Director Matteo Garrone did not have to resort to elaborate constructed sets for his film Racconto dei Racconti (The Tale of Tales) inspired by the poem Del Cunto de li Cunti by 17th century poet and courtier Giambattista Basile. The castles, caverns, precipices and gardens were all to be found in Italy, ready for use.
The film, which was one of the favouirtes at the recent Cannes Festival, is a fairytale full of evocative scenes, created in natural settings in Tuscany, Abruzzo, Campania, Puglia and Sicily. Some of the monuments, such as the Moorish-style Castle of Sammezzano, at Reggello, near Florence, and the Castle of Donnafugata, Ragusa, Sicily, with its stone labyrinth, are little known treasures, while the enigmatic Castel del Monte in Puglie, with its unmistakeable octagonal form, has intrigued visitors for centuries. The magnificent interiors of the Royal Palace and the Capodimonte Palace of Naples were naturals for the scenes at court of a wealthy king.
The Tufo City in the Archaeological Park at Grosseto made a natural set for the labyrinthine passages and caves in which the Princess flees from her monster bridegroom and the spectacular Alcantara Gorge near Taormina highlights the drama of the King's dual with the dragon. Other scenes were shot against the background of the ancient woods of Sasseto, near Viterbo, the eagle's nest medieval castle of Roccascalegna, near Chieti in Abruzzo and the grottoes of Gravina di Petruscio near Taranto.
Produced by Garrone's own company Archimede film, with co-producers in France and the UK, filming took a total of four months with a budget of US$14.5 million. Garrone made his mark on the cinema world with the horror epicGomorrah about the Camorra criminal organization.
Info about places in the film:www.comune.reggello.fi.it
www.casteldelmonte.beniculturali.it - www.castelloroccascalegna.com
