Continuing to showcase Italy’s charms and cinematic beauty, Netflix’s Ripley released on the 4th of March 2024 on Netflix only adds to the endless reasons to book a villa in Italy as soon as is physically possible. Using our comprehensive guide to the filming locations and destinations of the show, plan your own chic adventure in Italy but do note that there may be mild spoilers from things implied so read on with caution if you have not finished it yet!
Netflix’s new limited series, an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1995 novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, once again showcases some of Italy’s most remarkable destinations, though with a gritty and Hitchcockian filter. Anthony Minghella’s 1999 movie adaptation of the same name, starring Matt Damon and Jude Law, elegantly displayed the laconic pleasures of holidays on the coast in the south of Italy as well as the cosmopolitan delights of her most famous cities while Ripley opens with some rather ominous shots of details of Rome’s lush and plentiful architectural and sculptural figures.
We then go back in time six months and follow how the titular character of Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) made his way to Italy from his home in New York in the first place. Sent in pursuit of playboy heir Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) on behalf of his frustrated parents, we see small-time con-man Ripley arrive in Naples. Upon his arrival, we don’t spend much time in the city but head quickly to the Amalfi Coast, where a bus route introduces viewers to the thrilling but sometimes terrifying winding roads along this famously picturesque coastal route.
After all of the challenges of his travel, Ripley finally arrives in the town of Atrani, the smallest municipality in Italy and one of the towns named as one of the, “Borghi più belli d'Italia” (or “most beautiful villages of Italy"). Getting directions to Dickie’s from the local post office, Ripley ascends the winding staircases of the town from the world that is grittier and less aesthetically pleasing that he has existed in and been so familiar with thus far to the grand villa, sweeping sea views, lemon groves, unblemished marble, and polished tiles of Dickie’s world before ultimately finding Dickie and his girlfriend, Marge (Dakota Fanning), lazily laying about on the sand back down at the beach.
This is where we are truly shown the fantasy of an Italian escape – crisp linens remaining perfect and unspoiled while sprawled across the sand, dips in the water with the dramatic backdrop of the craggy cliffs of the coastline and the town built into it and up from it, a breeze gently wafting curtains into the bedroom from a balcony taking in sea views, elegant interiors, soft soundtracks of 60s Italian crooners, sipping Martinis on the terrace, boating out on the waters. While, perhaps, you might not be able to share space with your own Picasso, as Dickie does, enjoying much of this delicious lifestyle is possible for you, too, with one of our villas on the Amalfi Coast!
In the second episode, we follow Ripley and Dickie back to Naples on a pilgrimage to see a Caravaggio at the Pio Monte della Misericordia. This church in the historic centre of the city is famous for its artworks, with Caravaggio's The Seven Works of Mercy being its highlight. For those who book a vacation rental in Campania and who love Caravaggio, this stunning building alone is reason enough to venture to Naples for the day. However, sitting out in piazze and walking through the impossibly historic cobbled streets as the characters do, also recommend the city, as well as a whole host of attractions and sights that the show does not get to touch on.
Read on to the second part of this series to go beyond Campania and find Ripley’s other destinations to enjoy on vacation in Italy.
