Sicilian art and archaeology with Indiana Jones

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fifth and final film in the Hollywood franchise, is set in 1969. After an action-packed introduction set in New York and Morocco, in the second half of the film, Indy and his goddaughter, archaeologist Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), set off on their travels through Greece and Italy.
Their mission is to recover the remains of the Dial of Destiny, a miraculous (fictional) instrument designed by the brilliant Syracusan mathematician Archimedes. Once fully reassembled, the Dial would enable its owner to time travel.
The first stop on Indiana Jones’ Mediterranean adventures is Athens, where the archaeologist meets an old sailor friend, Renaldo (Antonio Banderas), who agrees to help him explore the depths of the Aegean Sea.
However, even the Greek scenes in the film were shot in Sicily: what is supposed to look like a small Greek harbour is actually the port of Marsala. This is where we begin our Sicilian itinerary with Indiana Jones. Porta Nuova in Marsala, one of the four historic gateways to the city, appears in a sequence in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Cinema’s most famous archaeologist and fellow archaeologist Helena Shaw emerge from this gate aboard a truck. They then look out towards the sea, where they catch sight of the boat belonging to their new accomplice, Renaldo the sailor.
Marsala, founded by survivors of the siege of the Phoenician island of Motya, shares with much of Sicily a troubled history of foreign domination. More recently, the city has been at the centre of momentous historical events, with the trading prowess of the Florio wineries and the landing of Garibaldi’s Thousand.

Some of the seaside and maritime scenes in the latest film in the Indiana Jones series were shot in the village of Castellammare del Golfo, the pearl of the Trapani coast. The set was constructed in the area between Viale Zangara, Cala Marina and the San Giuseppe district, and remained in place from 16 to 25 October 2021, transporting Castellammare back to 1969. A wedding scene was filmed in front of the church of San Giuseppe, and for the occasion, the parish priest put the lights for a local festival back up on the façade, as requested by the production company.
Framed by beaches and crystal-clear waters, the town stands on a small promontory dominated by a medieval fortress that gave it its name. Castellammare del Golfo is a popular destination for Italian and foreign tourists, and had previously been used as a filming location for Ocean’s Twelve and an episode of Inspector Montalbano.
The citizens of Erice and Segesta, the oldest towns in the Trapani hinterland, travelled down to Castellammare del Golfo over 2,000 years ago to do business with sailors and merchants from faraway places. Passing into Arab and then Aragonese hands between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the city managed to maintain its role as a trading centre, primarily thanks to tuna fishing and cereal production.
Nowadays, bars and restaurants line the marina, which is also the departure point for boat tours exploring the magnificent coastline. For lovers of folk traditions, on 21 August each year an effigy of the Madonna del Soccorso, patron saint of Castellammare del Golfo, is carried in a procession through the streets of the town, as hymns are sung by the faithful.

In the film Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Segesta Archaeological Park is fictitiously incorporated into the ruins of Neapolis in Syracuse, despite the two sites being around 300 km apart. The large pediment of the Temple of Segesta appears in the background as Indy and Helena Shaw try to reach the Ear of Dionysius of Syracuse, convinced that they’ll find the legendary tomb of Archimedes hidden in its cavity.
Artistic licence aside, the massive, smooth Doric columns that taper towards the top, which have remained intact since around 420 BC, provide a magnificent backdrop to the film’s exciting chase scenes.
A few steps from the temple is a Greek-style theatre, built in the 3rd century BC. The cavea, made of pure white boulders, opens up like a shell onto the panorama of the Sicilian hinterland: a tiny sliver of sea peeks out in the distance between the mountains and fields.

The Cathedral of Cefalù is clearly visible in a long sequence in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Having landed in Sicily, Indy and fellow archaeologist Helena Shaw find themselves caught up in a local procession passing in front of the city’s great cathedral.
Don’t forget, the film is set in 1969: in the crowd of worshippers following the celebration, you can catch glimpses of flat caps and floral dresses, ice-cream cones and tourists with old-fashioned analogue cameras.
The set also features a couple of vintage advertisements hanging in front of a makeshift lemonade kiosk, as well as several fleeting glimpses of the typical fishermen’s houses climbing up towards the fortress of Cefalù and the Madonie Regional Natural Park.
Meanwhile, the monumental façade of the cathedral keeps watch, motionless, over this chaotic 1960s-style hustle and bustle, providing an impressive film backdrop. The interior of the cathedral is well worth a visit, especially the apse: from this space at the end of the church’s nave, you can see an immense medieval mosaic of Christ Pantocrator, meaning “ruler of all”.

Although all the Sicilian scenes in the fifth Indiana Jones film are supposedly set in Syracuse, only those shot at the Neapolis Archaeological Park actually show a real-life location that matches the fictional one.
During the film, the archaeologist discovers that the Dial of Destiny, a legendary time machine invented by Archimedes, is housed inside the tomb of its creator, which is hidden in the Ear of Dionysius. An unequivocal clue leads Indiana Jones to look for the tomb of the Syracusan mathematician “where Dionysius hears every whisper like a hurricane”: here, among the Syracusan quarries, he’ll find the secret tomb of Archimedes.
Legend has it that the Ear of Dionysius, a 23-metre-high artificial cave, was deliberately carved to resemble a human ear. The echo that reverberates through the air with every whisper is impressive. The prisoners once held in this cave could never have planned an escape without Dionysius I, the fierce tyrant of Syracuse, hearing them conspire.
It would take at least a full day to visit the entire archaeological park. There are, for example, numerous other caves, known as latomie, dug into the white Syracusan rock, the most impressive of which is the Grotta dei Cordari.
As in all self-respecting ancient cities, Neapolis also had a theatre and an amphitheatre, surrounded by temples and devotional altars. Few other places offer such a complete overview of Greco-Roman culture in Sicily as this archaeological site.

Having retrieved the Dial from the latomie of Neapolis, Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are transported back in time to 212 BC, the era of the siege of Syracuse. The Roman troops are trying to conquer Archimedes’ city, but the ingenious war machines and defensive strategies devised by the Syracusan mathematician repel the repeated enemy attacks.
The protagonists discover that the Dial of Destiny is indeed a time machine, but one set up by Archimedes with the sole purpose of seeking help in the future. Indiana Jones finds himself catapulted into the middle of a battle complete with Roman tridents and flaming darts.
The island of Ortigia, the original nucleus of Syracuse, surrounded on all sides by the Mediterranean Sea, served as inspiration for recreating the geography of the siege in the film version. Taking centre stage is Castello Maniace, a citadel that defends the port of Syracuse. Soldiers battle it out among the ramparts of this fortress, brought to life by reconstructions that, although largely computer-generated, give Syracuse an impressive historical feel.