Random 4

Atri 4 img_0396 img_0462 The ox enters Loreto Aprutino

Filmed In Abruzzo

One of the first things I learned about Campo Imperatore, L’Aquila was that it was the location for many movies. Later, when I said to a friend of mine from Abruzzo that I was heading off to visit Rocca Calascio I was told that Ladyhawke was filmed there. I didn’t swoon at the thought of walking in the footsteps of Michelle Pfeiffer but it was exciting all the same.

Later I found out that these movies had an Abruzzo connection:

  • The Name Of The Rose
  • Ladyhawke
  • My Name Is Trinity
  • Trinity Is Still My Name

I’d seen these movies years ago at a time when I’d never heard of Abruzzo. I think The Name Of The Rose is by far the best of them, but I enjoyed them all.

Curious, I recently did an IMDB search it appears there are 86 entries for works filmed in Abruzzo, here they all are. Although most are in Italian there are quite a few in English too.

When I saw the list I spotted a few surprises. I remember watching Krull and La Strada and sure enough the fact that some of the scenes I saw were filmed in L’Aquila (Campo Imperatore, Ovindoli, Rocca di Mezzo) would have had no impact on me at the time.

But things are different now. Since I’ve had a chance to spend time in Abruzzo I keep an eye out for the region. I don’t live there, I just wish I did. I travel there as often as possible, which is never enough.

So I think I’m going to have to go back and look at some of these films again, and although they may not be regarded as classics, except perhaps The Name Of The Rose, I’m going to have fun looking out for Abruzzo as I watch.

Looking through the IMDB list I learned a few more nuggets of information:

So while I’m waiting for my next trip to Abruzzo (not too long now, nearly there, nearly there) I can crank up the DVD player see if I can spot familiar scenes while watching Sean Connery and Christian Slater in The Name Of The Rose, Anthony Quinn in La Strada, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rutger Hauer and Matthew Broderick in Ladyhawke, a whole list of actors I’ve ever heard of  in My Name Is Trinity and Trinity Is Still My Name.

I think I’ll skip Krull.

Update 27 February 2010:

It’s amazing what you’l find on YouTube. In September 2008 HouseAbruzzo posted this photo video of movies filmed in Abruzzo.

Things Change, Things Remain The Same

I’ve updated the look and feel of my blog.

The main visual changes are:

  • more space for main content
  • more space for sidebars
  • moved the navigation controls so that they’re horizontal across the top (no longer taking up sidebar space)
  • cleaned up sidebar content
  • cleaned up some static pages

Under the hood I’ve gained greater flexibility for visual and layout control.

I’ve stuck with whitespace as the background, and a central main content area with two sidebars – nothing new there.

I like it, I hope you do too. Please let me know what you think.

I’m pretty sure I’ve ironed out all the wrinkles and normal service has now resumed.

But if you spot anything that isn’t working quite right I’d really appreciate it if you’d let me know.

Time for a change and thank you very much

I’m thinking about making a few changes to my blog. Nothing too radical, just change the look and feel by whipping out the current theme I’m using and changing it for one that I think is more flexible.

I selected the candidate last week and I could’ve just gone for it, but I held back. I wanted to test a few features first.

I’m pretty sure everything should work, perhaps with a few tweaks, but as you can see, I’m still holding back.

The reason is probably that whenever a software developer ever told me that some code change “should just work” it never quite worked out that way! OK, this isn’t software development, but I still don’t want to mess up.

My current plan (emphasis on “current”) is to do it tomorrow. I’ve a few hours free and if disaster strikes I can always roll-back. But I won’t need to as nothing will go wrong. :-)

With that in mind please recognise that About Abruzzo could be in a state of flux for a little while.

I have made one small change already. It’s trivial, but I think it’s important from a content point of view.

I’ve added a page that lists a collection of online newspaper and magazine articles that I’ve come across relating to Abruzzo. Articles that appeared in The Times, The Guardian, The New York Times and BBC News are featured and they cover many aspects of Abruzzo life. The oldest article I’ve listed goes back to 2004 and the most recent appeared yesterday. They cover many aspects of tourism, Abruzzo culture and last year’s earthquake in the province of L’Aquila.

My plan is to update the list as more articles appear and if any of you know of any others that I should reference please pass them on. The criteria are that the article should be about Abruzzo and it should have appeared in an online newspaper or magazine, not a personal blog.

When I started this blog I never anticipated I’d get anything close to the number of readers I have now. Since I’m about to make a “sweeping changes” I want to take this opportunity to thank all of my readers, all those who have commented and all those who have helped and encouraged me  for the  last year and a half.

I’d also like to thank all Abruzzo bloggers out there. Thank you!

Everyone sees things and experiences events in different ways. When I write my blog I’m naturally biased and emphasise those things that I think are important. I’m grateful to all other bloggers who write about Abruzzo from their own point of view as I’ve learned so much about the region from reading your posts.

All the best to all of you and please keep reading and writing about Abruzzo.