New Moon Locations in Italy

Palazzo del Priori, Volterra

There are a couple new cities of interest in Italy. They’ve had a spike in tourists since one featured in a sequel to the breakout novel, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and the other was used as the location for the film version. Italy is a popular choice for Europe student travel anyway. For some, the added allure of Edward and Bella having met the famous Volturi in its historic streets and underground makes this area completely irresistible. Pictures like this one, though, convince me that with or without vampire fever, these cities would make a romantic addition to any European tour.

Volterra is the city of the sequel, New Moon. In the book, it’s the dark, underground hallways of this very building that the Volturri make their home. The Volturi is the name given to the vampire royalty in the book, and the walled cities that make up a perfect New Moon tour have a touch of royalty about them as well.

Volterra offers a New Moon tour twice a week (only once a week in winter). It includes the dark hallways, actors in robe, a miniature reenactment, and the whole works. You won’t find a fountain as depicted in the book and in the movie, but these narrow streets, historic buildings, and shops have all the aesthetic appeal to stand completely on their own.

I don’t know if diehard fans will be disappointed or not, but Volterra is not where New Moon the movie was filmed. Let’s think of it in the positive, though. It gives tourists (and film and literature fans) yet another Italian city to explore. The movie was filmed in Montepulciano. Its square is almost identical to the one in Volterra, including the clock tower that features in both the book and the film. The all-important fountain doesn’t exist here either, however. An artificial one was built for the movie location. Again, though, fans won’t be disappointed in this locale either. Pure medieval charm.

It’s a dream for most students – the whole backpacking across Europe thing with a stop in Venice, Florence, and the beautiful cities in between. Throw in the location from a favorite film, and the dream gets even bigger. The thing is, now’s your time. Europe may only be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but at least make it that. And the land of the Volturi is just one of the many beautiful places to consider.

Photo by AJanssen on Flickr.

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