Where Christopher Nolan filmed The Odyssey in Sicily
On the route of Ulysses
WHERE NOLAN FILMED THE ODYSSEY
In the spring of 2025 Christopher Nolan chose our sea to bring Ulysses home. The film, The Odyssey, is in cinemas from July 2026 — and its coastlines are the very ones where LUX drops anchor.
Favignana is Ithaca
The Castle of Santa Caterina, on the island's summit, became the palace of Ulysses: for two weeks the cast climbed up on foot every day, while the equipment travelled on a funicular built for the occasion. The old Florio tonnara served as headquarters — wardrobe, offices, base camp — and hundreds of Favignana islanders became Ithacans. Cala Rossa, Bue Marino and Cala Azzurra, where we anchor, are the shores Ulysses sees again after twenty years. Nolan spent hours in the water in the Bue Marino cave waiting for the right shot.
The Aeolians are the islands of Aeolus
On 19 April 2025 the ferry "Regina dei Mari" landed Nolan, Matt Damon, Tom Holland and thirty actors at Lipari; the little harbour of Pignataro was requisitioned by ordinance, ten period tall ships at their moorings, a crew of seven hundred. Between the Faraglioni of Lipari — Homer's "wandering rocks" — and the Pietra del Bagno they shot the song of the Sirens; at Basiluzzo, with Stromboli smoking in the background, the attack of Scylla; on the craters of Vulcano the kingdom of Aeolus. At sea, a real 35-metre Viking ship instead of digital sets; everything in IMAX 70 mm, no green screens.
No coincidence
As early as 1897 the Englishman Samuel Butler argued that the Odyssey had been born here, between Trapani and the Egadi Islands — Aegades, "the islands of the goats", facing the land of the Cyclopes. The Aeolians bear the name of Aeolus, the king of the winds who gave Ulysses the ox-hide bag. The Strait of Messina is Scylla and Charybdis. With LUX the route is the same, under sail, with the hostess in place of the Sirens. Favignana has already announced a permanent Odyssey itinerary and honorary citizenship for Nolan.
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