Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny … Sicily Movie Locations

My regular Blog followers will remember that in October 2021 Daisy and I headed to Syracuse on a Quest in Search of Indiana Jones after we found out that filming was in progress for the fifth instalment of the movie franchise in the Archaeological Park and at Castello Maniace.

Sadly when we arrived we found out that we were a day too late and that the cast and crew had already moved on to the western side of Sicily. Boooooooo !!!!

At that time we did not know much about the movie or its title although a time travel theme was suspected.

This weekend I finally went to the cinema in London to watch Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Were my suspicions of film locations and the story line as I anticipated?

Read on and find out ….

*** Warning - Spoiler Alert ***

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is directed by James Mangold and features Harrison Ford reprising his role as Dr Indiana Jones plus a new cast including Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas and Mads Mikkelsen.

Set in 1969, the movie follows Indiana Jones and his estranged goddaughter Helena, who are trying to locate a time travel device before the Nazi turned NASA scientist Jürgen Voller, played by Mads Mikkelsen. Voller plans to use it by travelling back in time to alter the outcome of World War II.

The movie starts back in time in 1944 where Indiana Jones and his archaeologist friend, Helena's father, are captured by the Nazi's whilst attempting to retrieve an antiquity from them. Jürgen informs his superiors that this particular item is fake and that he has found half of Archimedes' Dial, an Antikythera mechanism built by the ancient Syracusan mathematician Archimedes, which reveals fissures making time travel possible. After a pursuit and struggle on a train Indiana Jones obtains the dial piece from Jürgen.

Back in New York 1969 an elderly Indiana Jones is visited by archaeologist Helena claiming that she wants to research the dial which her late father had become obsessed with before he finally gave it to Indiana to destroy which he never did.

Helena is revealed to have ulterior motives and is in fact an antiquities smuggler and together with Indiana she is pursued by Jürgen's accomplices who want to retrieve the dial back. Helena escapes with the dial leaving Indiana behind and flees the country to Tangiers in Morocco to a private auction to sell the dial. Indiana follows her to Tangiers where Jürgen and his henchmen arrive and steal the artifact back. Indiana, Helena and her teenager sidekick Teddy join forces to get the dial back into their hands.

They travel to Greece to team up with a professional diver and dive down to an ancient shipwreck in the Aegean Sea and retrieve a "graphikos" tablet containing the directions on how to find the other half of the dial. After Jürgen finds their boat the group escape from him and head to Sicily. Yayyyy !!!!!

Inside a cavern called the Ear of Dionysius, Indiana and Helena find Archimedes tomb and the second half of the dial. Jürgen appears and captures Indiana and after reassembling the dial reveals his plans to time travel back to 1939 to assassinate Adolf Hitler and help lead Germany to victory in World War II. At an airfield he activates the dial and locates a fissure in the sky. Indiana is kept captive by the Nazi's on their stolen plane whilst Helena stows away through its landing gear.

While approaching the fissure, Indiana realises that the continental drift could have altered the timeline coordinates and rather than 1939, the group arrives at the Siege of Syracuse in 212BC. The warring Greek and Roman armies shoot down the plane believing it to be a dragon killing everyone onboard except Indiana and Helena who safely parachute out just before the plane crashes.

Archimedes finds Jürgen's body and he gives the dial back to Indiana. Indiana and Helena learn that Archimedes created the dial to bring users from the future through fissures only leading to 212BC. Indiana and Helena return back to New York 1969 via the fissure.

The early scenes of the movie were filmed in Scotland at Bamburgh Castle and Glasgow city centre which was transformed to resemble New York City.

In October 2021 filming took place throughout Sicily which stood in for both itself and Greece.

Filming took place in the city of Cefalù on the northern coastline of the island which stood in for Syracuse in 1969. Other locations were Syracuse and the Province of Trapani. Filming in Trapani included the towns of Marsala and Castellammare del Golfo.

The scenes involving the discovery of Archimedes' tomb were filmed at Pinewood Studios in England but the scenes leading up to the discovery were shot at the Temple of Segesta in Trapani on the western side of the island and then at the Neapolis Archaeological Park in Syracuse. The location of Archimedes tomb in the movie and the cave featured really do exist. The scenes depicting the Roman siege were shot at Castello Maniace on Ortigia in Syracuse and also on the west coast.

In history the Siege of Syracuse by the Roman's did actually take place in 213-212BC. The Roman's successfully stormed the Ancient Greek city of Syracuse giving them control of the entire island. During the siege the city was protected by weapons developed by Archimedes. Archimedes was killed at the conclusion of the siege by a Roman soldier and you can see a statue of him on Ortigia as you cross the bridge from the mainland.

Archimedes of Syracuse was an Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer and inventor who was born in Syracuse in 287BC. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity and considered to be the greatest mathematician of ancient history and one of the greatest of all time. His achievements include deriving an approximation of pi and the enunciation of the law of buoyancy known as Archimedes principle which states that the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces and in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny this is proved by Indiana in the sacred pool inside the Ear of Dionysius.

The Necropolis Grotticelle di Siracusa is a large Greek/Roman cemetery area in the Archaeological Park of Syracuse where according to legend the tomb of Archimedes is supposedly located. The necropolis is located in the rocky area further north at the Archaeological Park. The tomb was discovered in 75BC and was guessed to be that of Archimedes.

After your little history and science lesson lets get back to the Sicilian filming locations ...

When Indiana, Helena and Teddy head to Greece to meet expert diver Renaldo, played by Antonio Banderas, the filming was actually done off the coast of Sicily not Greece. In these scenes you will see a city gate called Porta Nuova which is actually located in the town of Marsala but was put into the harbour scene using visual effects. The port where the diving group set sail from is Castellamare del Golfo, the diving and sinking boat scenes were filmed around the coastal sea area of Marsala.

When Indiana, Helena and Teddy arrive in Sicily the town of Cefalù stands in for 1969 Syracuse where Helena and Teddy sit on the steps of the towns beautiful Norman era Cathedral. As Teddy heads off alone he sees Jürgen and his henchmen arriving by boat through a medieval arch which is known as Porta Pescara which is one of the most photographed places in Cefalù. Cefalù was also most recently used as a filming location for the hit US TV series The White Lotus season two. As Teddy is kidnapped by the bad guys a car chase ensues and Indiana and Helena steal a Fiat 500 which is being used for a wedding. The church in this scene is the Church of Saint Joseph and is located in Castellammare del Golfo.

When Indiana and Helena start their search for the tomb of Archimedes they arrive at the Temple of Segesta and then find the Ear of Dionysius. In real life these two archaeological marvels are located on opposite sides of the island.

The Ear of Dionysus is a limestone cave carved out of a hill in the archaeological park of Syracuse. Its name, given by the painter Michelangelo da Caravaggio, comes from its similarity in shape to the human ear. The name is also linked to the acoustic effects in the cave. It is said that people's voices echo up to sixteen times which Indiana and Helena demonstrate in the movie. According to legend the Greek tyrant Dionysus I of Syracuse used the cave as a prison and by means of the perfect acoustics he was able to eavesdrop on the plans and secrets of his captives. Another more gruesome legend claims that Dionysus carved the ear in its shape so that it would amplify the screams of the prisoners being tortured inside, however it is a strong possibility that the cave is actually of natural origin. The interior scenes of Archimedes tomb were filmed at Pinewood Studios.

When the Nazi's plane crashes during time travel back to Syracuse 212BC in the background you can see from the air the western Sicilian coastline including the promontory of San Vito Lo Capo. The location where the plane crashes is the ruins of an old tuna factory called Tonnara del Secco. The scenes of Archimedes laboratory were filmed in and around Castello Maniace on Ortigia. You might recognise the castello as a filming location for the movie Cyrano starring Peter Dinklage.

So now you can walk in the footsteps of Indiana Jones in Sicily on your own quest.

The Italian premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was held in the Ancient Greek Theatre of Taormina as part of the 69th Taormina Film Festival with all the cast present.

Did I love the movie? Absolutely!

Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny is in cinemas now.

Please note: This Blog post has been complied from local insider knowledge and it is forbidden for any content to be used in any way of form without my knowledge

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If you enjoyed the movie and want to find out more about Archimedes and his inventions I highly recommend when in Syracuse on your quest to visit these fascinating places:

Museo Archimede e Leonardo https://www.archimededisiracusa.it/en/museum/

Tecnoparco Archimede di Siracusa https://www.tecnoparco-archimede.com/it/

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If you enjoyed this Blog post then join Daisy and I on our Quest in Search of Indiana Jones https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2022/01/a-quest-in-search-of-indiana-jones.html

and for more Filming Locations in Sicily enjoy

The White Lotus Season 2 Locations https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2022/12/blog-post.html

Cyrano Movie Locations https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2022/02/cyrano-movie-locations.html

The Godfather Movie Locations https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-godfather-movie-locations.html

Cinema Paradiso Movie Locations https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2020/05/cinema-paradiso-movie-locations.html

for Indiana Jone 5 location travel tips

My Top Syracuse Travel Tips https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2022/04/my-top-syracuse-travel-tips.html

The Best of the West https://whitealmond-privatesicily.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-best-of-west.html