The locations of The English Patient and Gladiator in the Val d’Orcia

The main Tuscan location for The English Patient is the town of Pienza, perched on a hill in the Val d’Orcia with a view of Monte Amiata. Just outside Pienza is the monastery of Santa Anna in Camprena where the small community, initially consisting only of the gentle nurse Hana (Juliette Binoche) and her English patient (Ralph Fiennes), finds refuge in the film. They are joined one after the other by the mysterious thief David Caravaggio (Willem Dafoe) and the two Allied bomb disposal experts, Lieutenant Kip Singh (Naveen Andrews) and Sergeant Hardy (Kevin Whately).

Piazza Pio II, the small square at the centre of Pienza, overlooked by the Duomo, the Palazzo Comunale and Palazzo Piccolomini, is the setting for just one scene in the film, but it is a particularly powerful one, in which the joy of the war ending quickly turns to tragedy.

Pienza is also home to a key location in Gladiator, one of the most recognisable images in the film: the wheat field stretching as far as the eye can see, crossed by a winding dirt road that in the film represents the Elysian Fields, where according to classical mythology the righteous souls rested after death. The road, which crosses the Terrapille estate and leads to the agritourism of the same name, starts from the small parish church of Corsignano, on the outskirts of Pienza, and offers countless photo opportunities for those seeking the perfect shot.

To enter San Quirico d’Orcia, you have to pass through its 15th-century walls, punctuated by 14 towers. It’ as village of cobbled streets lined with medieval stone buildings, brimming with craft shops, boutiques, wine merchants, bars and restaurants. While the collegiate church of SS Quirico e Giulitta is particularly impressive, the Horti Leonini gardens also have their own unique charm: these Italian-style gardens, designed in the 16th century by Diomede Leoni, host contemporary art exhibitions and events. All around is the picture-postcard (and Oscar-winning) landscape of the Val d’Orcia.

Tourist guides, brochures and signs inform visitors that the countryside around San Quirico d’Orcia is the location of the “Gladiator’s house”. The dramatic scenes set inside the house of gladiator Maximus Decimus Meridius were actually filmed on the Poggio Manzuoli estate, which can be accessed from Provincial Road 146 connecting San Quirico to Pienza. For some years now, however, the entrance to the farm has been closed off by a gate because, like several other locations in the film, it is privately owned. This means it’s not open to visitors, although from the gate you can see the double row of cypress trees through which Massimo Decimo Meridio’s son runs, unaware that he is heading towards Emperor Commodus’ troops. However, there’s something else nearby that is worth a visit. About 150 metres from here, a dirt road branches off from Provincial Road 146 and leads to the Chapel of the Madonna di Vitaleta, a couple of kilometres further on. While the chapel has never been used as a film location, it has appeared in a few adverts and, most of all, it’s one of the most beautiful and recognisable places in the Val d’Orcia and the whole of Tuscany.

A dozen kilometres from San Quirico d’Orcia, on Provincial Road 71 and just beyond the village of Cosona, one of the opening scenes of The English Patient was filmed: the one in which Hana lends money to a friend shortly before an anti-personnel mine explodes. The exact location of the shoot is very easy to track down thanks to some “clues” along the road. From here, it’s worth making another detour because just 23 kilometres away is the village of Asciano, the gateway to the Crete Senesi, another iconic landscape in the Tuscan hinterland.

In The English Patient, on the romantic evening when Lieutenant Kip Singh takes Hana to Arezzo to see Piero della Francesca’s frescoes up close, he actually takes her to Montepulciano – it’s an example of how collages are often used in cinema to combine and reassemble places that are in reality far apart, creating new and imaginary worlds. So, rather than in Arezzo’s Piazza San Francesco, the couple arrive in Montepulciano’s elegant Piazza Grande. They pass the 16th-century Pozzo de’ Grifi e dei Leoni and the Palazzo Contucci, now home to a wine merchant, before stopping their motorbike in front of the steps of the Duomo di Santa Maria Assunta, as the evening shadows fall and a few children linger to play.

The monumental heart of Montepulciano, Piazza Grande took on its current name in the 15th century, when it was enlarged and remodelled by Michelozzo to become the city’s main showpiece. Surrounded by majestic buildings, it offers beautiful views from every angle, meaning it’s often used as a film location. For example, to the right of the Duomo, the 14th-century Palazzo Comunale, reminiscent of Florence’s Palazzo della Signoria, played a prominent role in a memorable scene from New Moon, the second instalment of the Twilight saga, in which the square is dramatically invaded by a procession of hundreds of worshippers wearing red cloaks.  

Beautifully captured by Roberto Benigni in his Oscar-winning masterpiece Life is Beautiful, Arezzo features impossibly steep climbs as well as open, airy spaces, such as the irregular yet perfect Piazza Grande. It boasts works of genius and magnificent architecture, such as the Loggias of Vasari, its illustrious citizen, the Duomo and the Basilica of San Francesco, where Piero della Francesca (from Sansepolcro) left more than one mark. Arezzo is also synonymous with deeply rooted traditions, such as the Saracen Joust, which has pitted the city’s four historic quarters against each other since the Middle Ages.

It’s here in Arezzo, at the Basilica of San Francesco, that a pivotal moment in The English Patient takes place: for a few minutes, the two “modern-day lovers”, Kip and Hana, steal the spotlight from the film’s main couple, whose story is told in flashbacks. Lieutenant Kip leads Hana into the empty church, which the Allied forces have converted into a warehouse for storing military equipment. He secures her to a parachute harness, equips her with a pyrotechnic flare to light her way, and, using a pulley, lifts her off the ground, allowing her to admire the sublime frescoes of the Legend of the True Cross by Piero della Francesca.

Juliette Binoche confessed that she was persuaded to accept the role of Hana by this very scene, in which her character floats like an angel among the frescoed walls of the Bacci Chapel. Besides being a great moment in cinema, it’s a moving scene because of the yearning for peace it conveys, with the instruments of war being repurposed to admire the beauty created by human genius.

For obvious health and safety reasons and to protect the frescoes, the scene was not filmed in the basilica itself but in a faithful reconstruction. However, during recent conservation work (completed in spring 2024), many visitors had the unique opportunity to see the frescoes up close, just like young Hana, climbing onto the scaffolding alongside the restorers.