Movies and TV series filmed in Sardinia

An itinerary to discover the most beautiful film settings

From the rugged and occasionally lunar landscapes to the desert and dunes of Piscinas, then moving to the coasts and their beaches whose crystal-clear waters are reminiscent of tropical seas: Sardinia’s unspoilt natural spaces have always been chosen - and have sometimes been the real star - for film shoots.

Acclaimed directors, including Michelangelo Antonioni, Lina Wertmüller, Lewis Gilbert for his James Bond movies, the Vanzina brothers, Sardinian filmmakers Salvatore Mereu and Gianfranco Cabiddu, and more recently George Clooney for his directorial debut with the TV series Catch-22 and even Rob Marshall for Disney, have found the perfect locations for their shoots in some of Sardinia’s most beautiful places, which now appear in some authentic masterpieces of world cinema.

Backstage La stoffa dei sogni (ph. Paco Cinematografica)

The latest of these is Rob Marshall himself, the American director and choreographer who shot Disney’s new live-action version of The Little Mermaid in several locations in northern Sardinia, including Aglientu, Castelsardo, Asinara, Golfo Aranci and Tavolara Island. The production company arrived in Sardinia in May 2021 and spent several weeks shooting, until September of the same year. In their search for a location for the isolated beach where Ariel, the protagonist of The Little Mermaid - inspired by the 1837 fairy tale by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen - saves Eric, and for the film’s moving and triumphant finale, the directors were looking for a physical place in Europe that had a magical and epic atmosphere and could cater for a large production company; they chose Sardinia, with its transparent waters, dramatic coastline, steep cliffs, fortresses, enormous beaches and rural roads. In 2019 George Clooney also chose Sardinia, and Gallura in particular: the American TV miniseries Catch-22 was set partly in the former military airport of Venafiorita, near Olbia.

The disused airport was made available to the production team for shooting some of their scenes; other locations included the Capo Testa cliffs in Santa Teresa di Gallura, helping to make these stunning places even more famous all over the world.