Luca location guide: Is Portorosso a real place?
The latest Pixar flick takes place in a town on the Italian Riviera.
Pixar's latest flick arrives on Disney Plus today, telling the story of a pair of sea-monsters-turned-human-boys who arrive in an Italian Riviera town with dreams of getting their hands on a Vespa.
Luca makes brilliant use of some brand new animation techniques to bring the stunning town of Portorosso to life, and it will undoubtedly lead many viewers to instantly fantasise about spending a long summer holiday in sunny Italy – complete with blue skies, sea and copious amounts of ice cream.
But is Portorosso a real place? Read on for everything you need to know.
Is Portorosso a real place?
As beautiful as Portorosso looks, unfortunately you won't be able to book a holiday there any time soon – as the town has been created specifically for the movie. (Although an advertisement for Portorosso can be spotted in a travel agency window in Pixar's previous film, Soul.)
That said, there are several features of the town that are very much in keeping with real towns on the Italian Riviera, with director Enrico Casarosa having been inspired by towns he visited when he was growing up in Italy.
In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, Casarosa revealed: "It was really a wish to capture small town Italy. The charm of the characters, this life lived on the square on the Piazza, all the usual suspects and how there's this wonderful sense of community.
"It's almost like a beautiful, theatrical Square, right?" he added. "The squares are like a theatre piece, and we thought about them that way. And there are little vignettes. And so we wanted to lovingly portray all the things that make that Italian small town in the summer: the laundry, the watermelon eating, the espresso, the ladies peeling some string beans or snapping some string beans and gossiping, and blue collar, working class people too.
"The Cinque Terre which really inspired it and my memories of all the little towns in Liguria, they're hard-working. What I appreciate is that the land is so beautiful and specific, but it's very difficult. So terracing, walls are something that for centuries working people have been part of this land.
Read more: Meet the voice cast of Luca - from Jacob Tremblay to Sacha Baron Cohen
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"So between fishing and vineyards and olive trees, you know, there's a lot of work. So that was something I wanted to capture, the pride of Italian food and work and community."
Sadly, if you were inspired to compete in the Portorosso Cup (a race that involves swimming, pasta eating, and cycling) having watched the film, you're out of luck – as no such competition exists in the real world, at least not yet.
But there are plenty of pasta-eating contests you can sign up to in the meantime..
Luca arrives on Disney Plus on Friday 18th June. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now. Looking for something else to watch on Disney Plus? Check out our best Disney Plus movies guide or best Disney Plus series guide. For what’s on TV tonight check out our TV Guide.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
