There’s a new way to choose the next vacation destination: let the images you’ve seen on the screen steer your planning. A panorama glimpsed in a scene, a beach that seems to belong to another era, a road traveled by a beloved character, a castle transformed into a symbol.
With the release in theaters of The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s new epic inspired by Homer’s poem, the focus returns to the Mediterranean and to the landscapes that, for centuries, have kept the echo of Odysseus’s voyage. The film, featuring Matt Damon as Odysseus, has taken production to numerous locations around the world, from Greece to Morocco, from Iceland to Scotland, and even Italy, where Sicily played a leading role. And among the most evocative places chosen to give shape to Homeric imagery stands Favignana, the largest of the Egadi Islands.
Favignana, the island of the Egadi that gazes toward myth
On Favignana, the light-colored rocky coastlines, the tufa quarries, the transparent coves, and the sea that changes color with every hour of the day seem to belong to an old tale, and it is no surprise that Christopher Nolan chose it for some of The Odyssey’s Italian sequences, in a project that favored real, walkable landscapes over worlds built solely in digital form.
The largest of the Egadi stands off the western coast of Sicily, opposite Trapani, and has long been connected to the Odyssey’s imagery: according to some interpretations, it could correspond to the legendary island of goats mentioned in the Homeric poem, the place where Odysseus and his men would have paused before continuing their journey and facing new trials.
Moreover, its ancient Greek name, Aegusa, would itself allude to goats.
Cala Rossa, the crystal sea of the wild coasts
Among Favignana’s most representative places is Cala Rossa, one of the settings that best narrates the island’s visual power, where the sea assumes dazzling shades, from turquoise to the deepest blue, while the tufa walls and the light-colored rocks create a landscape that is sculpted, bright, and austere at the same time.
Cala Rossa charms with a wild coastline, a natural harbor, a space where the sea is the protagonist. It does not have the tamed appearance of the more comfortable and linear beaches: it is made of rock, cuts, reflections, descents toward the water, and viewpoints that change step by step.
Such harsh and crystalline nature is precisely what makes it ideal for evoking Odysseus’s routes, his landings, the encounter with a Mediterranean that is as beautiful as it is unpredictable. Arriving here, you’ll find a landscape that already looks like cinema: the transparent sea beneath the quarries, the white stone, the atmosphere of an ancient island where every corner can become a tale.
Cala Azzurra, the island’s most luminous landing
While Cala Rossa captivates with its rugged force, Cala Azzurra’s turquoise waters and bright seabeds create an ideal setting to imagine the moments of arrival during Odysseus’s long journey. It doesn’t require grand effects to leave a mark: the contrast between the clear water, the pale coastline, and the Mediterranean light that envelops everything is enough.
In the film’s promotional narrative, Cala Azzurra becomes one of the most evocative stops to convey the Odyssey’s atmosphere on Favignana. Not so much because a traveler must seek an exact match between every frame and every meter of coastline, but because here one can sense the island’s spirit chosen by Nolan: a bright and essential place where the sea seems to indicate a direction.
Cala del Bue Marino, the island’s most adventurous face
At Cala del Bue Marino the landscape becomes more dramatic, shaped by tufa walls, sea caves, rocky platforms, and deep waters.
Precisely this makes it fit perfectly into The Odyssey’s imagery. Odysseus’s journey is never a linear path but is marked by uncertain landings, trials, encounters, perils, and marvels. Cala del Bue Marino, with its carved rocks and harsher atmosphere, naturally conveys such a dimension.
The other rocky coasts, between sea stacks and hidden bays
Beyond the best-known coves, Favignana is enriched by a succession of rocky stretches, small bays, less accessible inlets, and coastal points that contribute to building the island’s image. It is this variety that makes it so suitable for a film like The Odyssey: within just a few kilometers, the landscape changes its face several times, shifting from calm, bright waters to sterner cliffs, from open viewpoints to sheltered coves that seem to conceal stories.
The island’s rocky coasts allow recreating an ancient Mediterranean, made of landings and departures, of places reached by the sea more than by land, of natural borders that seem to separate the known world from the world of adventure. In this sense, Favignana is a true interpreter of the myth.
Just observe the tufa quarries, the sea stacks, the coves carved into the rock, and the clear waters to sense why the island could become, in the imagination, a territory traversed by Odysseus and his men.
The Castle of Santa Caterina, the look from above
One of the island’s most scenic spots is the Castle of Santa Caterina, which towers above the land and the surrounding sea. Its position makes it an extraordinary vantage point, capable of offering a wide view of the island, the harbor, the Egadi, and the horizon.
Indeed, the castle is among the locations associated with The Odyssey’s filming, and Matt Damon has spoken about the fatigue of the climbs and the long days spent working up at altitude.
On the voyage tracing the film’s path, the Castle of Santa Caterina adds a dimension different from the coves: it is the place of the gaze from which Favignana contemplates itself, like a map of stone and sea.
The Ex Stabilimento Florio, memory and the cinema machine
Another central site in Favignana’s narrative is the Ex Stabilimento Florio, the ancient tuna cannery that bears witness to a fundamental chapter of the island’s history. A large complex of industrial archaeology tied to tuna processing and the Florio era, it stands as one of Favignana’s emblematic stops because it tells of the deep bond between the community, the sea, and work.
During the production of The Odyssey, the Ex Stabilimento Florio was identified by various sources as the production base for the set, a temporary operational space for costumes, equipment, offices, and the organization of the shoots.
Its role is interesting because it unites two of the island’s souls: the historic one and the cinematic one. On the one hand, the former tuna cannery preserves Favignana’s memory, its past productive identity, and its maritime heritage. On the other, with Nolan’s crew arriving, it became part of the grand machinery of international cinema, proving how a place can keep changing its function without losing its symbolic strength.
