Family, tradition, gifts, the inevitable miracle, snow, all garnished with a misunderstanding or two to make the stories more amusing: these are the ingredients for enjoying Christmas … at the cinema naturally! These are some places made “Christmassy” through the magic of the big screen.
Sulmona (province of L’Aquila) is the backdrop to one of the “meanest” of maestro Mario Monicelli’s films, Parenti Serpenti, which features the reunion of four siblings and their respective families at the home of their elderly parents for the Christmas holidays. The days slip past amidst traditions, memories, gossip and mean behaviour while several beauty spots in the town feature in the background: Porta Napoli, corso Ovidio, San Francesco della Scarpa, Piazza XX Settembre and the statue of the most illustrious town resident, the Latin poet Ovid. Years later, the same scenario provided the backdrop for the TV movie produced by Sky Italia, Un Natale con i fiocchi, which eschews the emotional distance of Monicelli’s film, focussing instead on friends reunited after 30 years (played by Silvio Orlando and Alessandro Gassman), generous-minded feelings and redemption.
A fairy-tale setting with a fairy-tale castle: Castel Savoia in Gressoney-Saint-Jean, Valle d’Aosta, was chosen as the location for Il peggior Natale della mia vita (The Worst Christmas of My Life) where a clumsy Fabio De Luigi, his pregnant wife plus his in-laws, could ruin Christmas and his future prospects through his ineptness and a series of mishaps. The castle was built by Queen Margherita in the early 1900s to serve as her summer residence and because she had a lover here. The director, Alessandro Genovesi, said that the place was chosen because it indicates wealth without excess or vulgarity.
A sunny Polignano a Mare is preparing for the Christmas holidays. The opening scenes of La cena di Natale are dedicated to the village perched on a rocky spur in Apulia, featuring the coastline, the fishermen’s coloured boats, the whiteness of the historical centre where narrow alleyways open onto little squares and the seafront walk named for its famous resident Domenico Modugno. The Scagliusi family and their friends gather at Don Mimì’s house for dinner on Christmas Eve but they are all a little agitated by events. Hysterical outbursts, pregnancies, broken elevators, lost rings, rediscoveries and plot twists, anything can, and does, happen. The Christmas miracle will take place, as per tradition... accompanied by the snow.
Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo are arrested on Christmas Eve in Milan, apparently red-handed. The Banda dei Babbi Natale (The Santa Claus Gang) is the story of three friends who share a love of bowls, as they tell the police inspector (Angela Finocchiaro) about their rather bizarre and complicated lives. The flashbacks that describe them and the misunderstandings that led to the friends being identified as a gang of apartment burglars, feature several streets in Milan, the old customs offices in Bizzarone (province of Como) and a villa in Bosisio Parini (province of Lecco). Everything begins (or ends?) in the building in Via Pastrengo 19, Milan. Midnight rings out … have the friends demonstrated their innocence sufficiently or will they end up behind bars?
On the eve of the Christmas holidays, uncles Remo (Lillo) and Oscar (Greg) are forced to take care of their 8 years old nephew when his parents are mistakenly arrested for growing illegal substances. The film, Un Natale stupefacente, features an unusual extended family with one uncle a relentless lady-killer who doesn’t want to settle down with his latest girlfriend although he may be falling in love with her and the other recently abandoned by his wife for a boorish tattoo artist who will try to make the most of the situation to win her back. The setting for this story is a villa in the Roman countryside, on via Appia Pignatelli.