Stay in Cinema's Love Stories
The most romantic films are set in the most beautiful places on Earth โ Lake Como, Paris, Rome, Santorini, Tuscany. Here are the actual hotels and villas from cinema's greatest love stories.
Grand Hotel Tremezzo โ The Lake Como Romantic Landmark
Lake Como appears in more romantic films than almost any other location on Earth โ and for good reason. The combination of mirror-flat lake water, snow-capped Alps reflected in it, and the extraordinary Villa del Balbianello (a 16th-century villa on a wooded promontory jutting into the lake) creates a setting that no set designer could improve on. Grand Hotel Tremezzo โ a 1910 belle รฉpoque palace on the western shore โ is the lake's finest hotel. Its terrace juts directly over the water with uninterrupted views of the lake and mountains. The hotel runs its own boat service to Villa del Balbianello tours daily.
Hรดtel Lutetia โ Paris's Literary Romantic Icon
Midnight in Paris's midnight wandering scenes were filmed throughout Saint-Germain-des-Prรฉs โ the Left Bank quartier of Hemingway, Picasso and Fitzgerald that Woody Allen used as the definitive romantic Paris. The Hรดtel Lutetia, a 1910 Art Nouveau palace on Boulevard Raspail, is the authentic address: it served as the headquarters of Ernest Hemingway's Paris, hosted Pablo Picasso, James Joyce and Josephine Baker, and was the Left Bank's literary heart for a century. Today, fully restored after an eight-year renovation, it is Paris's finest Left Bank hotel, with original Art Nouveau stained glass and a spa in the original wine cellars.
Hotel de Russie โ Rome's Romantic Film Hotel
Roman Holiday's iconic scenes โ Audrey Hepburn's princess exploring Rome with Gregory Peck's journalist โ were filmed at the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and throughout the Centro Storico. The Hotel de Russie, on the Via del Babuino between the Spanish Steps and the Piazza del Popolo, was a favourite of the film's cast and crew during production โ its wisteria-covered garden terrace became a Rome institution. The garden, shielded from the street by a high hedge, feels completely removed from the city. Fellini's La Dolce Vita was also filmed extensively nearby.
Mystique โ Santorini's Cliff-Edge Romance
Mamma Mia was primarily filmed on Skopelos island, but the Cycladic aesthetic โ white cubic houses clinging to cliff edges above blue water, bougainvillea tumbling over whitewashed walls, golden light at 7pm โ is embodied nowhere more completely than Santorini's Oia. Mystique sits at the tip of the Oia ridge, with its cave suites carved into the caldera cliffs offering private infinity pools that appear to merge with the caldera 300 metres below. Santorini sunsets from this position are one of the genuinely extraordinary spectacles available to travellers โ the light on the caldera, the submerged volcano visible in the water, and the silence.
Castiglion del Bosco โ Tuscany's Private Film-Ready Estate
The Val d'Orcia โ the rolling hills between Siena and Monte Amiata that appear in every vision of Tuscany, with their cypress-lined crests, medieval hilltowns and luminous evening light โ is a UNESCO World Heritage landscape and the backdrop to decades of romantic film. Under the Tuscan Sun was partially filmed here. Castiglion del Bosco, a 12th-century castle estate with 5,000 acres of vineyards, olive groves and private forest, is the finest way to inhabit this landscape rather than merely visit it. The estate's Brunello di Montalcino vineyards produce some of Tuscany's most celebrated wine. This is private Italy.
Hotel Sacher Wien โ Vienna's Greatest Romantic Hotel
Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise sends two strangers walking through Vienna all night โ the Prater Ferris wheel, the wine bar, the Albertina courtyard, the train station at dawn. Vienna is the most romantic film city you can actually walk as the film walked it. Hotel Sacher, behind the Staatsoper, is Vienna's most storied hotel: original home of the Sachertorte, the favoured hotel of European aristocracy, and the starting point for a walk through the Ring that passes most of the Before Sunrise filming locations within twenty minutes. The Sacher Bar, in operation since 1876, is perfect for midnight conversations.