Don Quixote by Fabio Segatori, with cinematography by Ugo Lo Pinto, stars Alessio Boni, Fiorenzo Mattu (Sancho Panza), Angela Molina, Marcello Fonte, Galatea Ranzi, and Carlo De Ruggieri.
The story begins in 1571, when Miguel de Cervantes, wounded in the Battle of Lepanto, is lying in a hospital in Messina. The sequence was filmed in a real 16th century castle, like other locations reopened for filming after years of closure.
The landscapes are key to the film. Southern Italy is both mythical and real, a rugged land suspended in time. Filmed on the Upper Ionian coast, between Basilicata and Calabria, the film traverses wind-carved ravines, medieval castles overlooking the sea, rivers, pristine beaches, and sun-baked expanses.
Filming (May-June 2024) began in Basilicata on 6 May in Pisticci, Montalbano Jonico, Craco, Borgo Taccone, and Genzano di Lucania.
The production then moved to Calabria where filming began on 14 May at Oriolo Castle, the following week at Rocca Imperiale, Roseto Capo Spulico, Trebisacce, Palazzo Pignatelli, Piana di Cerchiara (the Don Quixote farmhouse), and San Lorenzo Bellizzi.
Sets included a 12-metre-tall working windmill from where Alessio Boni flew head down through the sky during a "hand-to-hand" battle against the magician Freston, the enemy of Justice and Freedom.
The prologue and epilogue are set in Sicily, specifically Messina, in a deconsecrated church that served as a civic hospital in the 17th century. The Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes was hospitalized here for a long time due to the serious wounds he sustained during the Battle of Lepanto.
Inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ famous novel, the film was produced by Paola Columba for Baby Films and was supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Calabria Film Commission, the Lucana Film Commission, and the Municipality of Messina.
Don Quixote by Fabio Segatori, with cinematography by Ugo Lo Pinto, stars Alessio Boni, Fiorenzo Mattu (Sancho Panza), Angela Molina, Marcello Fonte, Galatea Ranzi, and Carlo De Ruggieri.
The story begins in 1571, when Miguel de Cervantes, wounded in the Battle of Lepanto, is lying in a hospital in Messina. The sequence was filmed in a real 16th century castle, like other locations reopened for filming after years of closure.
The landscapes are key to the film. Southern Italy is both mythical and real, a rugged land suspended in time. Filmed on the Upper Ionian coast, between Basilicata and Calabria, the film traverses wind-carved ravines, medieval castles overlooking the sea, rivers, pristine beaches, and sun-baked expanses.
Filming (May-June 2024) began in Basilicata on 6 May in Pisticci, Montalbano Jonico, Craco, Borgo Taccone, and Genzano di Lucania.
The production then moved to Calabria where filming began on 14 May at Oriolo Castle, the following week at Rocca Imperiale, Roseto Capo Spulico, Trebisacce, Palazzo Pignatelli, Piana di Cerchiara (the Don Quixote farmhouse), and San Lorenzo Bellizzi.
Sets included a 12-metre-tall working windmill from where Alessio Boni flew head down through the sky during a "hand-to-hand" battle against the magician Freston, the enemy of Justice and Freedom.
The prologue and epilogue are set in Sicily, specifically Messina, in a deconsecrated church that served as a civic hospital in the 17th century. The Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes was hospitalized here for a long time due to the serious wounds he sustained during the Battle of Lepanto.
Inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’ famous novel, the film was produced by Paola Columba for Baby Films and was supported by the Ministry of Culture, the Calabria Film Commission, the Lucana Film Commission, and the Municipality of Messina.
Baby Films, Rai Cinema
Wounded in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 Miguel de Cervantes lies in a hospital in Messina. Racked by fever and hallucinations, Cervantes sees books set on fire: they are by Don Alonso Chichano, a man obsessed with chivalric romances who decides to become a knight-errant. This was the spark that created Don Quixote of La Mancha, who chooses the peasant Dulcinea as his lady and drags Sancho Panza along with him, seduced by the promise of a castle to govern.
