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Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and Italy have special ties that are generating rich returns.
The Greek epic was partly shot on the island of Favignana off the west coast of Sicily — which stood in for Ithaca, home
to Penelope, her son Telemachus and its legendary, long-lost king Odysseus. The largest of the three Egadi Islands, Favignana is where Nolan and set designer Ruth De Jong found Ithaca’s perfect palace: the 15th century Castello di Santa Caterina, perched atop Monte Santa Caterina, a tall, craggy hill with a stunning view of the countryside and the Mediterranean Sea.
“It was just the most epic landscape, where you could see the water everywhere you were and the ships [used for filming] could pull up,” De Jong says in the film’s press notes.
It’s also where De Jong and her team built the secluded pig farm and humble hut inhabited by the loyal swineherd Eumaeus (played by John Leguizamo), where Odysseus first goes when he finally comes home, disguised as a beggar to plot against Penelope’s suitors. Nolan also shot in the coves and beaches surrounding Favignana’s coastline and in the nearby tiny islet of Preveto.
After “The Odyssey” trailer dropped in May — two months before the epic hit theaters — Favignana started being heavily promoted and targeted as a tourist destination, including in Airbnb ads offering accommodations well-positioned “to explore the locations that inspired the film’s atmosphere,” as one listing puts it.
“I’m expecting a significant increase in international tourism, especially from the U.S.,” Sicilia Film Commission chief Nicola Tarantino tells Variety, noting that this also happened recently with HBO’s “The White Lotus” Season 2, shot in 2022 in the Sicilian resort town of Taormina.
But the “Nolan effect,” as it’s being dubbed by the Italian press, is expected to have a much greater impact.
While, according to estimates cited by newspaper La Repubblica, “White Lotus” has so far resulted in a €138 million ($158 million) tourism revenue windfall for Taormina, “The Odyssey” could generate more than twice that amount in Favignana. There, tourists inspired by the blockbuster are now expected to bring in a roughly $287 million haul over the next three years, according to initial estimates, and more than $500 million in the long run.
Incidentally, Dua Lipa and Callum Turner’s June wedding in Palermo, which went viral worldwide, generated an immediate economic return of $17 million for the Sicilian capital and an estimated roughly $300 million in total revenue stemming from visibility and valuation of the Palermo brand, according to tourism consultancy JFC.
According to scholars, Sicily was a location for Odysseus’ wanderings in the epic composed by Homer around 8th century BCE. And the fact that Nolan chose to shoot in “authentic locations that, in and of themselves, told the story, is hugely important,” Tarantino underlined.
The Sicily Film Commission chief added: “We are very proud that Sicily is a real protagonist of this film,” pointing out that “through Nolan’s vision, these locations are entering the imagination of millions of spectators around the world, giving new value to a unique landscape and cultural heritage.”
Speaking of cultural heritage, an unusually high portion of “The Odyssey” spectators are Italian.
Italy currently ranks as the fourth top grossing territory in the world for “The Odyssey,” having scored a $35.6 million intake in Italian cinemas to date, according to figures from NBCUniversal. That box office result is preceded only by France ($37.9 million), U.K./Ireland ($56 million) and U.S./Canada ($334 million).
“It’s an extraordinary film that is part of our life and our culture, even though we may not realize it. It’s been part of the canon that we grew up with,” Massimo Proietti, general manager, Italy, for Universal Pictures International, told the “Cineguru” podcast.
Now, “The Odyssey” is also turning into a driver for the Italian economy.
