While Italy may not have produced its own Gone with the Wind, it does have many a Tara in its filmography. These houses prove that locations are not just a backdrop but often the central hub of the story. The good news is that while Tara never truly existed, the villas and castles in this itinerary are real and open for visits. In these cases, the places themselves were actually the inspiration for the stories they frame.
Print itineraryVilla di Oria is a case in point. Antonio Fogazzaro stayed here for a long time while he wrote his masterpiece, Piccolo Mondo Antico (The Little World of the Past). Set at the end of the 1800s, the writer unfolds the story of Franco and Luisa Maironi in the terrace and hanging gardens. Here too, Mario Soldati shot the black and white film of the novel, also entitled Piccolo Mondo Antico, in 1941. Today the Villa, renamed Fogazzaro Roi, belongs to FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano), a bequest from Marquis Giuseppe Roi, Fogazzaro’s great-nephew, who restructured and redecorated all the rooms in the mid 1900s taking great care not to disturb the novel’s minutely described details. The small private dock where the body of little Ombretta is found in the book is still intact today. The other stunning villa featured in the film is Villa del Balbianello, used as the home of the Marchioness Maironi, which today also belongs to FAI. Oria is a little borgo on the Como side of Lake Lugano: the other small centres of San Mamete, Cressogno and Loggio that Fogazzaro uses for his characters’ movements are close to the border with Switzerland.
In contrast, the county of Rivombrosa, setting for the tormented love story between the servant Elisa Scalzi and Count Fabrizio Ristori in the TV series Elisa di Rivombrosa, is entirely fictional. The location used was Agliè, near the hills of Macugnano, in the Canavese area. The tree-lined drive leading to the village and to Piazza Castello is historically known to residents as Riv’umbrusa, which gave the series its title and the Ristori residence is the Ducal Castle of Agliè. The imposing facade of the building in Piedmont brick, with steps leading to a vast English park, provides the backdrop for chases and discussions between the lovers in the garden while the staircase provides the setting for Fabrizio’s dramatic declaration of love. Their marriage, later sabotaged by the Marchioness Lucrezia Van Necker, takes place in the Church of Santa Marta in the centre of Agliè. Lucrezia who is still in love with Fabrizio, is the couple’s main enemy and plots against them from her residence, Castle of San Giorgio Canavese. In addition to the difficulty in living out their love, Elisa and Fabrizio are also the only people who can dismantle an attempt on the king by a group of conspirators. Fabrizio attempts several times to deliver the list of conspirators to the royal palace and government buildings, between the Hunting Lodge of Stupinigi and the Royal Castle of Racconigi, putting both his life and his future with Elisa at risk.
The TV miniseries The Charterhouse of Parma (based on Stendhal’s masterpiece) contains another invented place, the setting for Fabrizio del Dongo’s childhood. The young man (the story’s main character) grows up on the ancestral estate of Castle of Grianta: on screen, Castle of Rivalta (province of Piacenza) whose name comes from Ripa Alta, the shore of the Trebbia river. Years later, following a duel in the gardens of Villa Isolani (province of Bologna) when he kills a rival in love, he is imprisoned in the Farnese Tower whose filming location was the Castle of Torrechiara (province of Parma). He discovers true love much later, during a ball at Palazzo San Severina (Palazzo Albergati in Zola Predosa, province of Bologna) when he meets Clélia. She is, however, destined to marry someone else and to live in Rocca Meli Lupi in Soragna (province of Parma) whose salons and gardens were used in the production. Lastly, the titular Charterhouse of Parma where Fabrizio takes refuge is actually the Certosa di Paradigna (since 1298 the Cistercian Abbey of Valserena) which today houses the Università di Parma’s Study centre and Communications Archive, while the cloister used for the shoot was built in the Benedictine Convent of St. John.
