Together let’s take a look at some of the most beautiful locations to the south of Otranto
These beautiful areas have become immortalized in many films, and are now tourist destinations for fans and enthusiasts. Very often cinema has breathed life into extraordinarily beautiful locations. Tourism linked to film locations is becoming increasingly widespread and is allowing many to discover the hidden wonders of Italy.
In the last three years the Apulia Film Commission has counted more than one hundred films being shot in Puglia. These films have prompted people to want to come and visit Puglia for a holiday and see the places from the big screen for themselves.
Let’s see which places to the south of Otranto have caught the eye of Italian and foreign directors.
In the past, Salento has often been chosen for Italian comedies starring such names as Lino Banfi and Alvaro Vitali, among others. We like to remember “The Sons of Hannibal” with Diego Abatantuono, also filmed in our beautiful Leuca.
Among the best known directors of Italian cinema is Ferzan Özpetek, a great fan of Salento, where he shot several films, notably “Loose Cannons” and “Fasten Your Seatbelts”, showing Otranto, Maglie, Torre Guaceto, Gallipoli and Corigliano d’Otranto in all their beauty.
But it is Apulian directors that have been able to best express the places, people, stories and feelings that this land can give.
Edoardo Winspeare has dedicated his films to depicting the South. In films such as “Pizzicata”, “Life Blood” and his last film, “Quiet Bliss”, he recounts the phenomenon of tarantism, misery and the desire for redemption, even dipping the greatest dramas in the sweetness of the Salentine sea, while choosing such beautiful places as Torre Guaceto, Botrugno, Desperate, Alessano and Specchia.
Giorgia Cecere gently tells a story from the ‘50s in “The First Assignment”, filmed in Castrignano del Capo, which emerges with a dazzling beauty just as the sun that illuminates the white houses of the area.
The Apulian Sergio Rubini instead chooses Santa Cesarea Terme, Gallipoli and Gagliano del Capo as locations for “Soul Mate”.
We are sure that a trip to South Salento in search of film locations will offer unexpected discoveries, new visions and show you the true essence of Puglia.