Set-Jetting in Naples: explore 5 location of the series ''My Brilliant Friend''
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Have you ever been set-jetting? Maybe you did, without even knowing it. This activity combines the love of travel with the love of cinema and TV series and simply consists of visiting the locations where the most beautiful and iconic scenes of a film or series were shot. Naples is full of them because over the years it has often been chosen as a movie set.
In recent times, the city has also increasingly been the setting for famous series and has attracted great directors, from John Turturro to Paolo Sorrentino. To find all the most memorable locations you can use the Naples Pass that allows you to easily move around the city with public transport, so you can also have fun visiting most of the locations where one of the most famous series set in Naples, My Brilliant Friend, was filmed.
Elena Ferrante's novels: around Naples on the steps of Lenù and Lila
The novels of Elena Ferrante have had a great success in many countries of the world. Currently, it is the most translated saga abroad! The story is that of two Neapolitan girls Elena (Lenù) and Raffaella (Lila) born after the war. The novels tell almost 60 years of history and they are a strong portrait of Italian Twentieth century society.
If you are waiting for the TV series produced by RAI and HBO, you have to read the article and discover with us the places of Lenù and Lila.
5. Rione Luzzatti a Gianturco: where Lenù and Lila were born
The district where the protagonists were born and where most of the plot takes place, especially in the first two seasons, is the Rione Luzzatti di Gianturco. A large set in the province of Caserta hosted the reconstruction of the 1950s of this neighborhood in the eastern suburbs, near an area called "degli stagni".
However, the neighborhood actually exists and here you can still see the Parish of the Holy Family, mentioned several times in the novels, the neighborhood library and the tunnel that leads from Gianturco "to the sea". The elementary school, however, is located in Palazzo Gravina, in the historic center of Naples, today home to the faculty of architecture.
The Luzzatti district is located a few steps from the Gianturco stop on Metro Line 2. In the area there is also one of the largest street markets in Naples, the Poggioreale market, known for selling low-cost brand shoes.
Let's now move to the center of Naples. The first stop is Corso Umberto I, called "rettifilo" by the Neapolitans. Here Lila buys her wedding dress.
Another very beautiful place immortalized in the first episodes is the former Ospedale della Pace, represented as the Courthouse in the series, the workplace of Lenù's father works and where he proudly introduces her to the other ushers and to a judge when he enrolls her in high school. The former Hospital is in the heart of the old center of Naples, in Via Tribunali, and was the Hospital of the Hospitaller Friars of San Giovanni di Dio, known by the Neapolitans as the Ospedale della Pace. Once a noble palace, it was the home of Giovanni Caracciolo, lover of Queen Giovanna II. Then in 1587 the friars founded the Ospedale S. Maria della Pace, also building the beautiful Sala del Lazzaretto. Today the former hospital is used for municipal offices.
For the protagonists, Naples outside the neighborhood is always a mine of discoveries. One Sunday, Rino decides to take his sister and the group of friends to Via Toledo. The day continues through the streets of the historic center (via Tribunali, piazza dei Martiri) and ends at the Principe Gallery where they stop for an ice cream, mixing with rich people for the first time.
The gallery is very close to Port'Alba, where Lenù used to go to buy books, and here in a bookstore, while still a student, she finds her first job. Even today there are numerous stalls and bookstores and you can breathe an intellectual atmosphere!
"In front of us, across the road a hole all the way along the ponds that ran along the ponds. To the right lay the thread of a countryside without trees under a huge sky. On the left there was a tunnel with three mouths, but if you climbed up to the railroad tracks, on nice days you could see, beyond certain low houses and walls of tufa and dense vegetation, a celestial mountain with a lower peak and a higher one, which is called Vesuvio".
Another key place is Piazza dei Martiri, where Lila and Stefano had their shoe shop. This is still one of the most beautiful and elegant squares in Naples and is located in the Chiaia district.
Another stop not far away is Via Caracciolo, the famous seafront of Naples. Here you can admire the sea and the grandeur of Vesuvius, just like Lenù did when she was little with her dad.
Let's then move on to Via Orazio, on the panoramic hill of Posillipo, where Lila and Stefano celebrated their wedding. Once you have admired the gulf from above, you have to go to the Sea Garden, where Lenù took the stationer's daughter to the sea.
2. Piazza del Plebiscito among the places in Naples from Elena Ferrante's novels
Let's go back for a moment to the moment when the girls leave the Rione for the first time for a walk with friends by night. The evening, which will take them to the Galleria Principe, begins in a Piazza del Plebiscito where the atmospheres of the last century have been perfectly reconstructed. The cars of the 60s, the old buses and many other details contribute to a perfectly successful dive into the past.
The square then appears once again, obviously very changed, in the last season. In one of the scenes that has become most famous, Lila and Lenù, who have not seen each other for some time, find themselves now adults and walking arm in arm after discovering that they are both pregnant.
1. Ischia among My Brielliant Firend's locations
Our last stop among the most famous locations of My Brilliant Friend is Ischia.
An island very dear to Lenù, where in the first season the girl goes on holiday for the first time in her life, hosted by a friend of the teacher Oliviero. The house where Elena stays is located in Barano d'Ischia, and occasionally the Aragonese Castle can be seen in the background.
The road that Elena takes to go to the sea with the Sarratore family is the one that leads to the Maronti beach, but the scenes at the sea were filmed in Lazio.
The port from which the girl arrives and leaves is instead the real port of Ischia.
An itinerary for a tour of Naples from My Brilliant Friend
If you want to visit these iconic locations in one day, start from Corso Umberto I, a stone's throw from Naples Central Station. Walk among the shops and 19th-century buildings to the Duomo metro station, but instead of taking the train, walk along Via Duomo to Via dei Tribunali. Here you are right in the heart of Naples, and you can walk to Port'Alba to be distracted by the book stalls just like Lenù did.
From here, just a few minutes separate you from the Galleria Principe, in a lively area full of bars and restaurants where you can take a break.
Afterwards, take the FS metro in nearby Piazza Cavour to the Piazza Amedeo stop, in the Chiaia district. Walking among the luxurious shop windows of Via dei Mille, you will reach the elegant Piazza dei Martiri in a few minutes. Here you are very close to the seafront and in less than fifteen minutes you are in Piazza del Plebiscito, where our tour ends.
Ischia is a wonderful island, but it is also the largest in the Gulf. To enjoy its sea and all its beauties at their best, you should definitely dedicate a whole day to it. Boardings to and from Naples are very frequent.
Other films and TV series shot in Naples
The love story between Naples and cinema has lasted many decades. Some of the greatest Italian directors have chosen it as a set, from Roberto Rossellini with Viaggio in Italia in 1954, to Vittorio de Sica with L’Oro di Napoli, in the same year. In much more recent times, Naples in Veils, a film by Ferzan Ozpetek from 2017, was shot between Castel dell’Ovo and the Rione Sanità.
The historic center of Naples with one of its most famous pizzerias was one of the many sets for the film Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts. Last but not least, the Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino shot Parthenope, along with other films, in various locations in Naples.
The Gulf with its beautiful islands is also a highly respected film location. Anthony Minghella shot The Talented Mr. Ripley between Ischia and Procida.
As for TV series, there is another one that has achieved worldwide fame by showing the dark side of Naples, Gomorrah, a very successful crime series filmed mostly in the suburbs, but also in Vomero and in the historic center.
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