A summer night at the most beautiful cinema in the world

BarcelonaDo you cry at movies? I always cry at the final scene of Cine Paradiso, when the protagonist can see for the first time the kiss cuts from films censored by the priests. Ennio Morricone's music plays, those kisses appear on the screen, and I start to cry. I can't and don't want to stop it. Many people are seeing it for the first time. Cine Paradiso It left a deep mark on us. Sicilian Giuseppe Tornatore's delightful cinematic homage is poetry. It's a beautiful, sweet film that moves us so much.

The film was released in Italy as New Cinema Paradise, but abroad they cut the name. The film's building doesn't exist; it was built during filming in the middle of Umberto I Square in Palazzo Adriano, a small village right in the middle of Sicily. It was here that Tornatore shot a good part of that film, which takes place in a town that doesn't exist, Giancaldo. An imaginary village. And by imagining it, he made millions of Italians feel like it could be their town. Palazzo Adriano is a typical inland Sicilian village. Apparently, it has nothing interesting, but if you go, it has everything. Traditional cafés with grandparents watching life go by, friendly people, traditional food at good prices, stone houses, charming squares. They've opened a museum dedicated to the film in the square, by the way. Nothing special, but endearing. In the square, there's also a church dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which Tornatore used to film the film's interiors. If you watch the film again, you realize it's a church. In the town square, you can also recognize the building where Alfredo screened the film. And Pompieri Di Viggiu doing a trick, bringing cinema to the streets.

Because Cine Paradiso It's a tribute to cinema and the way it shaped the lives of millions of people years ago, when it was magic and you had to choose between the Indians and the cowboys. One of the film's most beautiful scenes is when a movie is projected outdoors, in this case on an improvised screen in the port. This scene was filmed in one of Sicily's most popular tourist destinations: Cefalù. A port that captivates, and where they've had the vision, on summer nights, of building an open-air cinema inspired by Tornatore's idea. Spending a summer night in Cefalù, watching a film while watching the boats moving in the port, is synonymous with happiness. It's hard to imagine a more beautiful cinema than a floating screen over the sea in a Sicilian port.

You can also visit Termini Imerese, where some scenes from the film were filmed, or Bagheria, the town near Palermo where Tornatore was born. And where he fell in love with cinema thanks to the character that inspired him to create Alfredo. The magic of the film is that it's so real, despite being fiction, because it's born from the memories of an entire generation.

Recommendation for traveling to Sicily

Film: Cine Paradiso

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore

Year: 1988