How much history is in the air in Arezzo! Whoever comes for the first time to the city will find a unique panorama that goes back to the Middle Ages.
Lovers of cinema will not be able to help noticing that the natural scenery of many places in Arezzo and in nearby towns has been featured in Italian and international well-known films. Without a doubt, the most famous film shot in Arezzo is Roberto Benigni's masterpiece, 'Life Is Beautiful'. In 1997 it won a David di Donatello, the grand prize at Cannes, and three Oscars.
The actor and director chose to shoot the first part of the film in Piazza Grande, Piazza del Duomo and any number of roads in the centre. The film has left an indelible mark in the memory of the people of Arezzo.
Still today, after ten years, people in the city talk about the days when Benigni came to Arezzo and captured everybody's attention.
The famous scene in which the protagonist of the film meets the woman who would become his wife was filmed in Piazzetta del Duomo in front of the famous Caffè dei Costanti. Today there is a plaque there celebrating Arezzo's Oscar.
'Life is Beautiful' is not the only film to have used Arezzo as a protagonist. In 1995, another Tuscan comic, Alessandro Benvenuti, chose the area around Castelnuovo dei Sabbioni for 'Ivo il tardivo', a sentimental comedy that brought hundreds of tourists to the small town of Valdarno, which helped to bring about its restoration.
In 1996, Ugo Chiti chose Foiano della Chiana for 'Albergo Roma'. He made the inhabitants of the town protagonists 'because - the director affirmed - the people, besides using the same language as my characters, had a particular look that was in harmony with the countryside'.
In addition to Valdarno and Valdichiana, Casentino, another valley in the province of Arezzo, was the backdrop for Leonardo Pieraccioni's 'il ciclone', which was one of the Italian films that had the most success at the box office.
The film was shot outside Stia, a town filled with shops, in a hilly sunflower filled countryside.
The films that immortalized the beauty of the province of Arezzo concludes with one that was shot in Cortona, where in 2003, Audrey Wells set her 'Under the Tuscan Sun'. This film is adapted from the book by the same name by Frances Mayes. This text certainly contributed to the increase of English language tourists in Tuscany. The focus of the film is the voyage of Frances (Diane Lane), a young Californian newly divorced woman. The protagonist is so taken with the Tuscan countryside that she decides to buy an old uninhabited house in Cortona.
The stories told by these directors have one thing in common: the beauty of a unique place.
Author: Nicola Vasai
Copyright © 2008 - Toscana & Chianti News / Web & Press Edizioni S.r.l. / P.iva 04455680480 Sede Legale: Via Kassel 17/7 - 50126 Firenze / Tel. 848 808868 / Fax 055 6822333 http://www.toscanaechiantinews.com
Full article: http://www.toscanaechiantinews.com/EN/toscana/zon-1/generic_news/pag-Arezzo/article.aspx