Catalog
Hadrian's Wall ran 73 miles across northern England, from Segedunum at Wallsend on the Tyne to Bowness-on-Solway, begun in AD 122 under Emperor Hadrian. Six stops, from Chesters and Housesteads to Vindolanda and Birdoswald, show how it was built, changed and garrisoned. The route follows the wall west, from Roman forts to the Solway shore. The exact western end of the wall near Bowness is not known.
Cleopatra's story runs from the palace of Alexandria to Caesar's Forum in Rome, the gate of Tarsus in Turkey and the sea battle off Actium in Greece, before ending back in Alexandria in 30 BC. The route follows her meetings with Caesar and Antony and her fall to Octavian. Some places are exact and some only approximate; the palace and tomb in Alexandria have no certain location.
Julius Caesar's last decade runs from the siege of Alesia in Gaul through the Rubicon, Pharsalus in Greece and besieged Alexandria to the Curia of Pompey in Rome, where he died on the Ides of March, 44 BC. Six stops follow the Gallic Wars, the civil war and the assassination. Where the exact site is debated, the pins say so.
Jane Austen's life ran through four places in southern England: the Hampshire village of Steventon, the spa city of Bath, the cottage at Chawton and, at the end, Winchester Cathedral. Bath's Pump Room and Assembly Rooms also appear in her novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. The route follows her from the rectory where she grew up in 1775 to her grave in 1817. The Steventon rectory is gone, so that pin is approximate; the other four places can all be visited today.
Selma Lagerlöf's Nils Holgersson flies over Sweden on a goose's back, from the castles of Skåne at Vittskövle and Glimmingehus to the cliffs of Kullaberg, Karlskrona, Öland and Stockholm's Skansen. The novel takes a tiny boy across all the historical provinces of Sweden. This route follows six real places from its southern chapters to the capital, with the scene the book sets at each. Ottenby is approximate.
Goethe's Faust sends its hero from the student tavern of Auerbachs Keller in Leipzig to the witches' mountain of the Brocken in the Harz, then on to ancient Greece around Farsala, Sparta and Arcadia. The route follows Mephistopheles' bargain across Faust I and II, from the drunken revelers of Leipzig to the Walpurgis Night on the Brocken and the classical world of Helen of Troy. Leipzig and the Brocken are real places in the play; the Greek stops are stage settings with approximate pins.
Captain Corelli's Mandolin is set on the Greek island of Cephalonia (Kefalonia) in the Second World War, and the 2001 film shot it around Sami, Antisamos Beach and Myrtos Beach. The route follows the film's scenes from the opening feast at a ruined monastery to the seafront built as Argostoli, the Italian camp, the mine on the beach, a partisan hideout and the mountain ambush. Much of the film was made on sets that were dismantled afterwards, so some stops are approximate.
Flaubert's Madame Bovary is set in the Normandy countryside around Rouen: Yonville-l'Abbaye is traditionally held to be based on the village of Ry, and the novel's city scenes play out in Rouen, around its cathedral, its opera and its old churches. The route follows Emma Bovary from the couple's first home at Tostes, through the market town of Yonville, to an evening at the opera and the famous cab ride through Rouen. Several places are approximate, since the novel names few of them as they are today.
Shakespeare's Macbeth is set in Scotland, from a heath near Forres and Glamis Castle to Dunsinane Hill. Its thane titles, coronation and a marching wood all belong to real names on the map. The real Macbeth ruled from 1040 to 1057, and the play takes liberties with him. The route follows the story from the witches' prophecy to the final duel, through Glamis, Cawdor, Scone, the Birnam Oak and Dunsinane. Several places carry the play's names without staging its scenes, and each stop says so.
Lucky Star is set in Saitama, north of Tokyo, and its anime borrows real places: Washinomiya Shrine in Kuki, Kasukabe Station, the Gongendo embankment in Satte and Akihabara. The route follows the four high-school girls from their neighbourhoods to the shrine where fans began their pilgrimages in 2007, then on to Akihabara and Tokyo Big Sight. The anime changes some names, so several pins mark a model, not an exact scene.
Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev follows a medieval icon painter through the Russia of 1400–1424, and its key scenes were shot around Vladimir and Suzdal, from the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl to the Dormition Cathedral. The route also visits the Izborsk Fortress, where the Vladimir raid was filmed, plus the Andronikov Monastery in Moscow, where the story starts and ends, and the Trinity Lavra, home of Rublev's most famous icon, which the film shows in its colour epilogue. Some stops are filming spots rather than named story places.
Mimino, Georgiy Daneliya's 1977 comedy about a Georgian helicopter pilot, was filmed in the Tusheti village of Omalo, at the Hotel Rossiya, the Bolshoi Theatre and Butyrka prison in Moscow, and at Tegel airport in West Berlin. The route follows Valentin Mizandari from his mountain home to Moscow's hotels, courts and airports, and on to the Berlin phone call that connects him to Tel Aviv. Several sites are only stand-ins for the story's places, and the Hotel Rossiya is gone.
Drive My Car is set in Hiroshima, where a theatre director is driven in his red Saab, and was filmed at Peace Memorial Park, the Naka incineration plant, the port of Mitarai and Akabira in Hokkaido. The route follows the film's Hiroshima stay, from the festival venue and the park rehearsal to Misaki's favourite spot and the island town where Yusuke lives, then north to Hokkaido for the climax. Mitarai and Akabira are pinned at town level.
Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona is set in Barcelona and Oviedo and shot there and in Avilés, from the rooftop of Casa Milà to the Hotel de la Reconquista and the Avilés lighthouse. The route follows the summer of Vicky and Cristina in story order: Gaudí's chimneys, a spur-of-the-moment weekend in Asturias, Park Güell and the arched gate of Sant Pau. Each stop is a place where a scene from the film was set or shot.
The Crown rarely filmed where its story is set: Lancaster House played Buckingham Palace, Ely and Winchester cathedrals played Westminster Abbey and St Paul's, Cobham Hall played Eton, and Downing Street was built at Elstree Studios. This route visits five of those stand-ins, from season one to season five, and says what each one played.
Letters to Juliet (2010) is set in Verona and the countryside around Siena: Juliet's House and the Ponte Scaligero in Verona, Villa Arvedi near Grezzana, and Piazza del Campo in Siena. Sophie, an American on a pre-honeymoon, answers a 1957 letter left for Juliet and sets off to find Claire's lost love. This route follows the film from the Verona courtyard where the letters are left to the squares of Siena, using the real filming locations. Some scenes were built for the film, such as the wall of letters.
Under the Tuscan Sun follows Frances, a San Francisco writer, who buys a run-down villa near Cortona. It was shot in Florence, Cortona, Rome, Positano and Montepulciano. The route runs from the rain at Florence Cathedral through Cortona's square and cinema, a trip to Rome and Positano, and a wedding near Montepulciano. Places are film locations, and the villa is a stand-in for the real Bramasole.
Merchant Ivory's 1985 film of Forster's novel is set in Florence and Surrey and was shot in the Piazza della Signoria, around Fiesole, at Emmetts Garden in Kent and at 18 Stafford Terrace in London. The route follows Lucy Honeychurch from a Florentine pensione without a view, through a stabbing and a kiss in a poppy field, to an engagement in England that cannot last. The film was shot in ten weeks: four in Italy and six in England.
The Italian Job (1969) is set in Turin, with the Great St Bernard Pass, Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin and the Nivolet Pass among its real filming places. The story is a gold heist in traffic-jammed Turin. This route follows it from the Alps through London and Dublin to the Museo Egizio, Lingotto and the final bus on a mountain road. Some scenes were filmed far from where the story puts them.
Bridget Jones's Diary is set and filmed around Borough Market in south London, with Shad Thames, the Royal Courts of Justice and Cornhill on the way. The film moves Bridget from Holland Park to a flat above the Globe pub, where the story begins. This route follows the film's story through eight London and country locations: the book launch at the ICA, the first date at Shad Thames, the mini-break at Stoke Park, the anniversary party at Syon House and the snowy finale. The film was shot over six weeks in and around London in 2000.
Love Actually is set and mostly filmed in London, from the ice rink at Somerset House and the wedding at Grosvenor Chapel to the gift counter at Selfridges and the arrivals gate at Heathrow. One stop takes the story to Marseille. This route follows the film's interlocking Christmas stories in order: a wedding, a widower on a South Bank bench, a secret necklace, a school pageant on Christmas Eve and a proposal in the Old Port. Some scenes were shot at sites you can still visit; one spot on the South Bank is approximate.
50 First Dates is set and mostly filmed on Oʻahu, Hawaii: Henry Roth works at Sea Life Park, near Makapuʻu Point, and falls for Lucy Whitmore, who loses every day's memories overnight. Kāneʻohe Bay, Laie, Kualoa Ranch and Makapuʻu Point's lighthouse all appear. The route follows Henry's courtship from the film's opening shot of the islet Mokoliʻi to a first kiss by the lighthouse. Some interiors, such as the walrus habitat, were shot in California, and the café's exact filming spot is uncertain.
Rocky is set and largely filmed in Philadelphia: Rocky Balboa's Kensington home, the Italian Market on 9th Street, Pat's King of Steaks, the Art Museum steps and the Spectrum arena in South Philadelphia all appear in the 1976 film. The route follows the story from the opening fight on 25 November 1975 to the New Year's Day title bout. The Spectrum is gone, and the fight itself was shot in Los Angeles.
Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk (2017) was shot on the beach at Dunkirk itself, then on a Dutch lake off Urk, at Weymouth harbour and Swanage station in Dorset, and on a clifftop in California. Five stops follow the soldiers' beach, the little boat that sets out from Weymouth, the pilot's cockpit and the train home. These are filming sites, so some pins mark the area rather than the exact spot.