The film opens with a view from the top of Palazzo della Regione over Padua. In the opening scene, a sad and angry Valeria parks her yellow mini in front of the Hotel Ambassador in Abano Terme (PD). Here she looks for her boyfriend Maurizio and follows him on a wild race across the city, passing through Piazza Sacro Cuore among other locations. She doesn't return home until later than evening, and not before admiring Prato della Valle by night. The piazza, which is the biggest in Padua and one of the biggest in Europe, pops back up in various scenes throughout the film, for example during the former singer and priest's stroll together, when Valeria goes to see the Cardinal who must give Don Mario permission to marry, and straight after, during the discussion between Don Mario and a handful of workers on the duties that come with his priesthood.
Once Valeria gets to know Don Mario, she refuses to give him up, and we see the pair strolling through various piazzas in Padua: as well as Prato della Valle, we see them in Piazza dei Signori (here Valeria turns up in a dark dress, not unlike a priest's cassock, to make the man feel at ease).
During a school trip which Valeria also goes on, Don Mario and his students take the ferry from Piazzetta Vigo in Chioggia (VE), spying Venice from across the lagoon: in the distance we see St. Mark's Square, while the priest, an unlikely guide, tries to point out the Church of San Giorgio to Valeria.
Mario grows increasingly tormented by his feeling for Valeria and decides to shut himself away for a few days at the fictitious College of San Nicola in Torrescura, with the Paduan setting shifting to the slopes of the Berici Hills (VI). The college is actually the 18th-century Villa Fracanzan-Piovene in Orgiano. In the scene where Don Mario takes a walk with Don Filippo, we see the Baroque façade of the villa and the vast garden stretching out before it. The two priests meet under the covered walkway on the left.
But Valeria doesn't give up and, after finding out where Mario is hiding, turns up during mass, which the priest is celebrating at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Orgiano (VI): it is outside the church that Don Mario gives to Valeria's advances for the first time and kisses her.
The pair returns to Padua, and we see Mario visiting Valeria at the bookshop under the covered walkway in Piazza Duomo, where she works as a shop assistant.
Despite some embarrassment on his part, the two start seeing one another: while Valeria tries to teach Mario how to drive, they have an accident which results in them having dinner at a restaurant where a couple of newlyweds are celebrating their marriage. The restaurant is called 'Al Zocco' and is located in Grisignano di Zocco (VI). Along the road that the couple takes we see the Abbey of Praglia, a Benedictine monastery located in the Paduan countryside, nestled among the Euganean Hills in the municipality of Teolo (PD).
Now sure that he wants to marry Valeria, Don Mario decides to take her to meet his parents, who live in a farmhouse named the Casone delle Sacche, in the Millecampi Valley near Codevigo (PD).
The closing scenes of the film take us to Rome and the Vatican Palaces: Valeria goes to St. Peter's Square to discover the truth about her future.
The film opens with a view from the top of Palazzo della Regione over Padua. In the opening scene, a sad and angry Valeria parks her yellow mini in front of the Hotel Ambassador in Abano Terme (PD). Here she looks for her boyfriend Maurizio and follows him on a wild race across the city, passing through Piazza Sacro Cuore among other locations. She doesn't return home until later than evening, and not before admiring Prato della Valle by night. The piazza, which is the biggest in Padua and one of the biggest in Europe, pops back up in various scenes throughout the film, for example during the former singer and priest's stroll together, when Valeria goes to see the Cardinal who must give Don Mario permission to marry, and straight after, during the discussion between Don Mario and a handful of workers on the duties that come with his priesthood.
Once Valeria gets to know Don Mario, she refuses to give him up, and we see the pair strolling through various piazzas in Padua: as well as Prato della Valle, we see them in Piazza dei Signori (here Valeria turns up in a dark dress, not unlike a priest's cassock, to make the man feel at ease).
During a school trip which Valeria also goes on, Don Mario and his students take the ferry from Piazzetta Vigo in Chioggia (VE), spying Venice from across the lagoon: in the distance we see St. Mark's Square, while the priest, an unlikely guide, tries to point out the Church of San Giorgio to Valeria.
Mario grows increasingly tormented by his feeling for Valeria and decides to shut himself away for a few days at the fictitious College of San Nicola in Torrescura, with the Paduan setting shifting to the slopes of the Berici Hills (VI). The college is actually the 18th-century Villa Fracanzan-Piovene in Orgiano. In the scene where Don Mario takes a walk with Don Filippo, we see the Baroque façade of the villa and the vast garden stretching out before it. The two priests meet under the covered walkway on the left.
But Valeria doesn't give up and, after finding out where Mario is hiding, turns up during mass, which the priest is celebrating at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Orgiano (VI): it is outside the church that Don Mario gives to Valeria's advances for the first time and kisses her.
The pair returns to Padua, and we see Mario visiting Valeria at the bookshop under the covered walkway in Piazza Duomo, where she works as a shop assistant.
Despite some embarrassment on his part, the two start seeing one another: while Valeria tries to teach Mario how to drive, they have an accident which results in them having dinner at a restaurant where a couple of newlyweds are celebrating their marriage. The restaurant is called 'Al Zocco' and is located in Grisignano di Zocco (VI). Along the road that the couple takes we see the Abbey of Praglia, a Benedictine monastery located in the Paduan countryside, nestled among the Euganean Hills in the municipality of Teolo (PD).
Now sure that he wants to marry Valeria, Don Mario decides to take her to meet his parents, who live in a farmhouse named the Casone delle Sacche, in the Millecampi Valley near Codevigo (PD).
The closing scenes of the film take us to Rome and the Vatican Palaces: Valeria goes to St. Peter's Square to discover the truth about her future.
The 'nearlyweds' dine at a number of restaurants over the course of the film. One of the first, that in which Don Mario seeks refuge from Valeria's advances, serves up pasta with beans, Vicenza-style salted cod, fish stew and bresaola from Valtellina, washed down with white Sileno wine.
Copyright: Film Commission Regione Veneto
Marcello Mastroianni, Sofia Loren - Prato della Valle, Padova, sullo sfondo la chiesa di S. Giustina
Compagnia Cinematografica Champion
Valeria, a former singer who is fed up with men and life in general, falls in love with the male voice on the other end of the Samaritans helpline she calls just before she attempts suicide. That man is actually a priest.
