Francis Ford Coppola goes home to Southern Italy: The filming locations of The Glimpses of the Moon
The Glimpses of the Moon
It has been a long road to production. Francis Ford Coppola has been trying to get The Glimpses of the Moon before cameras for the better part of two years. London was announced. Calabria was announced. December 2025 came and went without a single frame shot. And now, as of late August 2026, it is finally, apparently, happening — in the region of southern Italy where Coppola's own family comes from.
The Glimpses of the Moon is a loose adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1922 novel of the same name, which Coppola has described as "a very odd confection" and a "30s-style strange musical" with strong dance and musical elements. The story follows a young couple — broke socialites — who navigate a complicated social world between Lake Como, Venice and the drawing rooms of the very wealthy. Coppola has said the film will be "modestly budgeted" and funded conventionally, with national subsidies, "because I'm all borrowed out."
According to Corriere della Sera, Coppola is expected to arrive in Basilicata at the end of August and shoot in specific locations in Matera, Bernalda and Montescaglioso before production moves on.
The choice of Basilicata is personal before it is cinematic. The director's family roots trace back to Bernalda, a town in Basilicata, fostering a genuine connection that has grown stronger over the years. Coppola has visited Bernalda repeatedly — he owns a hotel there, the Palazzo Margherita — and has long described his connection to the region as one of the most meaningful relationships of his life.
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Matera is the other anchor. The ancient cave city — its Sassi districts carved into the ravine walls, its 9,000-year history of continuous habitation making it one of the oldest settled places on earth — has a visual character that no other location in Italy, or indeed the world, can replicate. Its UNESCO World Heritage status has not prevented it from becoming one of the most sought-after filming destinations in Italy: No Time to Die, The Passion of the Christ and Wonder Woman have all used it. Coppola's 30s-style musical set in a world of European high society will add a genuinely unexpected chapter to Matera's filmography.
Montescaglioso — a hilltop town in Basilicata overlooking the Bradano valley, known for its Benedictine abbey and its panoramic views across to Matera — completes the Basilicata location cluster.
An earlier casting call from the Calabria Film Commission confirmed that production would take place in Reggio Calabria, Cosenza and Scilla. Whether the Calabria leg has survived the repeated schedule revisions or been replaced entirely by the Basilicata locations is not yet clear from current reporting — the World of Reel piece from August 18 focuses entirely on Basilicata, suggesting that is where filming begins.
SOURCE
World of Reel /// AceShowbiz // DTMovies // IMDb // Corriere della Sera
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