True to Sorrentino’s style, this TV series leaves nothing to chance, and the aesthetics play an essential role in every frame.
The series is set in the Vatican, but given the restricted access to the papal residence for audiovisual productions, some of the settings had to be reproduced using alternative locations, a pretty difficult task given the notoriety of the settings. For example, it is impossible to use an alternative location for the Sistine Chapel, as any inaccuracies would be immediately noticeable. So the director decided to reconstruct it to scale at Cinecittà studios (it measures approximately 40m x 15m and is over 5m tall), as he did for the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica. He used effective post-production devices to make the whole thing more credible.
For the remaining scenes, it was instead possible to play with other locations: the interiors of St. Peter’s Basilica are those of the Church of Saints Luca and Martina, construction on which began in 1635 in the vicinity of the Imperial Fora and the Roman Forum at the foot of Capitoline Hill.
Palazzo Braschi, located in the Renaissance heart of Rome between piazza Navona and corso Vittorio Emanuele II, was used to recreate the Papal Apartments and the famous bathroom of Pope Belardo. One of the stranger scenes filmed here is the surreal encounter between Pius XIII and the Prime Minister, played by Stefano Accorsi. The current Baroque/Neoclassical style of the building, which today houses the Museum of Rome, is the result of various adjustments made to the building after 1435, the year it was built. The Baroque grand staircase was used as the set for the investiture of the Pope. The Apostolic Palace was instead re-created at Palazzo Venezia.
The confessional we see in many scenes from the series was set up in Sant’Anselmo all’Aventino, a NeoRoman church dating back to the end of the 19th century. There’s no one location used as the Vatican gardens, which Sorrentino reconstructed in Villa Medici, a 16th-century architectural complex on Pincian Hill, Villa Piccolomini, Villa Doria Pamphilj (including the Casino dell’Algardi), the Botanical Gardens near Janiculum Hill, and Villa Lante in Bagnaia (VT). The Vatican heliport was instead set up in the Roman neighbourhood of Olgiata, with the addition of plants and backdrops. The Castel Gandolfo summer residence is actually Villa Doria Pamphilj (the swimming pool the Pope prays at the bottom of is instead actually located in Olgiata).
Among the real locations used for the series are the Hotel Mediterraneo in via Cavour, where Lenny sneaks off to at night with his lifelong friend Cardinal Andrew Dussolier, and Passoscuro Beach, where the encounter between Sister Mary and Cardinal Voiello was filmed.
At the end of the season, the production heads to Venice, where Pope Belardo gives a historical speech to the crowds in St. Mark’s square. It is also in Venice, in the frescoed ballroom painted by Tiepolo of Palazzo Labia, that Stefano Accorsi’s Prime Minister holds a press conference.
True to Sorrentino’s style, this TV series leaves nothing to chance, and the aesthetics play an essential role in every frame.
The series is set in the Vatican, but given the restricted access to the papal residence for audiovisual productions, some of the settings had to be reproduced using alternative locations, a pretty difficult task given the notoriety of the settings. For example, it is impossible to use an alternative location for the Sistine Chapel, as any inaccuracies would be immediately noticeable. So the director decided to reconstruct it to scale at Cinecittà studios (it measures approximately 40m x 15m and is over 5m tall), as he did for the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica. He used effective post-production devices to make the whole thing more credible.
For the remaining scenes, it was instead possible to play with other locations: the interiors of St. Peter’s Basilica are those of the Church of Saints Luca and Martina, construction on which began in 1635 in the vicinity of the Imperial Fora and the Roman Forum at the foot of Capitoline Hill.
Palazzo Braschi, located in the Renaissance heart of Rome between piazza Navona and corso Vittorio Emanuele II, was used to recreate the Papal Apartments and the famous bathroom of Pope Belardo. One of the stranger scenes filmed here is the surreal encounter between Pius XIII and the Prime Minister, played by Stefano Accorsi. The current Baroque/Neoclassical style of the building, which today houses the Museum of Rome, is the result of various adjustments made to the building after 1435, the year it was built. The Baroque grand staircase was used as the set for the investiture of the Pope. The Apostolic Palace was instead re-created at Palazzo Venezia.
The confessional we see in many scenes from the series was set up in Sant’Anselmo all’Aventino, a NeoRoman church dating back to the end of the 19th century. There’s no one location used as the Vatican gardens, which Sorrentino reconstructed in Villa Medici, a 16th-century architectural complex on Pincian Hill, Villa Piccolomini, Villa Doria Pamphilj (including the Casino dell’Algardi), the Botanical Gardens near Janiculum Hill, and Villa Lante in Bagnaia (VT). The Vatican heliport was instead set up in the Roman neighbourhood of Olgiata, with the addition of plants and backdrops. The Castel Gandolfo summer residence is actually Villa Doria Pamphilj (the swimming pool the Pope prays at the bottom of is instead actually located in Olgiata).
Among the real locations used for the series are the Hotel Mediterraneo in via Cavour, where Lenny sneaks off to at night with his lifelong friend Cardinal Andrew Dussolier, and Passoscuro Beach, where the encounter between Sister Mary and Cardinal Voiello was filmed.
At the end of the season, the production heads to Venice, where Pope Belardo gives a historical speech to the crowds in St. Mark’s square. It is also in Venice, in the frescoed ballroom painted by Tiepolo of Palazzo Labia, that Stefano Accorsi’s Prime Minister holds a press conference.
The story of the imaginary and eccentric Pope Pius XIII, American Lenny Berardo, who, with his despotic and unpredictable behaviour, shakes Catholicism to its very core both in and outside the Vatican.
