The confession
Church of Sant’Orsola — Erice
In the Palermo guidePlan a day here
On screen
Don Tommasino brings Michael to Cardinal Lamberto, an honest churchman. In the convent courtyard the cardinal lifts a stone from the water and cracks it open: centuries in the water, yet dry inside. So it is with men in Europe, he says, surrounded by Christianity for centuries without it ever reaching them. Weak from diabetes, Michael makes his first confession in thirty years and admits he had his brother Fredo killed.
The place today
A 15th-century church in Erice, a stone town on a mountaintop some 750 m above Trapani, reached by cable car from below. The views take in the bay and the Egadi Islands, and the town is famous for its almond pastries.
Did you know? The convent entrance is Sant’Orsola in Erice. The film’s Lamberto is modelled on Pope John Paul I, who died in 1978 after 33 days in office.
Sources: Wikipedia IT · Almost Ginger