The Hand of God: Sorrentino's Real Naples

With The Hand of God, Paolo Sorrentino told the story of his own Naples — his teenage years and a family tragedy that shaped his life — in a largely autobiographical film, winner of the Silver Lion in Venice and an Oscar nominee.

Sorrentino’s Vomero

The Schisa family home is filmed on Via San Domenico, in the Vomero district, just one floor from the director’s real childhood home. Among the other real locations: the Galleria Umberto I, where Fabietto meets director Antonio Capuano, Piazza del Plebiscito, the Gulf of Naples, and the Maradona stadium.

Villa Giusso, the family lunch

One of the film’s most intense scenes — the big family lunch — is shot at Villa Giusso, an agriturismo set in a 17th-century former monastery in the hills above Vico Equense, on the Sorrentine Peninsula, at about 400 metres altitude overlooking the Gulf of Naples. It’s a genuinely public venue, with a kitchen built around the estate’s own produce.

In short

The Hand of God is an intimate, autobiographical portrait by Sorrentino, shot between real Naples streets and the Sorrentine countryside. Villa Giusso is still there, open to visitors, for anyone who wants to experience the same landscape as the film. Stay on theme with the Naples of My Brilliant Friend and the pizza of Eat Pray Love, or discover more films and shows shot in Italy on our site.