What is the Incredible Neapolitan? Paolo Sorrentino explains it to us through the places in Naples chosen for his latest film “Partenophe”. Swimming pools, beautiful villas, city beaches and alleys
«I had the chance to explore something that exists in Naples and is a kind of “Incredible Neapolitan”, in the sense that Naples is a city that has to do with the incredible, because there is an enormous constant theatricalization of everything». This is how Paolo Sorrentino talks about his new film “Partenophe”, just presented and in competition at Cannes for the Palme d’Or, and in theaters next autumn. In Naples everything is true, even the unlikely. You see and breathe in what you cannot find in any other city in the world. The incredible that happens every day, materializes in every corner of the city, different scenes, urban spectacles with a magical edge that release a mixture of charm and amazement. In Naples, every glance can unleash wonder. Paolo Sorrentino with “Partenophe” takes us on a journey from the slums to the most aristocratic areas, he also tells of a bad and ruthless Naples and the character of Partenophe, played by the rising star, the debutant Celeste Dalla Porta (as an adult Stefania Sandrelli), he is a kind of Charon who tells us about the thousand souls of Naples.
Director Paolo Sorrentino during filming (Ig)
Where Partenophe was filmed
With this spirit we went to find the secret places of the film, those feverishly searched for by Sorrentino, who explored his attentive gaze on photos, stories and city spaces. We found private homes, swimming pools carved into the rock, villas overlooking urban beaches and seedy streets. And we tell you about them through images.
From the alleys of Naples to Posillipo
The protagonist, Partenephe was born right in the waters of the Gulf of Naples (in 1950) in Palazzo Donn’Anna in Mergellina, and experienced all the important moments of Neapolitan history starting from the youth protests of the Seventies, to cholera, to the Maradona era , to the scudetto. Filmed between Naples, Capri and Genoa last summer, the set was heavily armored and filming lasted 10 weeks in Naples. The film was shot in the alleys of the centre, via San Carlo, the Santa Lucia district, the Caracciolo seafront. Then via Partenope, between the beach of the Diaz rotunda and Castel dell’Ovo, the headquarters of the Federico II University, the Certosa di San Martino. The production also committed to cleaning up graffiti from the cliff. But much of the film revolves around the waters and the beautiful villas of Posillipo where the interior shots were also filmed. The blue ship used by the Neapolitan fans to celebrate last year’s championship and a 1973 truck used for disinfestation during the time of cholera also arrived on set. Beyond Naples, the filming of “Partenophe” was filmed in Capri, near the Faraglioni and the Punta Carena lighthouse beach in Anacapri. In Genoa, however, some alleys of historic Naples have been rebuilt.
