With the arrival of spring, the beautiful season and the days that lengthen, it is natural that the desire to make beautiful field trips, to discover the many wonders that our country offers. For us lovers of TV series it is inevitable to turn our thoughts to those places that we have seen in certain productions, which have conquered us and made us long to visit them. Italian TV series, on the other hand, very often focus considerably on location, considering the rich artistic heritage that the area offers. Many productions are set in large cities, obviously Rome, but also Naples, Turin or Milan. Several series, however, focus on more niche settings, but no less suggestive for this, indeed. An example is the Chioggia of I hate Christmas, but there are really a lot of them.
Today, therefore, we are going to discover eight places that have been the backdrop for Italian TV series which, seeing them on television, ardently grow the desire to visit. From jewel cities like Matera and Aosta and hamlets to smaller towns: let’s start this journey in the locations of Italian seriality, perhaps giving some ideas to those readers who are planning a trip or a trip and are looking for inspiration.
The Chioggia of I hate Christmas
Let’s start this journey right from the place mentioned at the beginning, which won the hearts of many spectators last Christmas. Chioggia is a municipality located south of Venezia, halfway between the lagoon city and Padua. It is the location of I hate Christmas, the TV series of the Christmas holidays signed by Netflix starring Pilar Fogliati. Here we admired a festively dressed Chioggia, with the evocative Christmas atmosphere enlivening the town and its streets, but at any time of the year, the Venetian municipality is definitely a pearl not to be missed.
Chioggia offers many points of interest, from the fascinating Cathedral that dominates the historic center to Cockaigne bridgewhich we have admired on several occasions in I hate Christmas thanks to the bike rides of the protagonist Gianna. Not to be missed is the house of Carlo Goldoni, one of the greatest representatives of the Italian theatre. A Christmas visit to Chioggia would surely revive the evocative atmosphere of I hate Christmas, but in general it is a place definitely not to be missed.
Not only Chioggia: the Sardinia of L’Isola di Pietro
From Veneto let’s move a lot and go to Sardiniahunting for the evocative locations of Mediaset fiction Peter’s Island. The series aired for three seasons from 2017 to 2019 and in addition to giving us a compelling storyline, it also offered a glimpse into a territory that has often remained out of the loop of the main productions, but which has lately been taking the stage. Sardinia is an island to be discovered, which often offers stupendous places from a naturalistic point of view, with the contrast between the sea and the decidedly intriguing wild nature.
Yes Peter’s Island we discover places like Carlofortethe only municipality of the ionly of St. Peter’s, which is one of the main islands of the Sulcis archipelago, located southwest of Sardinia. It is an incredible place, a true symbol of the triumph of nature that characterizes the island. The high and rocky coasts lead to the formation of many coves and the whole area is dotted with breathtaking beaches and truly suggestive natural paths. Neither Peter’s Island we had a taste of the natural beauties offered by these places, but there is still much more to discover than seen in fiction.
Don Matteo’s Umbria
We remain in central Italy with one of the most famous locations on Italian television. For many years now, Gubbio it is one of the favorite destinations in our country for film tourism, obviously driven by the success of one of the key fictions of the Rai schedule: Don Matteo. The Umbrian town is clearly the setting par excellence of the series, which however then experienced, starting from the ninth season, a change of location, moving to Spoletoabout 80 km from the original setting.
Both the two Umbrian towns are real jewels, visited every year by many tourists, who seek here the places of Don Matteolike the famous barracks from the first seasons, which in reality corresponds to Palace of the Consulsor even the church of st john, which was the backdrop to the rectory of Don Matteo. Many shots of the fiction then showed us the maze of streets, with a strong medieval imprint, which characterizes the historic center of Gubbio and a similar argument can also be made for Spoleto, of which we see above all the famous Cathedral square, with its Cathedral and Palazzo Bufalini which is the location of the barracks. In Umbria there are many places to recognize to follow in the footsteps of Don Matteo and Gubbio and Spoleto can also be visited on the same day, since they are quite close.
Not only Chioggia: the Matera of Imma Tataranni
After talking about towns like Chioggia and Gubbio, let’s move on to the first city on this list, one of the jewels of southern Italy. Especially in recent years Matera it has become one of the most popular places for visitors, thanks also to an important work in promoting tourism in this area. A significant boost, then, also came from the success of Rai fiction But Tataranni, one of the most viewed in recent years and set right in the capital of Basilicata.
In the famous city of the Stones, declared a UNESCO heritage site in 1993, many places from Rai fiction are recognized. The historic center appears consistently in the series, with the Palace of Justice, Piazza Vittorio Veneto and some famous streets, but the production also offers many naturalistic glimpses of places located just outside the historic center of Matera. The city of Imma Tataranni is definitely a destination to be discovered, it is no coincidence that Matera was elected European capital of culture in 2019 and every year it attracts an ever increasing number of tourists.
Rocco Schiavone’s Aosta
After Matera, we climb several kilometers to the north and head to another city, which, like the locality in Basilicata, deserves to be discovered and visited. Aosta is the city that is the backdrop to Rocco Schiavone, Rai fiction starring the now iconic Marco Giallini. The capital of Valle D’Aosta often remains off the main tourist routes, partly due to its location and partly due to the climate that marks it, but it is a city that deserves to be visited at any time of the year and Rocco Schiavone he proved it to us time and time again.
There are several fictional places that we can recognize in the city of northern Italy. From the ruins of Roman theatre, which often appear above all in the most dramatic scenes of the series, to the Church of Sant’Orso with its famous cloister, also a place that recurs in the Rai production. Then there is the central station Piazza Chanoux, where Rocco Schiavone often stops for breakfast, and there are many testimonies of Roman domination such as the Arch of Augustus and Porta Pretoria. In short, Aosta is a city rich in history, waiting to be discovered and in which to trace the footsteps of Marco Giallini.
Not only Chioggia: the Dolomites of Un passo dal cielo
After talking about two cities like Matera and Aosta, let’s move on to places with a much more naturalistic imprint, always remaining in northern Italy. If we move a little east of the city of Rocco Schiavone we arrive in the locations of another very popular Rai fiction like One step from heaven. The natural wonders of the Dolomitesin which the municipality of Braies certainly stands out.
Located in the Alta Val Pusteria, the Braies valley it is a real earthly paradise, a place where time seems to stand still. Particularly famous is the Lake Braies, one of the main destinations of Alpine tourism, with the body of water set in a breathtaking mountain setting that seems to catapult those who visit it into a postcard. In One step from heaven then, we find other famous locations in the Dolomites, such as the valleys of Val Pusteria and the municipalities of San Candido e you San Vito di Cadoreideal destinations for a holiday dedicated to relaxation and discovery of nature.
Rocchette and Rocchettine in The Name of the Rose
We now leave northern Italy after this overview of Aosta and the Dolomites and return to the centre, particularly in the Lazio, a region that around Rome offers many charming villages. Among these we find the twin fortresses Rocchette and Rocchettine, located in the province of Rieti and which have been the background to the fiction The Name of The rose. These two hamlets best embody that mysterious charm in which Umberto Eco’s novel is imbued and offer a truly incredible contrast between them.
Rocchette and Rocchettine are located in the municipality of Towers in Sabina, are two medieval villages and the peculiarity that characterizes them is that they are two twin fortresses, which however have had completely opposite destinies during their existence. The construction of both dates back to the thirteenth century, but over time Rocchette has become a placid inhabited center, while Rocchettine has been abandoned and today is a ghost townuninhabited and full of that charm of The Name of The rose. In short, a visit to these villages allows you to fully relive the atmospheres that dominate Eco’s masterpiece and the series that derived from it.
Not only Chioggia: Montalbano’s Sicily
The journey that began in Chioggia di I hate Christmas ends in the extreme south of Italy, in Sicily de Inspector Montalbano. The fiction based on Camilleri’s novels takes us to the heart of Ragusa, in the extreme south of the island, to discover a true and primitive Sicily. It is certainly one of the symbolic locations of Rai fiction Dry Point, the hamlet where Marinella stands and the iconic house of Montalbano. Punta Secca, thanks to the series with Luca Zingaretti, has now become an important destination for film tourism and it is possible to find many references to Montalbano and its creator, Andrea Camilleri, with the house in the background of the set dominating the crystal clear sea of Sicily .
Around there, then, we find other places that form the backdrop to the series, such as the baroque towns of Scicli e Modica, around which Vigata is built, or even Donnalucata and Ragusa itself, which offer the view of other places from the series. They are wonderful places, like all those previously addressed, from the trailblazer Chioggia to cities like Matera and Aosta up to more sought-after but extremely fascinating places, such as Braies and Rocchette and Rocchettine. Italian TV series offer many ideas in this sense and are an important source of film tourism, given that they do not limit themselves to presenting their locations, but characterize and experience them, exploiting all the beauty of our territory and making us crave take off your backpack and set off to discover those places we see on television.