Abel Ferrara, the American director of Italian family, tells the story of Padre Pio (Shia La Beouf) using as a starting point the atmosphere of several places directly affected by the Saint’s life which so impressed him.
The main setting is Monte Sant’Angelo, the city with two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Gargano, where events that took place in 1920 in San Giovanni Rotondo were recreated: the bloody quashing of the first peasant socialist political victory and, at the same time, the arrival in the city of a young monk in full-blown mystical crisis, Padre Pio, as he begins to manifest his few miracles and stigmata.
The production shot mostly in the Monastery of San Marco La Catola and the Abbey of Santa Maria di Pulsano, where the Capuchin monks played an active part in the film, as a tribute to Padre Pio. Other locations selected by the production include: the white terraced houses in the historical centre, rione Junno, the Church of St. Mary Major, the streets near the Sanctuary of St. Michael Archangel and the so-called “holy stairs” which pilgrims would once climb on their knees in penitence.
Abel Ferrara, the American director of Italian family, tells the story of Padre Pio (Shia La Beouf) using as a starting point the atmosphere of several places directly affected by the Saint’s life which so impressed him.
The main setting is Monte Sant’Angelo, the city with two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Gargano, where events that took place in 1920 in San Giovanni Rotondo were recreated: the bloody quashing of the first peasant socialist political victory and, at the same time, the arrival in the city of a young monk in full-blown mystical crisis, Padre Pio, as he begins to manifest his few miracles and stigmata.
The production shot mostly in the Monastery of San Marco La Catola and the Abbey of Santa Maria di Pulsano, where the Capuchin monks played an active part in the film, as a tribute to Padre Pio. Other locations selected by the production include: the white terraced houses in the historical centre, rione Junno, the Church of St. Mary Major, the streets near the Sanctuary of St. Michael Archangel and the so-called “holy stairs” which pilgrims would once climb on their knees in penitence.
Maze Pictures, Interlinea Film, Rimsky Productions
