You can follow the paths of Andrea Camilleri’s star book character inspector Montalbano now adapted for television, as well as the characters of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard (adapted in 1963 into the award-winning movie of the same name by Luchino Visconti). At the same time you can discover Sicily at its most authentic, soaking in the Baroque towns, the nature, the sea, and the smells and tastes that characterise the area.
Little excursions in Syracuse and surrounding areas (all within a distance of between 30 and 70 kilometers, or 18 and 43 miles).
A native of Porto Empedocle, Sicily, author Andrea Camilleri set the investigations of his famed character, Inspector Montalbano in fictional Sicilian locations. He gave his book’s cities imaginary names such Vigata, Marinella, or Montelusa, yet he based them off of Sicilian towns he knew. The subsequent television series recreated these imagined cities in the splendid landscape of eastern Sicily, between the provinces of Syracuse and Ragusa (namely Syracuse, Brucoli, Noto Marzamemi, Modica, Donnafugata, Scicli, Ragusa Ibla).
The commissioner’s office of Vigata (the town hall) and the police headquarters of Montelusa (Palazzo Iacono), for example, are found in Scicli, while its main square is that of the Duomo of Ragusa Ibla. Donnafugata Castle is the home of mafia boss Sinagra and not far away one finds the "hamlets of Marinella" with the Commissioner's house (in reality Punta Secca) and the ancient, early Christian catacombs of the Grotta delle Trabacche ("The Terracotta Dog" episode). Returning to Syracuse, you can visit the infamous "La Mannara" beach with its atmospheric ruins of industrial architecture of the Fornace Penna (at Punta Pisciotto). Then you can head to Noto and Marzamemi, where the last series set several murders and investigations, and finally to Brucoli, north of Syracuse itself, with the castle and splendid beach that also hosted a few episodes. In addition to Montalbano, you can also experience the locales of the great cinema of Luchino Visconti's The Leopard (set at the Castle and in the majestic Donnafugata park). One can also chart the cinematographic course of Gabriele Salvatores’ Sud in Marzamemi, a location in which other film directors (Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Giuseppe Tornatore, Nello Correale, to name a few) chose to shoot their films.
Tornatore for instance, set Malena, starring Monica Bellucci, entirely in Syracuse and Noto. And of course one cannot overlook Manuel Giliberti’s films, Lettere dalla Sicilia (2005) and Una lontana storia d’amore (2008), the latter of which was set right inside Algilà Ortigia Charme Hotel.
The popularity of the eastern Sicilian landscape for movies led to the creation of the Festival del Cinema di Frontiera (“Border Film Festival”), which is held every year in the last week of July in Marzameni. If this were not enough, during the Taormina Film Festival, the films of the festival are projected simultaneously at Syracuse in the medieval chamber of the Maniace Castle in Ortigia.
To learn more about this rich cinematographic history, stop in the Film Museum of Syracuse, housed in the magnificent 18th-century Palazzo Corpaci. The offer includes discounts on the room rate and/or complimentary dinner in our restaurant.
Hotel. Check out the links for further details or if you are a guest at our hotel Algilà Ortigia Charme in Ortigia, please ask a member of our reception team for further information