museum at Pompeii, with its plaster casts of the bodies of the dead. Rossellini showed us a couple who died locked in embrace when Vesuvius exploded, a harsh reflection on the modern couple’s marital anguish. Here, in a blasphemous reduction, Brydon summons his man-in-a-box voice to play a Pompeian lying in a glass case; the two carry on a discreet gay flirtation. It’s not that the end is nigh for these men, but death, for them and for Winterbottom, is always present in life. Over and over on the soundtrack, Winterbottom plays the beginning of “Im Abendrot,” the last of Richard Strauss’s “Four Last Songs,” composed in 1948, a year before he died, at the age of eighty-five. The use of classical music in movies normally makes me wince, but in this film the glorious Strauss farewell fits every time.

James Agee, writing in The Nation , in 1946, noted that Groucho Marx, working with “extremely sophisticated wit . . . has always been slowed and burdened by his audience, even on the stage. He needs an audience that could catch the weirdest curves he could throw, and he needs to have no anxiety or responsibility toward even a blunter minority, let alone majority.” That audience now exists; it has been created during the past forty years by British and American television, particularly by cable television. Whether such people go to the movies anymore is a vexed question. On the opening day of “The Trip to Italy,” I sat in a New York art house among a gathering of decidedly mature viewers, who were apparently expecting a beach-and-mountain travelogue. For a hundred and ten minutes, watching some of the funniest comedy in years, they maintained a puzzled silence. The British, in their curious game of cricket, don’t throw weird curves; they deliver fast bowls. The two Winterbottom-Coogan-Brydon movies deserve an American audience, ready for wit, that can play along. ♦

• Iconic Movie And Tv Locations...

Iconic Movie and TV Locations You Need to Visit in 2022

Editorial Manager

In desperate need of travel inspiration? Find your next hit holiday on screen. Films and TV shows are jam-packed with cool and exotic destinations, and while most of us have been sat at home in recent months we can at least look ahead to a blockbuster 2022. Here are Culture Trip’s essential locations for film and TV fans to visit next year.

Visit james bond’s italian escape from ‘no time to die’.

The 007 franchise is famed for its use of exotic set locations, but even ardent fans of the superspy were taken aback by the incredible city featured in the opening of No Time to Die (2021). The stone city of Matera, Italy, hasn’t always been the tourist attraction it is now; in fact, the cobbled streets and cave dwellings that now populate social media posts were once considered an embarrassment. However, as Bond and other films have shown, a destination seemingly untouched by modern trappings is undeniably charming.

If you fancy a stay in one of the cave hotels that have made this part of southern Italy such a talking point, then check out our unmissable 10-day tour of southern Italy , which includes a night in magical Matera.

Tour the largest film studio in the world in Morocco

There aren’t many destinations that combine the magic of the movies with real-life locations quite like Atlas Studios, the biggest film set in the world, in Morocco. A selection of hotels in the Atlas Mountains are among the best in the world and the local experiences really give you an insight into how people live here – but the film studio itself is one of a kind. Unlike other sets, this isn’t dismantled after a shoot so new productions simply find an empty plot of land and start afresh. There’s plenty of desert to go around here, so the studio gets bigger every time it’s used. The new Indiana Jones film rolled into town recently, proving that Hollywood is just as enamoured with this place as we are.

Discover the frozen wonders of Iceland

Iceland has reinvented itself as one of the best destinations for adventure-seekers in recent years. The scenery is stunning, and it’s little wonder that filmmakers flock to the island in search of unique landscapes for almost every genre of film. Netflix’s Eurovision Song Contest: the Story of Fire Saga (2020) turned the small fishing port of Husavik into one of the most searched for destinations at the start of the pandemic in 2020. A recent release, appropriately named Iceland is the Best (2021) highlights other popular areas that tourists might know. Snaefellsnes is the incredible national park with a otherworldly environment and, in complete contrast, the movie also showcases the main airport in Reykjavik.

This is one place every film lover has to visit; even if you’re unimpressed by the ground-level wonders, there’s always the celestial Northern Lights. Discover it all on our epic five-day Iceland adventure . And one final thing to look out for in 2022 is Detour Disco , set to be the most remote party in the world.

Visit Malta where Popeye and dinosaurs collide

Attention grabbed, now let’s elaborate on why Malta is made for cinephiles . Epics such as Game of Thrones and Gladiator (2000) have utilised the ancient ruins around Valletta to great effect and Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) , the newest entry in the Jurassic Park franchise, will bring creatures from even further back to Malta. If you’re after a fun experience in the country then head to the eye-popping Popeye Village which was constructed for a musical in the early 1980s and has stood untouched since.

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Explore the wonderful world of Wes Anderson

He’s become something of a punchline in some circles, but the undeniable style of American director Wes Anderson bewitches both moviegoers and travel enthusiasts. From his relocation of The Grand Budapest Hotel to a small town in Germany to his thrilling Indian rail track adventure The Darjeeling Limited ( 2007), the filmmaker finds places that fit his unique outlook on life. The French Dispatch (2021) is no exception, with the small outpost of Angoulême serving as the ideal location for his jaunty tale of an old-school publication in a rapidly changing world. The city is known by the romantic nickname of the Balcony of the Southwest and has seen a huge surge in interest from curious travellers hoping to find the obligatory Anderson symmetry and soft colour palate. Surprisingly, few visitors leave disappointed.

Go Gaga for the many houses of Gucci

Italy is so cinematic, it was bound to feature on this list again. Tom Cruise will also return here; his latest Mission: Impossible adventure sees him flung around Rome and Venice. You can follow in Michael Caine’s tyre tracks, too, with a summer road trip though Tuscany or on our 10-day northern Italy trip , which visits all the highlights in one go. The trip also stops in the fashion capital of Milan, which also featured extensively in Lady Gaga’s House of Gucci (2021). The city is still home to many style icons, but in the movie you get to see properties that really show-off the luxurious side of the city.

Go wild on Leonardo DiCaprio’s favourite beach

There aren’t many good things to say about the pandemic, but for some natural wonders that were creaking under the pressure of over-tourism, the lack of visitors has been a great chance to reset and regrow. One such positive news story comes from Maya Bay in Thailand, the setting for Leonardo DiCaprio in The Beach (1999). The remote area on Ko Phi Phi had virtually shutdown to all visitors before Covid-19, but a combination of factors has seen authorities start to monitor how many people can go to the bay. With limited numbers now able to experience one of the most beautiful places in the world – just as Leo did – the wow factor is truly back.

Explore the filming locations from Bridgerton

When Netflix dropped a period drama just before Christmas 2020, the streaming platform found an audience desperate to see sumptuous costumes, glamourous people and, most importantly for us, locations fit for royalty. Opulent palaces and grand houses were showcased throughout the series, and unsurprisingly all the locations are in England. The Bridgerton family home in London is open to the public, so if you want to feel really special head down to Ranger’s House in Greenwich. Salisbury and Bristol are the other two destinations of note that ooze that unique Bridgerton style and should be top of the list for any lord or lady.

See the real-life Colombian inspiration for ‘Encanto’

The House of Mouse – not to be confused with the aforementioned House of Gucci, even though that’s one crossover we would pay good many to see – has a knack of finding great locations for their animated movies. Earlier in the summer we were dreaming of an Italian escape to the Amalfi Coast thanks to the superb Luca and now we can’t stop planning a trip to Colombia thanks to the enchanting Encanto (2021). Both films take inspiration from real-life locations and turn them into the backdrop for engaging animated tales that Disney seemingly produce at will.

And if you don’t fancy planning the itinerary yourself, join our eight-day From Bogota to Medellín tour , on which you’ll explore lively Bogota, try river rafting on the Rio Negro, and explore a local coffee farm.

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21 Iconic Filming Locations to Visit Worldwide

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Are you looking for inspiration to level up your vacation? Then, try visiting the filming locations of famous movies! Your favorite movie or series might be filmed in a breathtaking location, featuring flawless beaches or snow-capped mountains. Get ready to delve into the screen by traveling to these 21 iconic filming locations. Buckle up and book your flight! 

Glenfinnan Viaduct, Scotland – Harry Potter

Ever dreamed of boarding the Hogwarts Express? Make it a reality by visiting Glenfinnan Viaduct in Scotland. Tucked in the lush valleys of the Scottish Highlands, its picturesque landscapes will spoil your sights. The viaduct cuts between verdant forests, which turn into astonishing shades of orange during autumn. Moreover, the surreal location inspired J.K. Rowling to write Harry Potter, making it a must-visit for every fan . If you are a Potterhead, you can book a West Coast Railway ticket to pass across it or stop by the Glenfinnan Visitor Center. Therefore, it is one of the most beautiful filming locations to visit. 

Lake Como, Italy – Star Wars 

This sparkling lake in Northeastern Italy describes ‘romance’ perfectly. Well, even the directors of Star Wars agree with it. Lake Como was chosen as the set of Anakin and Padme’s wedding. The scene was filmed in Villa Balbianello , creating a magical cut in the cult-classic series. The villa sits on the top of a meadowed hamlet, adorned with majestic magnolias and terraced gardens. Until today, visitors dream of recreating Anakin and Padme’s iconic wedding or simply enjoying the beautiful view of Lake Como . Therefore, it is one of the most beautiful filming locations to travel to. 

Skopelos, Greece – Mamma Mia! 

Spend a super-trouper summer soaking up the sun and dancing on the beaches of Skopelos. This small Greek island makes the all-time favorite Mamma Mia movie colorful. Feel like a dancing queen as you stroll around the blue-tinted villages. Climb up to the hilltop Agios Ioannis Chapel, where Donna sings the heart-wrenching “The Winner Takes It All”. Also, revisit the flawless Kastari Beach where Sophia went lovestruck in “Lay All Your Love on Me”. It is one of the best filming locations to travel to in summer. 

Angkor Wat, Cambodia – Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Since appearing in the 2001 Lara Croft movie, Angkor Wat has been on tourists’ radar. This 12th-century temple stuns with its distinctive architecture , mystical atmosphere, and fascinating backstory. Take the role of a fearless adventurer, like Lara Croft, as you voyage through the temple complex. Pass through the centuries-old stone gates, admire the towering pagodas, and see giant trees growing from the temple structures. Moreover, you can call a local guide to learn more about the temple’s history. It is one of the filming locations you must put on your bucket list. 

Hanapepe Valley, Hawaii – Jurassic Park

Who would not be stunned by the landscape of Isla Nubar in Jurassic Park ? A giant waterfall cascades between verdant valleys and misty rainforests was filmed to depict the dinosaur-packed island. Good news – you can see the real-life Isla Nubar in Hanapepe Valley. It is tucked in Kauai, the fourth-largest island in Hawaii. Besides the waterfall, other landscapes in Jurassic Park and Jurassic World were filmed in Hanapepe Valley. Interestingly, you can join a Jurassic Park-themed tour to visit those filming locations. 

Salzburg, Austria – Sound of Music

Spending your childhood with the cheerful songs from the Trapp family? You can travel to their original home in Salzburg, Austria. The beautiful city is tucked in the Eastern Alps, bordering Germany . It attracts travelers from all over the world for one reason – music!

Salzburg is the birthplace of maestro Mozart, but it became more famous since the Sound of Music boomed. Visit Mirabellgardten, where Maria and the children sang the iconic “Do-Re-Mi”. Additionally, don’t miss visiting Schloss Hellbrunn, where Liesel and Rolf sang “16 and 17.” Also, you can relive the movie by watching Sound of Music performance in Marionette Theater. 

Sicily, Italy – The Godfather

Standing strong as an all-time classic, The Godfather is hard to forget. The movie focuses on the Italian-American Corleone family, who built a powerful crime network. Adapting to the Italian culture, some scenes were also filmed in Italy. The director chose Sicily, specifically Savocan Town, as a filming location. The quaint and picturesque film was the hideout location of Michael Corleone. Now, travelers can fall in love with the serene Savoca and other Sicilian cities while following the footsteps of The Godfather. It is one of the most beautiful filming locations to travel to. 

Dubrovnik, Croatia – Game of Thrones

Are you a fan of Game of Thrones ? Then, Dubrovnik is for you to visit! This antique Croatian city houses some iconic filming locations of the Game of Thrones . You can spot the real-life House of Underlying in the stone walls of Minčeta Tower or the King’s Landing in Dubrovnik’s Old Town. See how the King Landing’s harbor comes alive in the Pile Harbour – set on the southeastern coast of Dubrovnik . Besides seeing the Game of Thrones locations, you can enjoy the beaches and laid-back vibe of this Croatian city . 

Nothing Hill, London, UK – Notting Hill

This classic romance movie focuses on a love story that started in a bookshop in Notting Hill. William, the main character, owned a bookshop named The Travel Book Company. Interestingly, the bookshop exists in the real world, specifically at 13 Blenheim Crescent London. The store operates until today, selling classic English books and souvenirs. Besides the bookshop, you can also stroll around Notting Hill. It is a trendy district in London, lined with quirky shops and aesthetically pleasing cafes. Make your vacation to London romantic by visiting this filming location. 

Ninh Binh, Vietnam – Kong: Skull Island

An undiscovered island coated with thick jungles and surrounded by vegetation-veiled cliffs where prehistoric animals roam – Kong ’s setting is simply otherworldly. But who would have thought such place exists in real life? You can see the filming location of Kong: Skull Island in Ninh Binh, Vietnam. Stretching two-hour drive from the capital city, Ninh Binh offers a serene natural landscape. The region is adorned with towering limestone cliffs, emerald lakes, and gapping caves. Therefore, you can see how this beautiful Vietnam region brings Kong to life. 

Tokyo, Japan – The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

The Fast and the Furious franchise stays iconic until today. Then, one of the movies that stick to our minds is Tokyo Drift . Just like its name suggests, the directors brought this movie to life by choosing Tokyo as one of the filming locations. Follow the footsteps of racer Sean Boswell in exploring the underground drift world of Tokyo. It was filmed in some of Tokyo’s famous spots, including Harajuku, Shibuya, and Shinjuku. 

Seoul, South Korea – Avengers: Age of Ultron

If you are a Marvel fan, you might remember the fight scene between the Avengers and Ultron. The scene took place in Seoul, featuring the metropolitan’s skyscrapers and glimpse of the massive Han River. Moreover, the fictional U-GIN Genetic Research Facility called Seoul its home. Bringing the facility into the movie, the director chose Gangnam – a high-end district – to record the scene. Besides Avengers filming locations, traveling to Seoul is a great choice as you can explore its delicious cuisine, fantastic shopping scene, and beautiful historical places. 

Petra, Jordan – Indiana Jones

The adventurous and creative plot of Indiana Jones makes the franchise relevant until today. Then, its third installment, The Last Crusade , has transformed tourism in Jordan . The story revolved around the Holy Grail, an artifact hidden in fictional ‘Canyon of the Crescent Moon’. To enhance the mysterious atmosphere, it took the Ancient City of Petra as one of the filming locations. You can see the glimpses of Greek-influenced pillars and reddish sandstones in the movie. Traveling to Petra would make you feel you are a part of Indiana Jones’ clique! 

Namib Desert, Namibia – Mad Max

The award-winning Mad Max series charmed millions of viewers with its post-apocalyptic plot and action-packed scenes. Presenting a wasted and arid Earth after an apocalypse, the movie was filmed in Namib Desert. The otherworldly dunes of Namib Desert have created a perfect setting for the movie. You can see the filming location by traveling to Namibia . Get ready to be charmed by Namib Desert’s dramatic landscapes, along with the world-famous Sossusvlei salt plan. 

Bali, Indonesia – Eat Pray Love

Trace the trails of Julia Robert’s character as she discovered love and healing in the Island of Gods . Eat Pray Love is a movie that has amplified Bali’s beauty and popularity. It depicts the island’s flawless beaches, friendly faces, and mystical atmosphere. Until this day, a lot of travelers want to explore the itinerary of Eat Pray Love when visiting Bali . You can soak up the sun in Padang-Padang Beach and get a fortune telling from a Balinese healer. 

National Research Council, Madrid, Spain – Money Heist

Netflix’s Money Heist has gained importance in pop culture since 2021. It is hard to forget the iconic mask and red bodysuit costume from the series. Moreover, it is hard to separate the Royal Mint of Spain from the mindblowing plot of Money Heist . However, the series could not film its scenes in the original building. Instead, it used the exterior of the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid as a filming location. So, when you are traveling to Madrid , make sure to stop by the council and imagine how the crew operated their heist. 

Balmoral Castle, Scotland – The Crown

Inspired by real-life tales of the British Royal Family, The Crown’ s filming locations are in the United Kingdom . One of the most beautiful locations is the Balmoral Castle in Scotland. It was featured in season four, depicting Lady Diana and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s meeting with the Queen. Balmoral Castle is a majestic 18th-century structure, designed in an astonishing Gothic architecture. It is a residence of the British Royal Family, but also opens to visitors. You can marvel at the intricate rooms and well-manicured gardens. 

Saint Tropez, France – Emily in Paris

Emily in Paris series in Netflix has captured the hearts of the youngsters. It tells the story of Emily, an American marketing executive working for a fashion company in Paris. Just like its name suggests, the series took place in Paris and features the city’s glitz and glamor. However, another city that draws attention from the audience is Saint Tropez. It was featured in season two, where the protagonist escapes with her friends to this sunny French Riviera city. Follow Emily’s itinerary, which includes basking in the sun at Paloma Beach and sampling sweet treats in Senequier Cafe . 

Los Angeles, USA – La La Land

Featuring famous stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, La La Land stays iconic until today. The bittersweet romance movie has been nominated for 140 awards. Then, due to its popularity, it boosted tourism in Los Angeles. Visitors want to see the places where Mia and Sebastian, the main characters, tailored their love story. You cannot miss Cathy’s Corner in Griffith Park, where the main characters sang their famous ‘What a Lovely Night’. Other La La Land filming locations you can visit in the City of Angels include Warner Bros Studio, El Rey Theatre, and Smoke House Restaurant. 

Amityville House, New York, USA – Amityville Horror

Challenge yourself for a chilling experience in the real Amityville House. Horror fans must have watched Amityville Horror , which was inspired by a true paranormal experience. To enhance the eerie atmosphere, the movie was filmed in an old colonial-styled house in the state of New York . They say the house is not really haunted, but you have to see it for yourself. This filming location will bring chills down your spine!

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The trip to italy.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 0 Reviews
• Kids Say 0 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Sunnier comedy food-tour sequel has swearing, adult themes.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Trip to Italy is the excellent sequel to the 2011 British comedy-drama The Trip . The restaurant review road trip set-up is the same as before and the two lead characters -- improvised fictional versions of comedic actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon -- continue the one…

Why Age 15+?

Innuendo and language, including "f--k," "f--king," "damn," "nonce," "bloody," "

Character stabbed in stomach during dream sequence has bloody wound. Discussion

Mini brand car is shot lovingly like a car commercial and the car is discussed b

Character flirts with a woman and has extramarital sex -- occurs off-screen. Cha

Characters drink wine with meals. Brief discussion of teetotal character choosin

Any Positive Content?

Few overt positive messages, but some examples of kindness and humility. Underst

Coogan is an errant father but is shown happy and relaxed when with his son. He

Innuendo and language, including "f--k," "f--king," "damn," "nonce," "bloody," "d--k," "motherf-----g," and "God" (used as an exclamation).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Character stabbed in stomach during dream sequence has bloody wound. Discussion about who characters would eat after a plane crash.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Mini brand car is shot lovingly like a car commercial and the car is discussed by characters. Ray-Ban sunglasses also feature. Both brands are mentioned in the movie's credits.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Character flirts with a woman and has extramarital sex -- occurs off-screen. Characters discuss a poet who slept with their sister and "sodomized young boys." Jokes about sex with a prison cellmate and about being elderly and attracted to a care nurse.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters drink wine with meals. Brief discussion of teetotal character choosing to drink wine.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Few overt positive messages, but some examples of kindness and humility . Understanding that flaws don't wholly define a person or their actions, and accepting the reasons behind certain behaviors. Complexities of friendship are explored -- such as jealousy -- as is mortality. Conceding to temptation. Some adultery.

Positive Role Models

Coogan is an errant father but is shown happy and relaxed when with his son. He tries to make plans to spend more time with his children. Brydon has an adulterous one-night stand.

Parents need to know that The Trip to Italy is the excellent sequel to the 2011 British comedy-drama The Trip . The restaurant review road trip set-up is the same as before and the two lead characters -- improvised fictional versions of comedic actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon -- continue the one-upmanship from the first movie. Womanizing and infidelity occur, along with strong bad language, such as "d--k," "bloody," and variants of "f--k." Characters drink alcohol but not to excess. During a dream sequence, a character's stomach is slashed and a large, bloody wound is shown. Roles are reversed this time around, with "good guy" family man, Brydon, committing adultery -- although this occurs off screen. There is also some sexual humor. Mortality is also discussed regularly, with middle-age and legacy being key themes in the movie. Sponsored products are regularly seen, including Mini and Ray-Ban sunglasses. The Trip to Italy is the second in a series of movies. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say

There aren't any parent reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.

What's the Story?

In THE TRIP TO ITALY, fictionalized versions of comedic actors Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are commissioned to do another restaurant review road trip. This time the trip takes place in Italy, where temptation gets the better of them both.

Is It Any Good?

While 2011's The Trip was an excellent movie, but a hard ride to be along on, this is a deeper, more complex experience and one that is ultimately about acceptance of people's flaws. The Trip to Italy starts with a meta conversation between Coogan and Brydon , about how second films in series are never as good. It's a sign this trip could veer off on a pretentious, self-referential route. Thankfully a few minutes later, the familiar, naturalistic groove starts again as the two friends, tasked with reviewing restaurants, relax on their trip across a gloriously-shot Italy.

This time around, Brydon's character is the focus. Set up in the first movie as "the good guy" of the pair, an act of infidelity in Italy brings in another texture to the already rich characterization. In contrast, Coogan -- in a more reparative mindset than the selfish character in The Trip -- tries to improve relations with his children. He also attempts -- but fails -- to avoid alcohol. There are still some YouTube-ready scenes of the duo facing off with more celebrity impersonations. But the main thrust of the movie is a study of middle-aged men and their fears. By exploring what the pair are scared of reveals what drives them, and an extra couple of hours in their company results in a warmer movie -- fitting for the climate in which it's shot -- which takes care to show the characters' moments of kindness and humility.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the amount of strong language in The Trip to Italy . Was it necessary to the story? Who do you think the movie's intended audience is? How can you tell?

What is the movie's attitude toward sex . Do characters seem more interested in casual sex or in establishing deeper connections? Parents, discuss your own values on the subject.

The two lead characters are constantly comparing themselves to other actors, each other, and historical figures. Do you think this is a healthy attitude? What might be another way to approach life and achievements?

The two lead characters talk a lot about getting older. How do they feel about getting older? How do you feel about getting older?

How does the architecture of Italy differ from where you live?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 15, 2014
• On DVD or streaming : December 23, 2014
• Cast : Steve Coogan , Rob Brydon , Rosie Fellner
• Director : Michael Winterbottom
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : IFC Films
• Genre : Comedy
• Topics : Cooking and Baking , Friendship , Holidays
• Run time : 108 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : April 2, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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The Trip to Italy Reviews

Michael Winterbottom’s 2010 film The Trip featured hilarious banter and impressions from the leads, and his sequel managed to offer something deeper while still bringing the laughs. The central theme of Lord Byron allows for plenty to be explored.

Full Review | Jun 23, 2023

Coogan and Brydon have a pitch-perfect blend of self-effacing comedy and haughty arrogance, culture and setting, and a smart kind of silliness.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 29, 2022

A riotous comedy that finds time for self-reflection, Roger Moore impressions and the timeless Alanis Morissette vs Avril Lavigne debate and it is intimate and infectious.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 1, 2021

Even though it looks better and there's more of an emphasis to balance the characters, the structure adheres so closely to the first outing that it leaves little wiggle room for surprise.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jul 20, 2020

Sunnier comedy food-tour sequel has swearing, adult themes.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 14, 2020

It might be a bit too quiet and slow for some, and it has no real "point". For what it's worth it's pretty dope to see a film that has two men as friends, having conversations and enjoying one another's company

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 11, 2020

It's more than comedy that Winterbottom and his stars are digging for, it's the fiber of the relationship

Full Review | Original Score: 3.2/5 | Nov 27, 2019

A movie this muted isn't designed to provoke a chair-throwing, exclamatory reaction so much as it is intended to be thoughtful and, for lack of a better term, "nice." And so it is. The Trip to Italy may well be the nicest movie of the year.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Aug 6, 2019

An unadulterated joy.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jun 8, 2019

Winterbottom throws in a bit of narrative and visual finesse to add some polish and make The Trip to Italy a memorable, delightful excursion.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Mar 22, 2019

I liked almost everything about the film; emphasis on liked. It's pleasant. It's funny, and, at times, poignant.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Nov 1, 2018

If you like cool, dry, witty sophisticated banter, with the unmistakable English flair, the film's for you. There's also plenty of lowbrow fun.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 30, 2018

If for some reason the stars don't amuse you, just watch it for the scenery. If the scenery doesn't interest you, watch it for the food. I was literally eating a Hot Pocket while I watched it, and it almost killed me.

Full Review | Aug 22, 2018

It's funny, light but thoughtful, and-surprisingly, for a sequel-fresh.

Full Review | Oct 19, 2017

The food and sightseeing is fun, but the relationship is the core here.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 15, 2017

The characters, by virtue of switching roles, deepen, but the emotional content of [The Trip to Italy] is lighter than its predecessor [The Trip]: it's more fun but it leaves less of a lasting impression.

Full Review | Aug 15, 2017

Somewhat programmatic, if still entertaining...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 8, 2017

Nicely directed by Michael Winterbottom, the movie is better shot, more carefully constructed, and more emotionally complex than the original.

Full Review | Apr 26, 2017

A comedy that creates moments of deep empathy thanks to its characters and has Italian landscapes that reach narrative connotations. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 11, 2016

A culinary journey through the beautiful Italian geography, mired in an irrepressible chattering where Byron or Shelley's poems are recited. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 10, 2016

14 Iconic Movie Locations You Can Visit in Real Life

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While Harry Potter’s spells may have been the magic of CGI, the hallowed halls of Hogwarts were anything but. Instead of just filming on a Hollywood soundstage, the movies shot onsite at medieval locations ranging from the highlands of Scotland to the University of Oxford.

Like “Harry Potter,” dozens of iconic movies have filming locations you can visit in real life. Some of these destinations have tours specifically geared to learning more about how the movie was produced, hitting all of the top spots.

From hobbit holes to ancient desert cities worth of Indiana Jones, these filming locations are worth the trip:

Kualoa Ranch, Hawaii – Jurassic Park

Kualoa Ranch in Oahu has everything you know and love from the original Jurassic Park movie, minus the dinosaurs. The ranch has 4,000 acres of pristine natural areas, ranging from lush jungles with roaring waterfalls to serene, palm-lined beaches. You’ll likely remember Kualoa Ranch’s picturesque Jurassic Valley from a dinosaur stampede scene in the 1993 film.

Matamata, New Zealand – The Lord of the Rings

Transport yourself to Middle Earth with a visit to Matamata, New Zealand. This quaint town in the New Zealand countryside was the setting for Hobbiton in The Lord of the Rings franchise. Today, film buffs can take guided tours through the collection of hobbit holes.

Petra, Jordan – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Embark on an epic adventure to Petra and recreate your favorite moments from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade . The final scenes of the adventure movie were filmed throughout this iconic destination .

Al-Khazneh, The Treasury, is the most famous Petra building featured in the film. This impressive architectural feat was carved directly into the sandstone cliff, giving it a larger-than-life appearance.

University of Oxford, England – Harry Potter

Experience the magic of the Harry Potter universe at England’s legendary University of Oxford. Many moments throughout the beloved 8-film series took place at the historical campus. Include the university’s Christ Church College and the Bodleian Library on your Oxford sightseeing itinerary.

Ait Benhaddou, Morocco – Gladiator

The Russell Crowe-starring Gladiator movie heavily featured Ait Benhaddou in Morocco . This ancient village is an excellent example of traditional Moroccan architecture and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Ait Benhaddou is the ideal Marrakesh day or overnight trip for movie lovers, as several of Gladiator ’s intense training and fight scenes were filmed there.

Salzburg, Austria – The Sound of Music

Head to Salzburg and step onto the real-life set of The Sound of Music . Once you see this picture-perfect city, you’ll understand why it inspired the classic 1965 musical.

Not only did the movie take place in Salzburg, but the actual Trapp Family also resided there. Salzburg has a vibrant cultural heritage, which travelers can uncover through its museums and historic landmarks.

Lake Como, Italy – Star Wars Episode II

See the location where Padme and Anakin married in Star Wars Episode II during your Italian getaway. Villa del Balbianello in Lake Como is a stunning property with scenic waterfront views. Even if you aren’t a Star Wars fan, the beautiful villa and surrounding Lake Como area are worth seeing the next time you’re in Italy.

Ko Phi Phi Le, Thailand – The Beach

Ko Phi Phi Le, a tropical Thai island, is one of the most famous movie filming locations worldwide. The Beach , a 2000 thriller movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, takes place in this idyllic locale. Many tourists flock to Ko Phi Phi Le’s Maya Bay annually, so expect crowds year-round.

Skopelos, Greece – Mamma Mia

You may recognize the Greek island of Skopelos from 2008’s Mamma Mia . The captivating coastlines and white-washed villages make Skopelos an excellent place to relive your favorite movie moments while escaping the hustle and bustle of overcrowded towns like Santorini . Don’t miss the Kastani and Glysteri Beaches, where some of Mamma Mia was shot.

Café des Deux Moulins, France – Amélie

Café des Deux Moulins isn’t just an adorable Parisian landmark—it was also a significant location for the French film Amélie . The main character works at Café des Deux Moulins, instantly recognizable for its vintage-inspired red facade. Snap a photo of the exterior while touring the city, or step inside to grab a meal and pretend you’re a local.

Pike Place Market, Washington – Sleepless in Seattle

While Sleepless in Seattle features many famous attractions throughout the city, Pike Place Market is a can’t-miss. The market has been a Seattle staple for over 100 years, and many tourists visit to see its resident fishmongers tossing seafood to each other throughout the day. Browse the quirky shops and vendor stalls and reminisce on the 1993 Nora Ephron classic.

Angkor Thom, Cambodia – Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

You’ll feel like an action movie star while strolling through Angkor Thom. Several areas of the temple complex appear in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider , starring Angelina Jolie. Though there probably won’t be as much excitement at Angkor Thom as the movie depicts, its mystical atmosphere is still worth experiencing.

Namib Desert, Namibia – Mad Max: Fury Road

Fans of Mad Max: Fury Road can bring the over-the-top action movie to life in Namibia’s Namib Desert. As the oldest desert in the world, the Namib boasts many otherworldly landscapes and dramatic dunes. Make the most of your African safari adventure by quad-biking, sandboarding, hiking, and more.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania – Rocky

Swing by the Philadelphia Museum of Art to recreate the memorable stair scene from Rocky . In the film, Sylvester Stallone’s character runs through the city before ascending the steps and raising his fists triumphantly. The moment became so iconic that a bronze statue of the fictional boxer now stands at the bottom of the stone stairs.

Step onto the real-life sets of your favorite television shows

From “Game of Thrones” to “Friends,” there are many TV filming locations around the world that you can visit. Enter your favorite fictional worlds by seeing the actual places that inspired them.

14 TV Show Filming Locations You Can Visit in Real Life

Over-tourism has permanently ruined these famous sights

Some attractions have become so popular that they experience neverending streams of visitors. Sadly, overcrowding has caused irreversible damage to these famous worldwide destinations.

13 Famous Destinations Ruined by Tourism

Elise Armitage is an entrepreneur and founder of  What The Fab , a travel + lifestyle blog based in California. At the beginning of 2019, Elise left her corporate job at Google to chase her dreams: being an entrepreneur and helping women find fabulous in the everyday. Since then, she’s launched her SEO course Six-Figure SEO, where she teaches bloggers how to create a passive revenue stream from their website using SEO. Featured in publications like Forbes, Elle, HerMoney, and Real Simple, Elise is a firm believer that you can be of both substance and style.

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#72 (tie): ‘Journey to Italy’: The Reveal discusses all 100 of Sight & Sound’s Greatest Films of All Time

A married couple's trip to naples leads to some unexpected realizations in a roberto rossellini film starring george sanders and ingrid bergman..

On December 1st, 2022, Sight & Sound magazine published “The Greatest Films of All Time,” a poll that’s been updated every 10 years since Bicycle Thieves topped the list in 1952. It is the closest thing movies have to a canon, with each edition reflecting the evolving taste of critics and changes in the culture at large. It’s also a nice checklist of essential cinema. Over the course of many weeks, months, and (likely) years, we’re running through the ranked list in reverse order and digging into the films as deep as we can. We hope you will take this journey with us.

Journey to Italy (1954) Dir. Roberto Rossellini Ranking: #72 (tie) Previous rankings: #41 (2012), #86 (2002), #32 (1992).

Premise: Alex (George Sanders) and Katherine Joyce (Ingrid Bergman), a married couple living in England, travel to a villa outside Naples after inheriting it from Alex’s uncle. As the film opens, Katherine remarks that they haven’t really been alone together since their wedding. It soon becomes clear that they’re uncomfortable with this situation and that the marriage, though outwardly companionable, has some cracks. Those cracks start to turn into fissures after Katherine reveals that a man named Charles, a childhood friend who died two years before, shared poetry inspired by his time in Italy with her and even came to her window the night before their wedding despite his illness. In the days that follow, each explores the region alone. Alex strikes up a flirtation with a woman after traveling to the nearby island of Capri. Katherine finds herself profoundly moved by visits to the Naples Museum, a nearby volcanic field, and an ossuary with stacks of unidentified, centuries-old dead. As the film draws to a close, the couple visits the ruins of Pompeii together and reach a decision about their future.

Keith: I can thank Martin Scorsese for a lot, including introducing me to this film via his 1999 documentary My Voyage to Italy . Like its predecessor, A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies , the film has fallen out of circulation, which is a shame because I can think of few better ways to discover a bunch of great movies than through Scorsese’s enthusiastic analysis. I can’t say I’ve gotten around to every film Scorsese recommends over the course of the four-hour film, but his love for My Voyage to Italy made it seem like a movie I had to see immediately. Having seen other Rossellini films, specifically the trilogy he made after World War II that helped define Italian neorealism, I thought I knew what to expect, but this was really nothing like those, in either subject or style.

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The most immediately striking element was Sanders’ performance. He’s arch, witty, and dismissive, delivering sarcastic comments and talking about “disposing” of the estate quickly. He’s also the furthest from the non-professional actors I associated with Rossellini’s work. So, too, is Bergman of course, but she delivers a much different sort of professional performance, the kind defined as much by the emotions that flash across her face as the dialogue she delivers. They’re not acting styles that naturally fit together, but I think that’s part of why the movie works so well. These are characters with strikingly different ideas about what the world is and how it works.

Voyage to Italy began as an adaptation of the Colette novel Duo , which I’ve never read. But I have read James Joyce’s “The Dead” many times and the couple’s surname is no accident. In that story, the protagonist, Gabriel, has his notion of who his wife is—what life is, really—when she tells him the story of a boy who loved her and died young after insisting on meeting her in the rain. But “The Dead” is really just a jumping off point for the movie. That revelation occurs at the end and the story is locked into Gabriel’s perspective. Voyage to Italy is effectively two stories that intertwine. I found myself thinking of another literary connection, too: A Room with a View , another tale of characters from northern climes who see in Italy everything their lives lack: expressiveness, passion, spirituality. (On the movie front, I’m not sure Eyes Wide Shut would be quite the same without this predecessor either.)

Scott, I know this is your first time watching this movie. (No shame in that. I have even more embarrassing blind spots we’ll hit a little later in the list.) Did it match your expectations of a Rossellini film? Were you as struck as I was by the differences between Alex and Katherine’s respective voyages to Italy? Each is remarkable in its own way. Alex takes a baby step into a world of romantic and sexual freedom and discovers it’s not what he expected. Katherine finds herself overwhelmed by a landscape filled with sharply contrasting images from the past, from vibrant statues to stacks of bones. What about the way they come together? I almost want to hold off on talking about the ending because, phew, what an ending!

Scott: Like you, my experience with Rossellini had previously been limited to his neorealist films, specifically the trilogy of Rome,Open City ; Paisan ; and Germany, Year Zero , the last of which I found particularly bleak and affecting. (And shares a connection to Voyage to Italy in focusing on the ruins of civilization, albeit a much more contemporary one in the earlier film’s case.) I have not seen either Stromboli or Europa ‘51 , the two other major films Rossellini made with Ingrid Bergman that appear to be precursors to Voyage to Italy , so I can’t say how much they signal a transition from one phase of his career to the next. From what I gather from other sources, Voyage to Italy is the biggest leap forward into a different kind of filmmaking for Rossellini and for global cinema at large, but I’ll leave that to the experts to discern. 

All that said, I’m not so sure there’s as much of a distance in Voyage to Italy between the neorealist Rossellini and the modernist who paved the way for directors like Michelangelo Antonioni and the French New Wave. (Sidenote: How convenient that Voyage to Italy and Antonioni’s L’Avventura are tied at #72 in the poll. They pair so perfectly.) But I disagree with your assertion that Voyage to Italy is nothing like those earlier films, because it strikes me so much as a link between movements, inching Italian cinema forward from the street-level, documentary-like backdrops of the country just after the war to a style that reflected the uncertain and turbulent interiors of characters like the Joyces. One of my favorite things about the film is how much Rossellini opens up the frame to ordinary Italian life, particularly the hustle-and-bustle of Naples, which affects the couple in different ways. (“What noisy people,” complains George as the film opens. “I’ve never seen noise and boredom go so well together.”) It’s not for nothing that the film’s emotional ending is situated within an Italian street procession, which is so much more chaotic and stormy than the buttoned-down lives of these monied Brits. 

The old Rossellini touch is also evident, I think, in how much the film draws from its beautiful setting without being anything like a travelog. Shooting in the stark black-and-white that carries over from his neorealist films, Rossellini is visiting an area that would be self-evidently gorgeous in color, with the terrace views of Mount Vesuvius, the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the countryside outside Naples, not to mention what George sees of Capri when he goes off on his own. But Rossellini is careful not to overwhelm these characters with this sensual ambience, and the sights that Katherine visits, for example, are much more keyed into her mental state. As with L’Avventura , the exterior landscapes and sites become reflective of the soul. 

But this is a talkier film than Antonioni’s and I was struck by how harshly the Joyces speak to each other, with only Alex flashing a little acerbic wit. It doesn’t surprise me to learn that Voyage to Italy was not successful commercially, and it’s interesting to think about how the rancor between these characters must have figured into public perception of Bergman, which had dimmed after she left Hollywood (and her husband) for Rossellini and Italy. That strain textures the film from the very beginning, when the Joyces are alone together for the first time in their eight-year marriage and they’re not getting along. They talk about feeling like strangers to each other, which seems remarkable to me because they do not have any children. Couples sometimes grow apart when their energies are focused on a child, but why in the world should the Joyces not have spent time alone? Is Alex really that committed to work? 

What do you make of the child issue, too, Keith? That becomes a looming thought for Katherine as the film goes on and she gets a glimpse of all these Neapolitan couples and mothers outside her car window. “How beautiful the children are,” she remarks before responding bitterly to the question of what Alex thinks of kids. (“One never knows what he’s thinking.”) It’s an old-fashioned mode of thinking perhaps, but the Joyces’ childlessness points to the barrenness of their romance, which barely has even basic niceties, let alone any shows of affection. What passion does seem to exist between them, however, is jealousy and temptation, at least on Alex’s part. He’s rattled by his wife’s account of Charles, who’s like this unseen third character who threatens their relationship. 

A lot of the most significant action in Journey to Italy are the scenes the couple have separate from each other, from Katherine’s sightseeing tours to Alex’s trip to Capri. What did you think of those scenes, Keith, and what they say about these characters? Rossellini crosscuts so meaningfully between them, no?

Keith: The childlessness is another point of contrast between the world the Joyces know—business oriented, cold, repressed—and the world into which they’re voyaging. I don’t necessarily think the film is judging the Joyces for not having kids (though it’s easy to read it that way) so much as using children to provide another point of contrast. They come from barren, sexless England! This is fertile, hotblooded Italy! These are, of course, stereotypes, but Rossellini knows this and, as an Italian, he’s allowed to indulge them, right? (Just as a side note: Bergman’s Swedishness complicates this a little, but Sweden, too, is a cooler sort of place than Italy.)

There’s another literary connection, too. In Victorian novels, childlessness was always code for a marriage being sexless and often the husband being impotent. I don’t think the latter is the case with Alex, who seems much too interested in other women, and too disappointed when his flirtation in Capri fizzles out. But something has clearly squelched whatever passion existed between our central couple. It seems like a marriage that can’t be saved, that passed its expiration date well before the events of the film. 

Yet the ending hinges on us believing in its miraculous rekindling. And, maybe you disagree, but I found that scene, and the Pompeii scenes leading up to it, overwhelmingly effective. Rossellini’s choice to place his characters on separate journeys that converge has a lot to do with why this moment works. Each has to take the decision to divorce up the brink before leaping back from it. It’s here that I think the film is a little uneven. I like Sanders’ performance and his scenes with other women, including the saddest sex worker in Naples. But Bergman’s scenes are on another level entirely. The combination of the score, the fluid camerawork, and Bergman’s performance capture the ways each stop on her tour serves as a revelation, and does so in ways only possible in movies, whatever Voyage to Italy ’s debts to literary works. That starts with the visit to the Naples Museum, in which Katherine is surrounded by sensual sculptures that remind her of everything missing from her life and feelings that she fears she might be buried alongside Charles, and continues as she’s overwhelmed by a catacombs visit in which she’s surrounded by reminders of the inevitability of death.

You’re right to suggest that neither would work nearly as well without one another, however. So, let me ask you, assuming you agree with my reading of what’s going on with Katherine, what would you say is going on with Alex? And did the ending work for you? The reunion during the street festival is beautifully played, but it’s the visit to Pompeii that makes this movie unforgettable. Alex and Joyce are able to live in a moment frozen in time, where they watch as the outlines of another couple, one who lived centuries before them, form before their eyes. It plays a bit like they’re being made to confront both the howling loneliness of existence and what love means in the face of the void. Did you find that scene as powerful as I did?

Scott: The turnaround at the end is so startling, I’m still wrapping my head around it, though I’m inclined to appreciate this torrent of emotion between the Joyces after a film where they’re almost cool to each other, if not separated entirely. It actually reminded me quite a bit of the ending to another Sight & Sound entry we talked about recently, Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life , when we (and the film’s white characters) learn the full extent of a Black woman’s life after she’s gone. The Sirk film goes quite a bit further, though, in setting us up for that surprise, given its thematic focus on the racial imbalances of the central friendship between women of different races, despite the mutual affection they both share. That’s not to say that Rossellini doesn’t spend Journey to Italy setting the table for this miraculous final sequence, but I’d be lying if I said that the bond between the Joyces is strongly suggested in the lead-up to the finale. 

That said, I have a couple of thoughts on it. One, the context of Katherine getting swept away in the crowd reminded me a little of the inciting incident in Force Majeure , when an avalanche triggered at a ski resort goes out of control and a father instinctually opts to save himself rather than protect his family. That’s a telling response in the moment, and the marriage unravels from there. The inverse happens here, in that Katherine is carried away in the crowd and Alex rushes to save her, which may not be the impulse we’d expect from a guy who’s stiff in all the ways you’d guess from an upper-class British workaholic. The film is asking you to take a leap of faith that, to me, is transversable mostly because Rossellini stages it with such urgency, as if circumstances have provided the defibrillator paddles necessary to jolt this relationship back to life. You want to surrender to the moment. 

I’m glad you brought up Eyes Wide Shut earlier in the discussion, because that feels like such a similar dynamic, with a partnership that’s breaking apart at the beginning and (tentatively) rekindles at the end following a dream-like odyssey that the couple does not experience together. Here, both the Joyces have a “journey” in Italy, and it’s the time they spend apart that clarifies their thinking and eventually leads to a reunion, though not without jealousy and temptation first. For Katherine, her various museum and site visits are prompted by another man, Charles, and the feelings for him that she still carries with him. Alex is clearly stung by that—a sign that he actually does care, really—and it’s remarkable to see Katherine’s ecstatic response to the things she sees, especially the burbling heat and smoke of volcanic activity. As for Alex, his trip to Capri leads him to a couple of different women who draw his interest but nothing comes of either of those encounters. If you’re looking for a common denominator here, perhaps it’s the fact that Italy ignites some dormant passion within the Joyces and the climax is the point where they come alive together at the same time and in the same place. No more missed connections, like that scene where Alex comes home from Capri and Katherine is torn between greeting him and pretending to be asleep. (She chooses the latter.) 

I laughed at your lines about the Joyces from “barren, sexless England” staying in “fertile, hotblooded Italy,” but Journey to Italy may be just as simple as that, right? Alex may kick off the film complaining about the noise on the road, but this is a place that would excite the senses for a couple like the Joyces, however much someone like Alex wants to see a gorgeous villa with a terrace view as a piece of real estate that he needs to unload as soon as possible. The hotbloodedness of Italy quite literally seeps through the surface at one point and it’s doing it figuratively all the time when the two are out and about. That’s a pretty stark difference between this and a film like L’Avventura , which is full of landscapes and structures that feel spiritually vacant. In Journey to Italy , the country is alive with so much activity that it shakes the Joyces out of their complacency. It seems, in the end, that they have the same chance of getting divorced as they do to reaffirm their love for one another. The film calls them into action. 

Any final thoughts on this one, Keith? And what do we have coming up?

Keith: Final thoughts: Not really beyond wanting to go to Naples. As for what’s next, we’ve got another logjam in the #67 spot, which is home to everything from a towering silent classic to the shortest film on this list. Since this one was new to you, how about we do one I haven’t seen before: Andrei Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev .

Previously:

#95 (tie): Get Out #95 (tie): The General   #95 (tie): Black Girl #95 (tie): Tropical Malady #95 (tie): Once Upon a Time in the West #95 (tie): A Man Escaped #90 (tie): Yi Yi #90 (tie): Ugetsu #90 (tie): The Earrings of Madame De…   #90 (tie): Parasite #90 (tie): The Leopard #88 (tie): The Shining #88 (tie): Chungking Express #85 (tie): Pierrot le Fou #85 (tie): Blue Velvet #85 (tie): The Spirit of the Beehive #78 (tie): Histoire(s) du Cinéma #78 (tie): A Matter of Life and Death #78 (tie): Celine and Julie Go Boating #78 (tie): Modern Times #78 (tie): A Brighter Summer Day #78 (tie): Sunset Boulevard #78 (tie): Sátántangó   #75 (tie): Imitation of Life   #75 (tie): Spirited Away #75 (tie): Sansho the Bailiff #72 (tie): L’Avventura #72 (tie): My Neighbor Totoro

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Here's What Movies Gets Wrong About Visiting Italy

Italy is a land of thrilling history, iconic landmarks, and world-beating food, but it is also the land of never-ending pasta noodles, loud men, and bad drivers. At least, that is what the movies will have you believe. Hollywood and Italy have long been friends, but the former tends to portray Italy and Italians in a somewhat stereotypical light. If you are planning a visit to Italy, it is best to do away with any predispositions that Hollywood (and other common myths ) may have instilled throughout the years.

For example, the 2010 film "Letters to Juliet" sets the scene for heartthrobs and romantic excitement beyond your wildest dreams. However, don't be surprised if your travels don't bring about the same happy ending. In "Letters to Juliet," Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) visits Juliet's Wall in Verona and meets the Juliet Club, who respond to the letters of the broken-hearted men and women who write about their love lives. Juliet's secretaries and Juliet's Wall are both real — you can visit Juliet's wall and balcony on a trip to Verona.

Less realistic is Sophie's fiancé, Victor (Gael García Bernal), who exhibits the loud and arrogant stereotypes of a typical Italian Hollywood character. Yes, some Italians are loud. Some are even arrogant. However, not every Italian man embodies these stereotypical traits. Similarly, in "Under the Tuscan Sun," the Italian men are portrayed as overbearing and opinionated, some even following Frances (Diane Lane) down the street and catcalling her. While these remain beloved romance films for many, it is important to slash the stereotypes before your visit abroad.

Hollywood only shows Italians eating pasta and pizza

During the "eat" section of the movie "Eat Pray Love," we see a nearly two-minute scene where Liz (Julia Roberts) devours a plate of fresh spaghetti on a quaint patio in Rome. Next is yet another scene where the entrees are predominantly pasta. Liz orders spaghetti, pappardelle, linguini, and other dishes paired with several bottles of wine. She even makes a trip specifically to enjoy the pizzas from Naples. Let's be honest — ordering a pizza is a must when you visit Naples; it is considered the birthplace of pizza, after all. However, if you order a pepperoni pizza in Italy , you might not get what you expect. Instead of the spicy sausage in the U.S., you will likely receive delicious bell peppers in Italy.

Though Hollywood films only show people in Italy eating pasta and pizza, traditional Italian meals tend to cover a wide variety of dishes. First is the "primo," which typically consists of pasta, soup, or risotto. The "secondo," or second course, consists of a simple meat or fish dish. Finally, the side dish ("contorno") consists of salads or cooked vegetables. Many Italians also start with an antipasto, which serves as an appetizer and includes small bite-sized dishes like cheese, bread, or meat.

While pasta and pizza are popular in Italy, the locals don't exclusively eat carbs and cheese. From its fresh vegetables to simple seafood dishes, Italian cuisine is diverse and fresh. During your visit to Italy, find an authentic Italian restaurant and step outside the box by enjoying some of the country's lesser-known foods.

Movies and TV portray Italians as crazy drivers (usually on Vespas)

Movies like Netflix's "Love in the Villa" and "Love & Gelato" portray Italians as crazy drivers, narrowly missing pedestrians and other vehicles as they barrel down the narrow streets. Even in Gordon Ramsay's documentary series "Gordon, Gino and Fred's Road Trip," Gino D'Acampo (the Italian host) cannot seem to drive in a straight line. In one scene, D'Acampo even strands their camper, forcing the trio to continue on foot. Though the trio laughs at the incident, it cements a stereotype many Italians are trying to shed.

Movies and TV portray drivers in Italy as bold, loud, and passionate. But journalist Alice Scarsi, who has an Italian driver's license, wrote in Express that this so-called "crazy" driving is simply an efficient way to close gaps in traffic and that honking and light-flashing is a good way to communicate with other drivers. If you plan on driving in Italy, make sure you don't drive like a tourist and annoy the locals.

And then, there's the Vespa. The Pixar movie "Luca" certainly makes it seem like Italians love these stylish scooters. Alas, enjoying gelato on a Vespa is not what every Italian dreams of. Vespas are prominent in nearly every movie or show set in Italy, including "The White Lotus," "The Equalizer 3," and "Uncharted." Don't be fooled by the product placement — Italians love and cherish several other scooter brands. When in Rome, give the other brands a try as well.

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A traveler's guide to Novosibirsk, the unofficial capital of Siberia

Trans-Siberian heritage

Residents of Novosibirsk love trains and are proud of the fact that their city played a significant role in the history of the grand Trans-Siberian railway, which spans the breadth of Russia. The railway is such a part of Novosibirsk identity that it is even depicted on the city’s emblem, along with the bridge that crosses the Ob river and two Siberian sables standing on their hind legs.  

In the city, there are as many as five monuments to trains, and an open-air locomotive museum is located in the vicinity of the train station Seyatel’. The museum has more than 100 steam locomotives, diesel locomotives and carriages, reflecting the history of rail transportation in Russia from pre-revolutionary times to the present day. Wondering around the stationary trains and comparing your height with the diameter of the gigantic iron wheels of the first steam locomotives is all very well, but why not climb inside the carriages and see how the nobility once traveled across Russia in pre-revolutionary times? These tours will however need to be booked in advance. The museum opens from 11:00 until 17:00 every day except Mondays. 

Novosibirsk spans both sides of the river Ob. In the early twentieth century, the border of two different timezones passed right through the city which led to a strange situation- morning on the east bank started one hour earlier than on the west bank! The two-kilometer covered metro bridge that crosses the river is considered the longest in the world. Due to the fluctuations in temperature across the year (on average +30 °C to -30 °C), during the summer the metro bridge expands, and in the winter it contracts by half a meter. To counter these effects, the bridge’s supports are equipped with special rollers that allow it to move.   

The cultural center of Siberia

The repertoire of the theatre can be viewed on its official website . The theatre season runs from September to July, and comprises mainly classical performances, like the ballet “The Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky, Borodin’s opera “Prince Igor” and Verdi’s “La Traviata”.  

The large Siberian sea and ligers

Weekends are best spent at the Novosibirsk zoo . The zoo is known for breeding big cats, although surrounded by controversy, hosts a successful crossing of a tiger and lion, which of course would not otherwise breed in wildlife. Ligers, or exotic cubs of an African lion and Bengal tigress, feel quite comfortable in the Siberian climate and even produce offspring. The zoo is open to visitors year-round, seven days a week, and even has its own free mobile app, Zoo Nsk .

Every year at the beginning of January, the festival of snow culture takes place bringing together artists from across Russia and around the world to participate in a snow sculpting competition. The tradition started in 2000 inspired by the snow festival in Sapporo, Novosibirsk’s twin-city.

Siberian Silicon Valley

Despite the fact that Akademgorodok was built half a century ago in the middle of the uninhabited Siberian taiga, architecturally it was ahead of its time. No trees were destroyed for its construction, and houses were built right in the middle of the forest. A man walking through the woods would seemingly stumble upon these structures. At that time, no one had built anything similar in the world and ecovillages only became fashionable much later.

For residents of the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok is a different world. When you step out the bus or car, you are immediately on one of the hiking paths through the forest, between the scientific buildings and clubs. On a walk through Akademgorodok, it is possible to unexpectedly encounter art-like objects handmade by residents of the city which have been erected as monuments and some monuments fixed up by city authorities. For example, the monument to the laboratory mice, which knits a strand of DNA on to some needles, can be found in the square alongside the Institute of Cytology and Genetics. In Akademgorodok there are many cafes and restaurants, in which it is possible to rest after a long walk. Grab a coffee and go to eat at Traveler’s Coffee , or eat lunch at the grille and bar People’s or Clover .

Winters in the Akademgorodok are slightly colder than in the city, so wrap up. Spring and summer are usually wetter, so waterproof boots are recommended. In the summer the Ob sea provides respite from the heat, so do not forget your swimsuit to go for a dip.

Memento Mori

Among the exhibits of the museum is one dedicated to world funeral culture — hearses, memorial jewellery from the hair of the deceased, samples from a specific photo-genre of  "post mortem", a collection of funeral wear from the Victorian era, deathmasks, statues and monuments. There’s also an impressive collection of coffins. One of them, resembling a fish, was manufactured on a special visit to Novosibirsk by a designer coffin-maker from Africa, Eric Adjetey Anang, who specializes in the production of unusual coffins.

Surprisingly, the crematorium itself does not look at all gloomy in appearance and definitely does not look like infernal scenes from movies, or like crematoriums of other cities that gravitate towards gloomy temple aesthetics. The Novosibirsk crematorium is decorated in “cheerful” orange tones and is surrounded by a park with a children’s playground nearby. A visit to the museum then leaves you with mixed feelings. 

Novosibirsk underground

Tourists from all over the world go down into the Moscow metro to take a ride and a few selfies in the most famous underground museum. The Novosibirsk metro is also quite a museum in itself — it has 13 stations, the most beautiful of which is Gagarinskaya, Sibirskaya and Rechnoy Vokzal.

The ultramodern Gagarinskaya station is like a real cosmos underground. Its technologically themed design includes marble walls with metallic elements, dark blue backlighting and portraits of Yuri Gagarin. The Sibirskaya station looks like an underground treasure trove, decorated by Altai masters craftsmen with mosaics of precious Siberian stones. The Rechnoy Vokzal station is framed with ten glowing stained glass windows depicting the largest cities of Siberia, including Novosibirsk itself, Omsk, Barnaul and others. The platform resembles a big ship sailing on the Ob, from which ancient Siberian cities are visible through its windows.  

How to get there

The easiest way to get to Novosibirsk is by plane with Aeroflot or Novosibirsk airline S7 with one-way tickets from Moscow costing from 200-250 USD. If you decide to take from the train from Moscow, you’ll have to travel approximately a third of the Trans-Siberian Railway. That’s 3,300 kilometers over almost a three-day journey. 

Where to stay

There are many great hotels in Novosibirsk. Amongst the best include a four-star Doubletree hotel by Hilton , which is located near Lenin Square (per room from $200). After renovations and repairs, the congress-hotel Novosibirsk has improved (per room from $100) and is located across from the train station. Less expensive but of a similar standard is the four-star River Park hotel near Rechnoy Vokzal metro station, which costs $80 per night.

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Novosibirsk

Things to do in Novosibirsk

Novosibirsk Zoo

Aquapark Akvamir

Park "Berezovaya Roshcha"

Zaeltsovskiy Bor

NOVAT – Novosibirsk State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet

Pervomayskiy Skver

Tsentral'nyy Park

Cinema Park

Square of Fame

What to eat.

Posle Shesti

Restaurant Skomorohi

Radzha Cafe

Akademiya Kofe

PIVOFACTORY

Friends Bar

The Rooks, shop&pub Craft Beer

Coffee Collective Brew Bar

Puppen Haus

Novosibirsk moments: through travelers' eyes.

Best of Novosibirsk

Top 6 4-star select hotels in novosibirsk.

Cosmos Novosibirsk Hotel

Domina Hotel Novosibirsk

Mirotel Hotel

Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Novosibirsk Hotel

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