70s Film Set in Montenero - shooting Virzi's latest filmFor some weeks now director Paolo Virzì has been shooting his latest film in and around Livorno. You may have spotted him and his troop in well-known landmarks like the Pancaldi lido and Piazza di Montenero.

Virzì is no stranger to Livorno since he was born here in 1964. He has lived in Rome for some years now, but  this is not the first time he has used Livorno as a backdrop to his films. In 1997 Ovo Sodo won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and put Virzì on the road to fame.

Another scene from Virzì's Montenero setOnly a few weeks ago he also released his documentary film – L’Uomo che aveva Battuto la Testa – about Livornese singer-songwriter Bobo Rondelli and his relationship with the city.

Virzì’s latest film is provisionally entitled ‘La Prima Cosa Bella’ (‘The First Good Thing’). Auditions were held in Livorno late last year to find local actors to fill some of the parts (see separate article). The film tells the story of a mother and her children over a period of forty years. It was written by Virzì with Francesco Bruni and Francesco Piccolo and is produced by the film company Motorino Amaranto which the director runs with his brother, as well as Indiana and Medusa which will also distribute the film. The cast includes Stefania Sandrelli as the mother Anna today, while the director's wife Micaela Ramazzotti plays the young Anna in the 70s. 

In fact this is the latest in a long line of films partially or wholly shot here in Livorno. You will probably be surprised to learn, for example, that the original silent Ben Hur movie, directed in 1925 by Fred Niblo and starring Ramon Novarro and May McAvoy, was partly filmed on the Molo Novo in the Port of Livorno. More famously, the Livornese coastline south of the city was used in the Sixties film Il Sorpasso starring Vittorio Gassman. Many more films have been shot in the area – for a list compiled by Marco Sisi -  click here.
Livorno even had its own film studios - in 1933 the Tirrenia Film Studios were founded, between Pisa and Livorno. These studios worked on and off up until 1987 when they were used for the last time by the Taviani brothers for their film Good Morning Babilonia.