Marche, land of cinema but not of cine-tourism

ANCONA A refined beauty, capable of conquering those with an eye for detail. A movie beauty. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Marche region has been chosen over time by renowned directors to act as a set for productions for the small and big screen. A tradition that starts from afar – already in 1943 Luchino Visconti chose to shoot part of his masterpiece Ossessione in Ancona – and which sees in the decision of Leonardo Pieraccioni and Alessandro Siani to use the Doric capital as the backdrop for their cinepanettone to be shown in theaters the next Christmas, the most recent example.

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But the long series of illustrious takes in the very popular Ancona does not end here. In 2001 it was chosen by director Nanni Moretti as the location for the poignant The Son’s Room, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the David di Donatello. And today there is still Monica Vitti’s mural under the iconic red lantern in the Doric port to remember the very famous The Girl with the Gun for which she was the set. Moving a few kilometres, filming began on 5 February on Alex Bravo, a cop in his own way, a drama which will be broadcast in prime time on Canale 5 from next winter. The main location is Senigallia, but filming also took place in Ancona and the Conero. The protagonist is the actor Marco Bocci, who knows something about TV series: what made him famous was above all the character of Nicola Scialoja in Romanzo Criminale-La serie, a masterpiece by Stefano Sollima.

The steep hill

But it’s not just the regional capital and its surroundings that attract the attention of directors. Let’s move to Recanati, the land that gave birth to the poet Giacomo Leopardi. Here there is so much talk about him and for this reason the director Mario Martone chose this city to shoot, in 2014, the film The Fabulous Young Man, which focuses on some of the years in the life of the famous pen, played by the excellent Elio Germano. More recent was the acting experience in the Marche region of Riccardo Scamarcio, who was enchanted by Ascoli Piceno during the filming of L’Ombra del giorno, filmed in 2021 by Giuseppe Piccioni. And again: between Ancona, Numana and Ascoli Piceno, in 2023, the scenes of the TV series for Canale 5 The Fantastic 5 starring Raoul Bova were filmed, which went anything but unnoticed. But if we want to turn the clock back, the cinema skies of the Marche have seen unparalleled stars shine. Like the unforgettable Totò, protagonist in 1965 of La Mandragola, with many scenes shot between the center of Urbino and Urbania. In short, the Marche region has a beauty that pierces the screen. And they also produce great cinema talents. The latest example is the director Roberto Minervini, triumphant at Cannes with his The Damned. The film won the award for best director in the Un Certain Regard section.

An underused appeal

Potential, those expressed by the Marche cinema, which however are not fully grasped. Film tourism is a segment that is still little explored and, thus, we are outclassed by towns such as Gubbio and Spoleto which, acting as the backdrop to the TV drama Don Matteo, have seen their tourist appeal grow, with an excellent return in terms of attendance. Why have internationally acclaimed films like The Son’s Room failed to transform Ancona into a film tourism destination? Marche Film Commission and the Agency for Tourism and Internationalization of the Marche speak of the propulsive effect of cinema in attracting travellers. But so far our region, despite the masterpieces it has served as the backdrop, has seen very little of this effect.

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