My Brilliant Friend: The Real Naples Behind the Set

My Brilliant Friend, the HBO/Rai series based on Elena Ferrante’s novels, made 1950s Naples famous worldwide — but not everything you see is filmed in the real city.

The neighborhood is a set, not a real place

The heart of the story, the Rione Luzzatti where Lila and Elena grow up, is actually a reconstruction on roughly 20,000 square metres at the former Saint-Gobain glass factory in Marcianise, in the province of Caserta, about 45 minutes from Naples. A common production choice for period series, letting the team control every detail of 1950s Naples without having to “age” modern streets.

The real Naples locations

Many other scenes, though, are shot in the real city: the scenic Galleria Principe di Napoli, opposite the National Archaeological Museum, the Caracciolo seafront, the historic bookshops of Port’Alba, Piazza dei Martiri, the Teatro San Carlo and Via Chiaia. The seaside scenes are shot instead on Ischia and Gaeta.

ScottoJonno, the real venue in the Gallery

Season 4 (2024) features ScottoJonno, a café-bistrot inside the Galleria Principe di Napoli, reopened in 2023 by entrepreneur Luca Iannuzzi in a 19th-century former café-chantant, with cooking by chef Marco Ambrosino. It’s a genuinely public venue, not a set.

In short

My Brilliant Friend mixes a built set with real Naples streets and venues — a great excuse for a walk through the Galleria Principe, the seafront and Port’Alba. If you’re staying in the city, also discover the Naples of The Hand of God and the pizza of Eat Pray Love, or explore more films and shows shot in Italy on our site.