Where it was filmed 'The Star Maker'

In 1953 Joe Morelli (Sergio Castellitto) is travelling Sicily in a tarpaulin-covered truck posing as a talent scout. Matera, the Sassi and San Pietro Caveoso (where the first round of screen tests takes place) provide the alleys and squares for the fictional Sicilian town of Realzisa. While journeying to the next town, Joe stops to test a Brigadier in a location actually very distant from the city of the Sassi: this special location is the theatre of Morgantina, in the archaeological area of Aitone (EN). The Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta and the Church of St. Antony Abbot, in the square in Monterosso Almo (AG), are the setting for further screentests which largely involve the villagers telling their war stories. The casting call for the “new Maciste” takes place in piazza Pola in Ragusa Ibla with the Church of St. Joseph behind Joe Morelli. Also in Ragusa, a funeral procession crosses largo Santa Maria whose staircase links Ibla with the new city and offers a wonderful view from the top. The bell tower of the Church of Our Lady of the Stairs is clearly seen as the band passes by.

Left on foot with his wagon, Joe is rescued by what appears to be a noblewoman who takes him to the ruins of a bombed borgo owned by her princely husband, whom he screen-tests: these are the ruins of the old city of Poggioreale (TP), actually destroyed by the Belice earthquake in 1968. He awakes foggy-minded to find the wagon gone, but with the help of Beata (Tiziana Lodato), a girl who wants to be a film star to escape the poverty of her life, he gets it back. They have sex near the Abbey of Gangi Vecchio (PA), an ancient Benedictine convent on the edge of the village.

Morelli is arrested on the Balata, one of Marzamemi’s (SR) two natural harbours, while a brief scene shows the square and alleys of the historical borgo of Cività di Bagnoregio in the Tuscia area.