While generally given fictious identities, the places where Brancaleone and his army travel are mostly to be found in Upper Lazio. Everything starts with a parchment roll grabbed from a knight who was thrown into a river and believed to be dead: the river no longer exists today, the setting for the struggle is the present-day piazzale della Bottata in Nepi (VT), the arches of the aqueduct clearly seen in every scene. Once the treasure has been discovered, it is time to find a knight to lead the mission: he is camped out at the foot of Castello di Torre Casale also known as the Torre di Chia in Soriano nel Cimino (VT). Brancaleone da Norcia (Vittorio Gassman) is waiting to compete in a jousting tournament for knights which takes place shortly after, near the borgo of Casteldilago, a hamlet of Arrone (TR). The outcome of the tournament convinces him to join the motley crew’s mission whose preparation takes place near Tuscania (VT). The first fight, with the knight Teofilatto dei Leonzi (Gian Maria Volonté) who orders Brancaleone “to let him pass”, takes place beneath a ruin near Civita Castellana (VT). The group then reaches a strangely silent town, actually Vitorchiano (VT), although the exterior of the building where Brancaleone meets the wife of a man who has been beaten is Palazzo Chigi in Viterbo.
As they continue on, the group saves Matelda (Catherine Spaak), a young girl given in betrothal, rests on the shores of lake Vico – one of the many natural landscapes they cross which also include the impenetrable Selva Cimina and the spectral red-earth cave in Valentano (VT) – and proceeds to Castello Borgia in Nepi where Matelda is greeted by her husband. Another escapade ends with a ruinous escape attempt, although first there is time for another “heroic” act: when he finds out that Matelda has been imprisoned in a cloistered convent, Brancaleone races to save her, crossing the ponte del Diavolo that leads to Castello della Badia in Vulci, Montalto di Castro (VT) as he heads for the Convent of San Francesco in Canino (VT).
Another passing place for the misfit army is the Palazzo dei Leonzi, really the Abbey of Santa Maria di Falleri, in Fabrica di Roma (VT). Here Brancaleone has a fiery encounter, the scene was shot in the crypt of the Church of St. Peter in Tuscania (VT). Yet another escape is then followed by the discovery of a companion in adventure whom the group believed to be dead, near the Waterfalls of Fosso Castello in Chia. The army finally reaches Aurocastro: actually, the borgo of Le Castella, located near Isola di Capo Rizzuto (KR) in Calabria. However, the view of Aurocastro in the distance is once again from the area around Viterbo, Capodimonte on lake Bolsena, while the bastione Farnesiano in Nepi provided the location for the scenes of the group’s entrance into the borgo to defend it from the Saracen attack.
While generally given fictious identities, the places where Brancaleone and his army travel are mostly to be found in Upper Lazio. Everything starts with a parchment roll grabbed from a knight who was thrown into a river and believed to be dead: the river no longer exists today, the setting for the struggle is the present-day piazzale della Bottata in Nepi (VT), the arches of the aqueduct clearly seen in every scene. Once the treasure has been discovered, it is time to find a knight to lead the mission: he is camped out at the foot of Castello di Torre Casale also known as the Torre di Chia in Soriano nel Cimino (VT). Brancaleone da Norcia (Vittorio Gassman) is waiting to compete in a jousting tournament for knights which takes place shortly after, near the borgo of Casteldilago, a hamlet of Arrone (TR). The outcome of the tournament convinces him to join the motley crew’s mission whose preparation takes place near Tuscania (VT). The first fight, with the knight Teofilatto dei Leonzi (Gian Maria Volonté) who orders Brancaleone “to let him pass”, takes place beneath a ruin near Civita Castellana (VT). The group then reaches a strangely silent town, actually Vitorchiano (VT), although the exterior of the building where Brancaleone meets the wife of a man who has been beaten is Palazzo Chigi in Viterbo.
As they continue on, the group saves Matelda (Catherine Spaak), a young girl given in betrothal, rests on the shores of lake Vico – one of the many natural landscapes they cross which also include the impenetrable Selva Cimina and the spectral red-earth cave in Valentano (VT) – and proceeds to Castello Borgia in Nepi where Matelda is greeted by her husband. Another escapade ends with a ruinous escape attempt, although first there is time for another “heroic” act: when he finds out that Matelda has been imprisoned in a cloistered convent, Brancaleone races to save her, crossing the ponte del Diavolo that leads to Castello della Badia in Vulci, Montalto di Castro (VT) as he heads for the Convent of San Francesco in Canino (VT).
Another passing place for the misfit army is the Palazzo dei Leonzi, really the Abbey of Santa Maria di Falleri, in Fabrica di Roma (VT). Here Brancaleone has a fiery encounter, the scene was shot in the crypt of the Church of St. Peter in Tuscania (VT). Yet another escape is then followed by the discovery of a companion in adventure whom the group believed to be dead, near the Waterfalls of Fosso Castello in Chia. The army finally reaches Aurocastro: actually, the borgo of Le Castella, located near Isola di Capo Rizzuto (KR) in Calabria. However, the view of Aurocastro in the distance is once again from the area around Viterbo, Capodimonte on lake Bolsena, while the bastione Farnesiano in Nepi provided the location for the scenes of the group’s entrance into the borgo to defend it from the Saracen attack.
Cecchi Gori
A knight, Brancaleone da Norcia, leads a motley company of misfits through endless adventures to conquer the fiefdom of Aurocastro in Apulia.
