I’m Taking You to Italy!
"We're not really talking about glass, are we?" You got that right. Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi in David Lean's Summertime, an incredibly romantic film set in an incredibly romantic city - Venice
- Jane and Renato first see each other in a cafe in the Piazza San Marco
- Not knowing it is his, Jane stumbles into Renato's antique shop, attracted by a red goblet in the window. This shop is located in San Barnaba di Venezia.
- Jane and her self-appointed guide, Mauro, in Piscina Sant'Agnese in Dorsoduro. The photo in the corner shows how it looks in recent years. Italians preserve their past; which is why watching this 1955 film is almost like going there today.
- Jane falling into the canal on San Barnaba di Venezia while trying to film Renato's shop. Mauro saves the camera just in time. The photo in the corner is of the San Barnaba di Venezia in recent years, but from the opposite direction. The shop by the bridge in the lower left was used as Renato's shop in the movie, so Hepburn would have fallen into the canal in the foreground. She got an eye infection from that, and suffered from it for the rest of her life.
There are other places known for their charming waterways besides just Venice. One of them is San Antonio. If you go there, you will want to spend most of your time on the River Walk. Wonderful waterside cafes amidst gigantic cedars make this a very pleasant place to dine with a friend.
Best Films Set in Italy, Beginning with...
SUMMERTIME (aka, Summer Madness)
Best Romance, 1955 - 5 Stars
A very romantic film set in a very romantic city
This summer, I'm taking you to Italy... via your DVD player. There are some fabulous "vacation packages" out there, and they're only a click away. Each one is set in a different city, and they all make you feel like you're actually there. I'll finish up the summer with an Italian film that I consider to be their best.
Our first stop is Venice, and the movie is Summertime, starring Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi, Isa Miranda and Darren McGavin. It is 1955, and this is David Lean's last "little" movie, before directing such monumental classics as The Bridge Over The River Kwai, Lawrence Of Arabia, The Greatest Story Ever Told and Doctor Zhivago. But the ones preceding Summertime are no slouches either, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and Brief Encounter. So Summertime stands as a turning point in Lean's career - one last summer fling before getting down to some very serious work.