Ripley … Sicilian Filming Locations

The Talented Mr Ripley is a 1955 psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith. The novel introduced the character of Tom Ripley, who returns in four subsequent novels. It has been adapted numerous times for screen including in 1999 starring Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gywneth Paltrow.

This year it came to our screens on Netflix as "Ripley" starring Andrew Scott.

Tom Ripley is a young man struggling to make a living in New York City by whatever means necessary including small time confidence scams. One day he is approached by shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf to travel to "Mongibello" (based on the resort town Positano) in Italy to persuade his son Dickie, a spoilt playboy, to return to the USA and join the family business. Ripley agrees and exaggerates his friendship with Dickie in order to gain Mr Greenleaf's trust. Shortly after his arrival in Italy, Ripley contrives to meet Dickie and his girlfriend Marge on a beach. Dickie allows Ripley to stay with him in his Italian summer home. To cut a long story short and not to reveal too much of the plot, Ripley becomes obsessed with Dickie and becomes jealous of his relationship with Marge, and another old friend Freddie, and senses that Dickie has begun to tire of him and his constant presence. Ripley desires to imitate and maintain the wealthy lifestyle Dickie has afforded him. As a great gesture Dickie agrees to travel with Ripley on a short holiday to San Remo. Sensing that he is about to cut their friendship loose, he gets the idea to murder Dickie and assume his identity living off his trust fund. After killing Dickie at sea in a boat that they have hired he carefully provides communications to Marge to convince her that Dickie is still alive but has dumped her. When Freddie confronts Ripley, who is now living in a grand apartment in Rome, about Dickie's whereabouts he murders Freddie too. Ripley then enters a game of cat and mouse with the Italian police using his two identities and eventually moves to Venice.

In the 1999 film version of the book the scenes were mainly filmed in the cliffside resort town of Positano and also in various villages on the islands of Ischia and Procida, near Naples, which were used to represent the fictional town of Mongibello, however one small scene was filmed in Sicily. As Ripley arrives in Italy the art deco terminal of Palermo was used for this scene.

The 2024 Netflix series was filmed in several Italian locations including Atrani on the Amalfi Coast, the island of Capri, Rome, Venice and Palermo in Sicily. At the end of Episode six Ripley heads to Sicily where the Palermo police get called on to help track Dickie Greenleaf down thinking that it was him who murdered Freddie not knowing that he is dead and being impersonated by Ripley.

In episode seven “VII Macabre Entertainment” Ripley arrives in Sicily via a ferry and moves through Palermo with the fear of being watched by the authorities and the police. The medieval streets, ancient monuments and the numerous statues of Palermo are a key feature of this episode. With such a dark history of crime and mystery Palermo provided scenes for some of the most nail biting moments of the series with the city creating an atmospheric and mysterious setting. The series is shot in black and white adding to the darkness of the plot also creating a genuine feel to the 1950's era that the novel is set in.

Palermo is the intriguing Capital City of Sicily. Its history is ancient and interesting. It was the Arabs, describing it as "paradise on earth", who contributed greatly to its glory. Subsequently, with thanks to Norman domination, the city became a rare example of majestic architecture. The Arab-Norman tourist route is not to be missed which includes the Cathedral, the Norman Palace and the Palatine Chapel. Today what remains of earlier ages coexists with modern life creating a multicultural city.

The character of Tom Ripley is obsessed with the work of the Italian painter Caravaggio who was a notorious criminal who became famous for his unsettling and realistic work. Ripley’s obsession with the painter is heightened in Palermo when he visits the Oratory of San Lorenzo to see one of his works of art. Filming took place in the small chapel, where Caravaggio's altarpiece "Nativity" once hung before it was stolen in the 1960's.

Michaelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born in 1571 and died in 1610, he was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of his life he moved between Naples, Malta and Sicily until his death. His paintings have been characterised by art critics as combining a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, which had a formative influence on Baroque painting. Caravaggio trained as a painter in Milan before moving to Rome when he was in his twenties. He developed a considerable name as an artist and also became known as a violent, touchy and provocative man. He killed a man in a brawl which led to a death sentence for murder which forced him to flee to Naples. Here he again established himself as one of the most prominent Italian painters of his generation. He travelled to Malta and Sicily in 1607 and pursued a papal pardon for his sentence. In 1609 he returned to Naples where he was involved in a violent brawl once again, his face was disfigured and rumours of this death circulated. Questions about his mental state arose from his erratic and bizarre behaviour, a bit like Tom Ripley so there is no wonder why Tom was obsessed by Caravaggio. In one scene of Ripley, Tom has grown his hair and grown a moustache and beard to look like the artist. Caravaggio died in 1610 under what is thought to be suspicious circumstances while on his way from Naples to Rome.

The Caravaggio painting featured in Ripley is the Nativity with St Francis and St Lawrence. The original painting has been missing since 1969 when it was stolen from the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo. Investigators believe the painting changed hands among the Sicilian Mafia in the decades following the robbery and may still be hidden. A replica was commissioned in 2015 and now hangs over the altar. The original was believed to have been painted in Sicily one year before he died.

Also in Sicily in 1609, Caravaggio painted the Burial of St Lucy, which is now housed in the Santa Lucia Church in Syracuse. Saint Lucy is the patron saint of Syracuse. According to legend she had bestowed her wealth on the poor in gratitude for the miraculous healing of her mother. Denounced as a Christian by a suitor who wrongly suspected her of infidelity , she refused to recant and offered her chastity to Christ and was sentenced to be dragged to a brothel. Miraculously nothing could move her or displace her from the spot where she stood. She was murdered and where she fell the Church of Santa Lucia was erected in Syracuse. Caravaggio escaped from prison on Malta in 1608 and had fled to Syracuse and he painted the Burial of St Lucy in the same year inspired by the fact that the saint had been interred below the church. Caravaggio also painted, whilst in Sicily, the Resurrection of Lazarus and the Adoration of the Shepherds. These two paintings can be seen in the Regional Museum of Messina.

Whilst some Sicily scenes were actually filmed in Naples other landmarks and historical monuments in Palermo established the Sicilian settings for the series. Among them are the Cathedral of Palermo, Quattro Canti (also known as Piazza Vigliena) and the Sanctuary of Santa Rosalia. Tom Ripley is also seen wandering around the ancient Arabic like narrow streets, drinking coffee in small bars reading the local newspaper “Giornale di Sicilia” and disappearing through wooden doorways into hidden courtyards.

Norman rule of Sicily only lasted a century, but it left a rich legacy of law, culture and architecture. The Norman's early monuments are grouped around a fortified site in the heart of Palermo. One of the top sights to see in this area is the Cathedral, as seen in Ripley, which boasts both a stunning interior and exterior and is one of the most important architectural monuments in Sicily and makes up part of Palermo's UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Also seen in Ripley is ‘The heart of Palermo’ the Quattro Canti, also known as the 'Theatre of the Sun' as on any part of the day the sun shines on one of the four corners which divide the city into quadrants. Each beautiful corner is swathed in sculptural decoration with the four seasons, the four Spanish kings of Sicily and the four patron saints of Sicily.

The Sanctuary of Santa Rosalia, that Ripley also visits, is a church and pilgrimage site located just outside the urban neighbourhood of Palermo and is nestled against a stone cliff wall on Mount Pellegrino which looms to the north of the city. On the 15th July 1624, relics of this 12th century saint were discovered at the site, thereafter the bones were paraded through Palermo and a terrible plague in the city ended and so Saint Rosalia was adopted as the patron saint of Palermo and this sanctuary was erected in her honour.

One prop of notice in the Palermo scenes is a particular type of tree of which a few can been seen in the city. The Ficus Macrophylla was first imported into the Botanical Gardens in the 1840’s and Palermo boasts two of the biggest Ficus trees in Europe. Locals give this tree the nickname “The Strangler Tree” as these trees have multiple trunks and its roots continually widen and grow crushing everything in its path, a bit like a sociopath like Tom Ripley.

Ripley is showing now on Netflix

Cover photo credit: Netflix

All other photos: Wikipedia