Somewhere in Northern Italy, the summer of 1983. This is the beginning of a wonderful 2017 movie with director Luca Guadagnino. The film is an adaptation of a novel with the same title – Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman – and has been translated into Bulgarian together with the sequel Find Me. Both books and the movie are bestsellers. If you open IMDB, you will see that the movie has as many as 262 nominations for various film awards, of which it won 102. Most prizes came for the adaptation of the script, which is magnificent but the movie itself and the cast were also honored.
Call Me By Your Name is a romantic story of the coming of age of a young man. At the center are the characters of Elio (in the role – Timothee Chalamet) and his beloved Oliver (Armie Hammer). All the actors are doing great, and for Timothee this is the big breakthrough in cinema before he nailed Dune and the character of Paul Atreides. Elio brought him many awards and nominations, including an Oscar nomination for a lead male role. The story is beautiful, and even more beautiful is the film, filmed in the vicinity of Bergamo with a lot of taste and delicacy.
Since 2017, the places where the film was shot have become tourist destinations. I personally would not choose Italy for my summer vacation because it is too hot for me. But fans who arrive for the so -called Call Me By Your Name tour are very serious about accuracy. When it has been said, “The Summer of 1983”, then it should be visited in the summer and that’s it. The main location – the summer villa of Elio’s family – cannot be visited as it is privately owned and people use it. But even without it, there is enough to see.
Usually the tour starts in the small town of Crema about 50 km from Bergamo. There are several movie locations here, the first of which is the central square of the town itself. This is where Elio brought Oliver on the first day after arriving from America to Italy to open a bank account. The two drink coffee next to the Cathedral of Santa Maria Asunta, and behind them one can see the colonnade, under which today houses the tourist information center of Call Me By Your Name. I’m not joking. People have found an info center especially for the movie.
They are well prepared in the information center. There are full -height images of the actors with which you can take a photo. A book to write your innermost thoughts about the movie and/or the literary work. Multiple souvenirs of all kinds. And a printed brochure on which the other points of the tour – in and outside Crema – are shown. The second most visited of them is the gate where Oliver wants to kiss Elio. On the wall next to it, there is a huge sign “Please don’t write on the door”. Does it work, how do you think?
The third most popular location from the Call Me By Your Name tour is to be found not far from Crema, next to the village of Farinate. It is called Fontanile Quarantina, which sounds to me like the Forbidden Fountain, but I admit that Italian is not my strength. It is a group of captured springs with ice -cold water forming a small shallow lake in the forest. Considering that there is a walk of nearly a kilometer under the bright sun among the corn fields, the fountain seems like a heavenly paradise upon arrival.
You will probably want to continue your journey with Lake Garda and the archeological site of Catul’s Villa on the small peninsula, where the old town of Sirmione is located, and where Elio’s dad works in the film. Warning: Don’t do this on a non-working day. Many people come to the beaches of Lago di Garda, in addition to lovers of Italian architecture; so it is insanely overcrowded. If you have no choice, prepare for a long and mostly slow search of a parking lot, lots of heat and crowds. Well, you can also prepare for the usual Italian beauty.
If at that moment you have only one day left in Italy, I suggest that you shorten the Call Me By Your Name tour to just two more locations. One is the town of Pandino with a large population of 9,000 inhabitants and a disproportionately huge castle. At its center is the military monument, at which Elio dares for the first time to share with Oliver his feelings for him. You will not be surprised that the stones and metal pylons around the monument are also covered in writings by fans. But in the cafe, they make a terrific espresso.
Finally, it remains to visit Bergamo. On the empty night squares, the two young lovers walk before the inevitable separation in the movie. A realistic ending that saddens and calms at the same tine. If you like such stories, of course. You have to climb up to the Upper Town of Bergamo, where there are great views of the surrounding area. Take pictures of the selected movie locations, but be sure to stop for local tortellini, coffee and ice cream. And then you can go home and watch Call Me By Your Name one more time.
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