Friendship is stronger than anything
Based on the quartet by Elena Ferrante, the TV series My Brilliant Friend, set in Naples in the Fifties, focuses on the friendship between Elena and Lila. Elena and Lila’s world is limited to the buildings of the poor neighbourhood where they live and which they have never left: the Rione Luzzatti, in the eastern suburbs of Naples. The neighbourhood was completely recreated as a set in 20,000 sq. of the disused Saint-Gobain factory in Marcianise, outside Caserta. Off set, the adventures of the two friends used real locations. Elena sees the sea for the first time on Lungomare Caracciolo, when she goes to register for secondary school. Both the primary school, which both girls attend, and Elena’s secondary school were shot at Palazzo Gravina, which houses the Faculty of Architecture in Monteoliveto. Once school is over, Elena spends the summer on the island of Ischia. The young student disembarks on the dock of Ischia Ponte, with the Aragonese Castle in the background, to get the bus to the home of Mrs Icardo, who lives on the ancient “Via del Commercio” in the Testaccio neighbourhood in Barano d'Ischia. The sea is that of the Spiaggia dei Maronti, although the beach scenes were mostly shot near Gaeta (LT) and in lower Lazio.
