The Godfather beyond Sicily

Connie’s wedding

📍 The Corleone house — Staten Island, New York

On screen

August 1945. Connie, daughter of Don Vito Corleone, marries Carlo Rizzi, and the whole family celebrates in the garden. Meanwhile, in his dark study, the Don receives those who come to ask a favour, because no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter’s wedding day. Michael arrives in uniform with Kay and explains who his family are: “That’s my family, Kay. It’s not me.”

The place today

A private home in Todt Hill, at 110 Longfellow Avenue. The tall stone wall and gate seen in the film were a styrofoam set, removed long ago; the house itself looks much as it did on screen. A family lives here: photograph quietly from the street and don’t go in.

Did you know? According to Wikipedia, almost 750 local residents took part in the wedding scene as extras.

Sources: Wikipedia EN · Scouting NY · movie-locations

Woltz International Pictures

📍 Paramount Studios — Hollywood, Los Angeles

On screen

Tom Hagen, the family’s lawyer and consigliere, flies to Hollywood to ask studio boss Jack Woltz to give the singer Johnny Fontane, the Don’s godson, the part he dreams of. Woltz shouts, swears and refuses, but once he realises who sent Hagen, he invites him to dinner at his estate.

The place today

Paramount is the last major studio still operating in Hollywood itself. According to movie-locations, Hagen arrives at the lot’s humbler Gower Street entrance, not the famous Melrose Gate. The studio is busy, and a paid guided tour takes you among the sound stages and backlot streets; book ahead.

Sources: movie-locations

Khartoum, the $600,000 horse

📍 The Beverly Estate — Beverly Hills, Los Angeles

On screen

At his lavish estate Woltz shows Hagen his pride and joy: Khartoum, a racehorse he bought for $600,000. Over dinner he explains that Fontane will never get the part, and makes no secret that it is personal. Hagen thanks him politely, leaves for the airport and adds just one thing: the Don is a man who insists on hearing bad news at once.

The place today

A vast 1920s estate at 1011 North Beverly Drive. Google Maps lists it as the “Beverly Estate (former Randolph Hearst Estate)”: the newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst lived here in his last years. It is private and walled, seen from the street only.

Sources: movie-locations · Wikipedia EN

The horse’s head

📍 Falaise, Sands Point Preserve — Sands Point, Long Island

On screen

Next morning Woltz wakes up in silk sheets soaked with blood. At the foot of the bed, under the covers, lies Khartoum’s severed head. His scream is one of the most famous images in film history. Johnny Fontane, of course, gets the part.

The place today

A 1920s Normandy-style manor built for Harry Guggenheim on a bluff above Long Island Sound. Today it is part of Sands Point Preserve, with woodland trails, a beach and more Guggenheim mansions. Falaise itself offers seasonal guided tours, usually for a fee; check ahead.

Did you know? The location is disputed. According to movie-locations, Woltz’s bedroom is the living room of Falaise on Long Island; other sources say it too was shot at the Beverly Estate. According to Wikipedia, the head was real, obtained from a dog-food company.

Sources: movie-locations · Wikipedia EN

Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes

📍 Hotel St. George — Brooklyn Heights, New York

On screen

The Don sends Luca Brasi, his loyal killer, to find out what the dealer Sollozzo is up to. Brasi goes to a hotel bar and pretends he is ready to switch sides, but Bruno Tattaglia and Sollozzo already know. A knife pins his hand to the bar and a cord tightens around his neck. Later a fish wrapped in his bulletproof vest arrives at the family home: a Sicilian message that Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.

The place today

In the 1930s this was New York’s largest hotel, with more than 2,600 rooms. Today the building holds apartments and student housing, with an entrance to the Clark Street subway station at street level. Brooklyn Heights is a lovely neighbourhood, and its Promenade looks straight across at Manhattan.

Did you know? According to Scouting NY, Brasi’s walk down the hotel corridor was filmed at the rear entrance of the Hotel Edison on West 46th Street in Manhattan.

Sources: movie-locations · Scouting NY

Christmas shopping

📍 Olympic Tower, formerly Best & Co. — Fifth Avenue, Manhattan

On screen

December 1945. Michael and Kay come out of the Best & Co. department store on Fifth Avenue loaded with parcels, laughing and making plans for the holiday. It is one of the last moments when Michael is still just the son who wants nothing to do with the family business. Soon everything will change.

The place today

Best & Co. had already closed when the crew arrived and was briefly revived for the scene. In the mid-1970s the building was demolished; Olympic Tower, 51 storeys of dark glass, stands there now, with St Patrick’s Cathedral just across 51st Street.

Did you know? According to Wikipedia, this was the first shot on the film’s schedule, on 29 March 1971.

Sources: Wikipedia EN · Scouting NY · movie-locations

Oranges on Mott Street

📍 Mott Street, the “Genco” offices — Little Italy and Chinatown, Manhattan

On screen

The Don leaves the offices of his olive oil company, “Genco”, and crosses the street to buy fruit at a stand. Two of Sollozzo’s gunmen appear and shoot him again and again; he collapses in the road among rolling oranges. Fredo, who was supposed to protect him, fumbles his gun, drops it and sits weeping on the kerb.

The place today

The Mietz Building at 128 Mott Street played the “Genco” offices; its Art Deco entrance was built for the film. The ground floor has been completely remodelled, but the name “Mietz” is still on the façade. The block is part of Chinatown today, and at number 137, across the street, where the Don was shot, there is still a shop.

Sources: Scouting NY · movie-locations · Wikipedia EN

The headline

📍 Radio City Music Hall — Midtown, Manhattan

On screen

That evening Michael and Kay leave Radio City Music Hall after seeing “The Bells of St. Mary’s”. Kay stops at a newsstand and turns pale: the headline says Vito Corleone has been shot. Michael runs to a pay phone across the street to call home and find out whether his father is alive.

The place today

Rockefeller Center’s famous hall, opened in 1932 and home of the Rockettes. The scene was shot at the side entrance on West 50th Street. Paid guided tours run all year, and in winter there’s the traditional Christmas show.

Sources: Scouting NY · movie-locations · Slashfilm

“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”

📍 Liberty State Park — Jersey City, New Jersey

On screen

Paulie Gatto, the Don’s driver, “was sick” on the very day of the shooting, and Sonny knows he is the traitor. Clemenza takes Paulie and Rocco for a drive. On a desolate road through the marshes, with the Statue of Liberty on the horizon, Clemenza stops to relieve himself and Rocco shoots Paulie from the back seat. Clemenza walks back to the car and delivers the famous line: “Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”

The place today

According to New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection, the scene was shot in 1971 on an unmarked road that later became part of Liberty State Park, at a bend closer to Phillip Street than to Freedom Way. The spot lies inside a fenced 210-acre interior, closed to the public since the early 1980s because of contamination and now being restored. The rest of the park is open, with a waterfront walk facing the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan, and ferries to the statue and Ellis Island.

Did you know? According to a 2022 Yahoo News report, Richard Castellano, who played Clemenza, ad-libbed the cannoli part. As Clemenza leaves home at the start of the scene, his wife reminds him not to forget the cannoli; according to Scouting NY, that house is at 1999 East 5th Street in Brooklyn.

Sources: Yahoo News (לפי מחלקת הגנת הסביבה של ניו ג׳רזי) · Scouting NY

Louis’ Restaurant

📍 Louis’ Restaurant — The Bronx, New York

On screen

Michael meets Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey, the corrupt cop who broke his jaw, at a small Italian restaurant in the Bronx. Halfway through he asks to use the bathroom, finds the gun Clemenza hid behind the cistern, returns to the table, hesitates for a long moment and shoots them both. Then, as he was taught, he drops the gun and walks out.

The place today

3531 White Plains Road, under the elevated tracks in the Bronx. The restaurant is long gone: according to Scouting NY and movie-locations, a fabric shop later took over the space, and the pressed-tin ceiling survived. Sources disagree on whether it was the old “Luna” restaurant. It is a private business, so photograph from outside.

🔗 Later in the story · The Godfather in SicilyThe road to “Corleone” — The “Corleone” viewpoint — Madonna del Carmelo chapel, Sant’Alessio Siculo

Sources: Scouting NY · movie-locations · Wikipedia EN

Sonny beats Carlo

📍 Pleasant Avenue and 118th Street — East Harlem, Manhattan

On screen

Sonny finds out that Carlo, Connie’s husband, has been beating her. He drives to East Harlem, finds Carlo sitting on a stoop with friends and drags him into the street. In front of the whole neighbourhood he beats him with his fists, a garbage-can lid and the fire hydrant, and warns him that if he touches her again he’s dead. Carlo does not forget the humiliation.

The place today

A quiet corner of “Italian Harlem”, once one of New York’s largest Italian communities. According to Scouting NY, the stoop Carlo sat on is still there, and so are the street’s cobblestones. A few blocks south, by the church on 115th Street, the Italian Giglio feast is still held every summer.

Sources: Scouting NY · movie-locations

The tollbooth

📍 Mitchel Field — Garden City, Long Island

On screen

Connie calls in tears: Carlo has beaten her again. Furious, Sonny drives off alone, speeding towards Long Beach. At a causeway tollbooth a car blocks him in and gunmen open fire from every side. It was exactly what Carlo had planned with Barzini: to get Sonny out of the house without his bodyguards.

The place today

Mitchel Air Force Base closed in 1961; its land now holds college campuses, an arena and “Museum Row”, home of the Cradle of Aviation Museum. According to Scouting NY, a small remnant of the runway where the tollbooths were built, runway 5/23, survives by one of Nassau Community College’s parking lots.

Did you know? According to Wikipedia, three tollbooths were built on a runway at Mitchel Field. Shooting began on 22 June, took three days and cost over $100,000. Movie-locations names Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn instead, but Wikipedia and Scouting NY both point to Mitchel Field.

🔗 Later in the story · The Godfather in SicilyThe car bomb — Castello degli Schiavi (“Castle of the Slaves”), Fiumefreddo di Sicilia

Sources: Wikipedia EN · Wikipedia IT · Scouting NY

The Five Families meet

📍 Federal Reserve Bank of New York — Financial District, Manhattan

On screen

After Sonny’s death the Don summons the heads of New York’s Five Families to make peace. “I’m a reasonable man,” he says, giving up revenge in return for a promise that Michael can come home safely from Sicily. But during the meeting he realises one thing: the man behind it all was not Tattaglia, but Barzini.

The place today

A Florentine-style stone palazzo at 33 Liberty Street, with one of the world’s largest gold vaults in its basement. According to Scouting NY, this is the building the family heads walk into; the room itself was the Penn Central railroad boardroom above Grand Central, since gutted. Tours of the bank are booked in advance and are usually free.

Sources: Scouting NY · movie-locations

Moe Greene won’t sell

📍 The former Tropicana — Las Vegas, Nevada

On screen

Michael flies to Las Vegas, where Fredo runs a hotel-casino for Moe Greene, and offers to buy him out. Greene, insulted, shouts that he was a big man in the business when Michael was still dating cheerleaders, and makes it clear he won’t sell. Fredo sides with Greene, and Michael coldly warns him: “Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family again.”

The place today

One of the Strip’s veteran resorts, the Tropicana opened in 1957. On 9 October 2024 its towers were imploded to make way for a new ballpark for the Athletics baseball team. The corner of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard is a building site today, ringed by the Strip’s big resorts.

Did you know? Sources disagree. According to movie-locations, the Las Vegas chapter was filmed at the Tropicana; according to English Wikipedia, the Las Vegas scenes were not shot on location for lack of funds. Italian Wikipedia says Part II did film at the Tropicana.

Sources: movie-locations · Wikipedia EN · Wikipedia IT

In the tomato garden

📍 The Corleone house — Staten Island, New York

On screen

The old Don, who has handed the reins to Michael, spends his days in the garden with his grandson Anthony. He slips an orange peel into his mouth, plays the monster and chases the boy among the tomato plants. Suddenly he collapses and dies quietly among the vines, while the child, not understanding, goes on playing.

About the place itself: see scene 01 ↑

Did you know? According to Scouting NY, it was filmed in the grounds of the same Staten Island house; today there is a swimming pool where the garden was.

Sources: Scouting NY

The funeral

📍 Calvary Cemetery — Queens, New York

On screen

A lavish funeral for Don Vito Corleone, with countless wreaths and the Manhattan skyline behind. Michael stands by the grave and waits: his father warned him that whoever comes to him proposing a meeting with Barzini is the traitor. Then Tessio, one of the Don’s two veteran capos, comes over and proposes exactly that.

The place today

A vast Catholic cemetery in Queens facing the Manhattan skyline, the view behind the funeral. According to Scouting NY, the large cross-topped Daly monument seen in the scene is still there, and the grass beside it is where the Corleone monument stood. It is a working cemetery: visit quietly and respectfully.

Sources: movie-locations · Scouting NY

The baptism

📍 St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral — Little Italy and Nolita, Manhattan

On screen

Michael stands at the font as godfather to Connie’s baby. The priest asks whether he renounces Satan and all his works, and Michael quietly answers that he does. In those very minutes, across the city and in Las Vegas, his men are wiping out the heads of the rival families. The cross-cutting, with the church organ playing, is among the most famous in cinema.

The place today

New York’s first Catholic cathedral, from 1815, enclosed by a brick wall and a small cemetery. It became a basilica in 2010. It is open for visits and services, with paid guided tours that include the catacombs. Both the baptism in the first film and the ceremony in Part III were filmed here, 18 years apart.

Did you know? According to Scouting NY, it was shot in a side chapel. The exterior, as the family leaves, was filmed at a different church, on Staten Island.

Sources: movie-locations · Scouting NY · Slashfilm

The elevator

📍 The St. Regis New York — Midtown, Manhattan

On screen

Another moment of the massacre during the baptism: Clemenza, with a shotgun, waits in a hotel. When the elevator doors open on Don Stracci and his bodyguard, he shoots them both. At the same time Don Cuneo is trapped in a revolving door and shot.

The place today

A 1904 luxury hotel at Fifth Avenue and 55th Street, built by John Jacob Astor IV, who died on the Titanic eight years later. According to movie-locations, Michael and Kay also stay here in the first film. Its King Cole Bar claims to be the birthplace of the Bloody Mary, and you don’t need a room to have a drink there.

Sources: movie-locations

Moe Greene on the massage table

📍 The former McBurney YMCA — Chelsea, Manhattan

On screen

Another moment of the massacre: in Las Vegas, Moe Greene, the man who refused to sell, lies on a massage table. He puts on his glasses, and a single shot hits him in the eye. On screen it happens in Vegas, but according to movie-locations it was filmed in the steam room of the McBurney YMCA on 23rd Street in Manhattan.

The place today

The West 23rd Street building housed the McBurney YMCA from 1904 to 2002. The Y then moved to 14th Street, and the building became private lofts, seen from outside only. A few steps along the same street is the famous Chelsea Hotel.

Sources: movie-locations

Barzini on the steps

📍 New York County Courthouse — Foley Square, Manhattan

On screen

Barzini, the great enemy, falls that same morning. He comes out of the courthouse and down the broad steps. Al Neri, disguised as a uniformed policeman, argues with his driver about the parking, then shoots the bodyguard and Barzini himself, who collapses on the steps.

The place today

The New York County Supreme Court, a hexagonal building with a Corinthian-columned front facing Foley Square. Its broad steps have appeared in dozens of films and series. It is a working courthouse; you can sit on the steps and take pictures. Chinatown and Little Italy are a few minutes’ walk away.

Sources: Wikipedia EN · Wikipedia IT · movie-locations

Leaving the church

📍 The old church at Mount Loretto — Staten Island, New York

On screen

The ceremony over, the family steps out of the church into the daylight: Connie with the baby, a proud Carlo, Kay at Michael’s side. Everyone congratulates the new godfather, and none of them yet knows what happened across the city at that very hour. The worst is still waiting for Carlo, later that same day.

The place today

The church of Saints Joachim and Anne, on Staten Island’s southern tip. According to movie-locations, it burned shortly after filming; the façade survived, and a smaller church was built behind it. Around it lies a nature preserve with bluffs, a beach on the bay and a path to a lighthouse.

Sources: movie-locations · Scouting NY

Ellis Island, 1901

📍 Salone degli Incanti, the old fish market — Trieste, Italy

On screen

Nine-year-old Vito Andolini arrives in New York alone on an immigrant ship and sees the Statue of Liberty from the deck. In the vast hall of Ellis Island he doesn’t answer the clerk, who writes down his village as his surname: Vito Corleone. The doctors find he has smallpox, and he is sent to quarantine for three months. Alone in his room, at a window facing the statue, he sings quietly.

The place today

Trieste’s central fish market was built in 1913 on the waterfront, with a clock tower that looks like a belfry. Its name, “hall of the auctions”, comes from the fish auctions once held there. Today it is a civic exhibition hall, and the city aquarium is in the same complex.

Did you know? According to Italian Wikipedia, the immigrants’ medical inspection was filmed in Trieste’s old fish market, some 6,800 km from the real Ellis Island.

🔗 Earlier in the story · The Godfather in SicilyThe manhunt — Forza d’Agrò Cathedral

Sources: Wikipedia IT · movie-locations · Italy for Movies

Communion party at Lake Tahoe

📍 Fleur du Lac — Homewood, Lake Tahoe, California

On screen

1958. Michael’s son Anthony makes his First Communion, and the family celebrates at its estate on the shore of Lake Tahoe. As at Connie’s wedding, Michael receives guests in his study: Senator Geary, who demands a bribe, Frank Pentangeli from New York, and Johnny Ola, Hyman Roth’s envoy. That night machine-gun fire rakes Michael and Kay’s bedroom.

The place today

According to movie-locations, this is the industrialist Henry J. Kaiser’s estate on Lake Tahoe’s west shore. Today it is a private gated community with no public access. The stone boathouses seen in the film are best viewed from the water, on a lake cruise or from a kayak.

Did you know? In the story the estate is on the Nevada side, but Fleur du Lac is on the lake’s west shore, in California.

Sources: Wikipedia IT · movie-locations

Little Italy, 1917

📍 East 6th Street, between Avenues A and B — East Village, Manhattan

On screen

Young Vito (Robert De Niro) lives in Little Italy with his wife and baby Sonny. The neighbourhood is ruled by Don Fanucci of the “Black Hand”, who squeezes money out of everyone. Because of Fanucci, Vito loses his job at the grocery, and then a young neighbour called Clemenza asks him to hide a few guns. And so, with a small favour, the Godfather’s path begins.

The place today

An ordinary East Village residential block: brick walk-ups with fire escapes and a row of trees, with a big community garden on the corner of Avenue B. For the film the shopfronts were covered, carts and horses brought in, and the whole block went back to 1917. Today it is a quiet, pleasant street to stroll, a few minutes’ walk from Little Italy.

Did you know? According to Italian Wikipedia, young Vito’s Little Italy was filmed in the East Village, while interiors such as Vito’s apartment were built at the Paramount studios in Los Angeles.

Sources: Wikipedia IT · movie-locations

With Hyman Roth in Miami

📍 Hyman Roth’s house — Keystone Islands, North Miami, Florida

On screen

After the attempt on his life, Michael flies to Miami to see Hyman Roth, his father’s old partner. Roth receives him in a modest house, with a football game on TV, like any retiree. But behind the modesty is one of the most powerful men in the underworld, and the talk soon turns to business in Cuba.

The place today

A private home at 2045 North Hibiscus Drive, on the man-made Keystone Islands off Biscayne Boulevard: a quiet residential neighbourhood on the canals, with no sign or trace of the film. You can pass by in the street, but people live here, so don’t go in or disturb anyone.

Sources: movie-locations

“Michael Corleone says hello!”

📍 7B (Vazac’s Horseshoe Bar) — East Village, Manhattan

On screen

Frank Pentangeli comes to a bar to make peace with the Rosato brothers. They smile, then suddenly loop a cord around his neck and whisper: “Michael Corleone says hello!” The attempt is interrupted and Pentangeli survives, convinced that Michael betrayed him. Just as Roth had planned.

The place today

A veteran neighbourhood bar at Avenue B and 7th Street, facing Tompkins Square Park. Google Maps lists it as still open, with the horseshoe-shaped bar that gave it its name. It has also appeared in Crocodile Dundee and the Sex and the City movie. You can walk in and order a drink right where they tried to strangle Pentangeli.

Sources: movie-locations · Untapped New York · Time Out

A cake shaped like Cuba

📍 El Embajador hotel — Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

On screen

Havana, late 1958. On the hotel roof they celebrate Hyman Roth’s birthday, and at the centre of the table is a cake iced with a map of Cuba. Roth slices it up among the partners and tells Michael they are bigger than U.S. Steel. But Michael has seen a rebel blow himself up in the street, and he realises the rebels might win.

The place today

Built in 1956, it was one of Santo Domingo’s first luxury hotels, and according to movie-locations it played Hyman Roth’s hotel in “Havana”. After a major makeover in 2014 it now operates as El Embajador, a Royal Hideaway Hotel.

Sources: movie-locations · Wikipedia EN

“I know it was you, Fredo”

📍 The National Palace — Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

On screen

New Year’s Eve at President Batista’s palace. In the middle of the celebration Michael takes Fredo’s head in both hands, kisses him and says: “I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart.” At midnight Batista announces he is resigning and fleeing, the rebels close in, and the party collapses into chaos. Michael escapes, and Fredo runs from him into the crowd.

The place today

A domed neoclassical palace built in the 1940s that still houses the Dominican presidency. You see it from outside, from the railings and the garden in front. A few minutes away is Santo Domingo’s old Colonial City, a World Heritage Site best explored on foot.

Did you know? According to Wikipedia, the US embargo ruled out filming in Cuba, so Havana was shot in Santo Domingo. Italian Wikipedia says filming there began on 2 January 1974.

Sources: Wikipedia IT · Wikipedia EN

Fanucci and the feast

📍 East 6th Street, between Avenues A and B — East Village, Manhattan

On screen

The neighbourhood is celebrating a saint’s feast: a procession, a band, fireworks and stalls. Vito, who has decided not to pay Fanucci, climbs onto the rooftops and follows him above the crowd. In the stairwell of Fanucci’s building he waits, wraps the gun in a towel and fires. Then he goes back to sit on the stoop with his wife and children, holding baby Michael in his arms: “Your father loves you very much.”

About the place itself: see scene 24 ↑

Sources: movie-locations · Wikipedia IT

Fishing on the lake

📍 Fleur du Lac — Homewood, Lake Tahoe, California

On screen

After their mother’s funeral Michael seems to have forgiven Fredo. Fredo goes out fishing on the lake with Al Neri, having taught little Anthony that a Hail Mary helps you catch fish. At the last moment Anthony is called back to shore. In the boat, while Fredo murmurs the prayer, Neri shoots him. Michael watches it all from the boathouse window.

About the place itself: see scene 23 ↑

Sources: movie-locations · Wikipedia EN

The Order of St. Sebastian

📍 St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral — Little Italy and Nolita, Manhattan

On screen

1979. Michael, now nearly sixty, is trying to make the family legitimate. In a grand ceremony the Church awards him the Order of St. Sebastian, after he has given $100 million through a foundation named after his father. In the pews sit dignitaries, the family and a few of the old mobsters too.

About the place itself: see scene 17 ↑

Did you know? It is the same church where Michael stood as godfather in the first film, 18 years earlier.

Sources: Wikipedia IT · movie-locations

A deal with the archbishop

📍 St. Patrick’s Cathedral — Fifth Avenue, Manhattan

On screen

Archbishop Gilday, head of the Vatican Bank, urgently needs hundreds of millions of dollars to cover a hole in the books. Michael offers him a deal: the money, in exchange for control of Immobiliare, the giant property company owned by the Vatican. According to movie-locations, their meeting was filmed in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

The place today

New York’s great neo-Gothic cathedral, opened in 1879 on Fifth Avenue opposite Rockefeller Center. Entry is free, with Masses throughout the day. Across 51st Street stands Olympic Tower, where Michael and Kay go Christmas shopping in the first film.

Sources: movie-locations · Wikipedia EN

The archbishop at the Waldorf

📍 The Waldorf Astoria — Park Avenue, Manhattan

On screen

The family’s lawyer, Harrison, calls on Archbishop Gilday to push the deal forward. According to movie-locations, the churchman is staying “modestly” at none other than the Waldorf Astoria, one of New York’s grandest hotels.

The place today

Park Avenue’s famous Art Deco hotel, from 1931. It closed in 2017 for a huge renovation, with part of the building turned into apartments, and reopened in 2025 with fewer than 400 rooms instead of more than 1,400. The restored lobby, with its famous gilded clock, is worth a look.

Sources: movie-locations · Wikipedia EN

The helicopter attack

📍 Golden Nugget, formerly “Trump’s Castle” — Atlantic City, New Jersey

On screen

Michael gathers the Mafia bosses in a hotel penthouse in Atlantic City, announces that he is leaving the business and pays out their share. Joey Zasa storms out. A moment later a helicopter hovers outside the huge windows and sprays the room with gunfire. Almost all the bosses are killed, and Michael escapes thanks to Vincent. “Just when I thought I was out,” he says later, “they pull me back in.”

The place today

A hotel-casino in Atlantic City’s Marina District. It opened in 1985 as Donald Trump’s “Trump’s Castle”, later became “Trump Marina”, and since 2011 has been the Golden Nugget. In the film it is the “Palazzo Azzurro”; according to movie-locations, the meeting room was rebuilt at Cinecittà in Rome.

Sources: Wikipedia EN · movie-locations

Vincent and Mary

📍 Mulberry Street Bar, formerly Mare Chiaro — Little Italy, Manhattan

On screen

Vincent, Sonny’s illegitimate son, and Mary, Michael’s daughter, fall in love even though they are cousins. They drink together in a small Little Italy bar, away from the family’s eyes. Michael, who sees where this is heading, will later make Vincent choose: Mary or the family.

The place today

A veteran Mulberry Street bar, said to have opened in 1908 as Mare Chiaro and, the story goes, Frank Sinatra’s favourite. It has also appeared in Donnie Brasco and The Sopranos. Google Maps lists it as still open, so you can sit at the bar just like Vincent and Mary.

Sources: movie-locations · Untapped Cities

Joey Zasa at the feast

📍 Elizabeth Street — Little Italy and Nolita, Manhattan

On screen

Little Italy is celebrating: a procession with the saint’s statue, flags, music and crowds in the street. Joey Zasa, who was involved in the Atlantic City attack, struts among his bodyguards. Vincent, disguised as a mounted policeman, follows him through the crowd and shoots him in the middle of the festivities.

The place today

A narrow, lively Nolita street parallel to Mott and Mulberry, with boutiques, cafés and old brick buildings. The sources don’t say which block was used, so the link points to the corner of Prince Street. The real thing, the Feast of San Gennaro, takes over neighbouring Mulberry Street every September, with a procession and food stalls.

Sources: movie-locations · Wikipedia EN

At the Vatican gate

📍 Piazza del Sant’Uffizio — Rome, on the Vatican border

On screen

The story moves to Italy. The Immobiliare deal stalls inside the Vatican walls, and behind the scenes bankers, politicians and churchmen turn out to be working against Michael. According to Italian Wikipedia, the border post through which the film enters Vatican City was shot at Piazza del Sant’Uffizio.

The place today

A small square just south of Bernini’s colonnade at St Peter’s Square. It holds the Palazzo del Sant’Uffizio, seat of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, heir to the Inquisition. The palace belongs to the Vatican though it stands outside the walls, and the square has a gate into Vatican City.

Sources: Wikipedia IT

Gilday’s office

📍 Palazzo Farnese — Caprarola, province of Viterbo

On screen

At the heart of the “Vatican” sits Archbishop Gilday, surrounded by giant 16th-century world maps. The deal with Michael is dragging, and Gilday plays a double game: take the money without handing over control. Soon it will become clear just how dangerous he is.

The place today

A 16th-century pentagonal Renaissance palace designed by Vignola for the Farnese family, on a hill above the village of Caprarola, about an hour from Rome. Its halls are covered in frescoes, among them the Hall of the World Map (Sala del Mappamondo) and the famous spiral staircase, the Scala Regia. It is open as a museum for a fee, with terraced gardens behind.

Did you know? According to Italian Wikipedia, Palazzo Farnese played the Vatican palaces: the Hall of the World Map was Gilday’s office, and one of the corner towers stood in for the outside of the Sistine Chapel.

Sources: Wikipedia IT · movie-locations

The stone from the well

📍 Basilica of Santa Maria della Quercia — Viterbo, Lazio

On screen

In a convent cloister, Cardinal Lamberto takes a stone from the water and breaks it open: it has lain in the water for centuries, yet it is dry inside. So it is with men in Europe, he says: surrounded by Christianity, without it ever reaching them. Sick and weak, Michael makes his first confession in thirty years, and weeps as he admits he had his brother Fredo killed.

The place today

A Renaissance church on the edge of Viterbo, with Andrea della Robbia’s glazed terracotta lunettes over its doors, beside a Dominican convent with arcaded cloisters. According to Italian Wikipedia, the “Palermo” convent cloister was filmed here, in a part that was then a hotel. The church is open to visitors, and the cloisters can be seen during opening hours.

Did you know? In the story the convent is in Palermo. Its entrance was filmed in Erice, in Sicily, and, according to Italian Wikipedia, the cloister in Viterbo.

🔗 Same scene, another location · The Godfather in SicilyThe confession — Church of Sant’Orsola, Erice

Sources: Wikipedia IT · movie-locations

The opera house auditorium

📍 Cinecittà Studios — Rome

On screen

Anthony’s opening night in Cavalleria Rusticana at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. The whole family sits in the gilded boxes, and while the opera unfolds, Michael’s men set out to eliminate his enemies. The theatre was closed for restoration at the time, so the auditorium, stage and boxes were rebuilt at Cinecittà in Rome.

The place today

Italy’s great film studios, opened in 1937, Fellini’s home turf. The Teatro Massimo auditorium was rebuilt here, and, according to movie-locations, so was the Atlantic City meeting room. The public can visit the Cinecittà si Mostra exhibition, with paid guided tours among the sets. Take Metro line A to Cinecittà station.

🔗 Same scene, another location · The Godfather in SicilyCavalleria Rusticana — Teatro Massimo, Palermo

Sources: movie-locations · Wikipedia EN

The banker under the bridge

📍 Ponte Sant’Angelo — Rome

On screen

Keinszig, the banker who vanished with the money, is murdered during the opera. His body is left hanging under a bridge over the Tiber, so that it looks like suicide.

The place today

An ancient Roman bridge over the Tiber leading to Castel Sant’Angelo, lined with ten 17th-century angel statues designed by Bernini. It is for pedestrians only, and St Peter’s Square is a ten-minute walk away.

Did you know? According to Wikipedia, it echoes the death of Roberto Calvi, head of Banco Ambrosiano, who was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982; in 2002 the courts ruled it was murder.

Sources: Wikipedia IT · Wikipedia EN

The spiral staircase

📍 Palazzo Farnese — Caprarola, province of Viterbo

On screen

Al Neri arrives at the Vatican. On the spiral staircase he waits for Archbishop Gilday and shoots him, and Gilday plunges to the bottom of the stairwell. A deal that began with a generous donation ends in blood.

About the place itself: see scene 38 ↑

Sources: Wikipedia IT

The real Ellis Island

📍 Ellis Island — New York Harbor

In the story

In the story nine-year-old Vito arrives here in 1901, and the immigration clerk turns “Vito Andolini from Corleone” into “Vito Corleone”. But the scene wasn’t filmed here: the hall was shot in Trieste’s old fish market, in Italy.

The place today

The immigration station operated from 1892 to 1954, and some 12 million immigrants passed through it. Its main building is now the National Museum of Immigration, reached by ferry from Battery Park in Manhattan or from Liberty State Park, with a stop at the Statue of Liberty. At the museum you can search the arrival records, perhaps for your own family.

Sources: Wikipedia IT · movie-locations