Ferzan Özpetek was born in Istanbul in 1959. His family belongs to the “medium class” and his mother is related to two pashas. When the moment came to choose the College, Özpetek, supported by his mother, went against his father who wanted him to study in America, and obtained to study in Rome. In 1976 he started studying History of the cinema at La Sapienza university. He accomplished his studies attending masters on Costume and Art History at Navona Academy, and training on direction techniques at Silvio D’Amico Academy of Dramatic Art. After experiencing the Living Theatre by Julian Beck, he approached the world of cinema starting to cooperate with Massimo Troisi, Maurizio Ponzi, Ricky Tognazzi, Sergio Citti, and Francesco Nuti as assistant director. He made his debut as a director with his film Il bagno turco (Hamam) in 1997, achieving a great critical and audience success. Two years later he made Harem Suare, a troubled love story set during the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

In 2001 he directed Le fate ignoranti, starring Margherita Buy and Stefano Accorsi, a bittersweet comedy telling about friendship and homosexuality. The film won numerous prizes, among them 3 golden Globes and 4 Silver Ribbons. In 2003 the film La finestra di fronte was released, starring famous actors such as Massimo Girotti at his last performance. The film received various prizes including 5 David di Donatello. In 2005, Barbora Bobul’ová won David di Donatello as best leading actress in Cuore sacro and in 2007 Saturno contro, marked the director’s wish to get back to talk about love and betrayals, receiving 4 Silver Ribbons.

The next year, Ozpetek took part in the 65th Venice International Film Festival with the film Un giorno perfetto, based on the homonymous novel by Melania Mazzucco, which had a great success among the public. In 2009 Mine vaganti, a comedy telling the adventures of a family from Lecce, was released. In 2012, Ozpetek was back to Rome to shoot the film Magnifica Presenza, where once again he dealed with the theme of diversity suspended between reality and imagination. After experiencing the theatre as a director with Aida and La Traviata, in 2013 he pub­lished his first autobiography Rosso Istambul, upon which the homonymous film, which he directed in 2017, is based. In 2014, he went back to Puglia to shoot his tenth film Allacciate le cinture and payed a tribute to Naples with the film Napoli velata. In 2019, La dea fortuna was released, an intense story set between Rome and Sicily.

Ozpetek lives in Rome, in Ostiense district that he has used as a set for his films several times.

Taken from FB account: ferzanozpetek

Download here the full itinerary

City center

Borgo Santo Spirito
Cuore sacro (2004)
Father Carras (Massimo Poggio) accompanies Irene (Barbora Bobul’ová) to a private audience with the bishop in a historic building. It is the Palazzo del Commendatore, whose large internalcourtyard is decorated with paintings. We are in Borgo, a few steps from Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Via Giulia
Un giorno perfetto (2008)
At number 66 is the elegant Palazzo Sacchetti. Here, the birthday party of Politician Fioravanti’s (Valerio Binasco) daughter takes place.

Piazza Farnese
Saturno contro (2007)
Lorenzo (Luca Argentero), together with Roberta (Ambra Angiolini) and a technician, is inaugurating a building while Davide (Pier Francesco Favino) observes them. Behind them you can see the church of Santa Brigida and one of the two fountains that decorate the square.

Teatro Valle
Magnifica presenza (2012)
In several flashback moments of the film you can see the inside of a theatre. This is Valle Theatre, the oldest modern theatre in Rome. It is also the set for the last sequence of the film when the company finally manages to stage its show.In diversi momenti di flashback del film si vede l’interno di un teatro. 

Piazza di Sant’Andrea della Valle
Un giorno perfetto (2008)
The apartment where the Politician Fioravanti (Valerio Binasco) lives is located on the top floor of the former INA building (National Insurance Institute). The spectacular view of the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle from the building’s loggia is shot in several scenes.

Via dei Bergamaschi
Saturno contro (2007)
In this street, in Rione Colonna, a few steps from Chigi and Montecitorio Palaces, there is the flower shop where Laura (Isabella Ferrari) works. 

Via del Corso
Saturno contro (2007)
One of the protagonists, Antonio (Stefano Accorsi), works in a bank in the city centre. You can recognize the large door adorned by columns at number 307.

Piazza di San Marcello
Saturno contro (2007)
Lorenzo (Luca Argentero) is talking on the phone with Angelica (Margherita Buy). Behind him is the church of San Marcello al Corso. 

Via di Monte Caprino
La finestra di fronte (2003)
During the Nazi-fascist occupation of Rome, Davide Veroli (Massimo Girotti) and his male lover, both juish and homosexual, leave secret messages and love letters near the monumental fountain in the small garden located on Campidoglio hill. The garden, overlooking the wonderful archaeological site Teatro di Marcello, is the set for several scenes, including the final scene when Giovanna (Mezzogiorno) turns to Davide in thought and remembers Lorenzo, both far from her life, now. 

Piazza Mattei
La finestra di fronte (2003)
Giovanna (Mezzogiorno) and Lorenzo (Raul Bova) sit at the table of a bar for a coffee. We are in Piazza Mattei, in Rome’s ancient Ghetto, where the iconic Turtle Fountain can be recognized. .

Monti

Via del Colosseo
Cuore sacro (2004)
Palazzo Rivaldi is the ancient family building, inside which the mother of the protagonist Irene Ravelli (Barbora Bobul’ová) died in mysterious circumstances and which Irene has decided to rent out. The door of this building is recognizable in several sequences, while the interior has been rebuilt in the famous Theatre n. 5 in Cinecittà.

Via dei Serpenti
Cuore sacro (2004)
The little thief Benny (Dugay Comencini) goes in a bookshop to steal a little present for Irene (Barbora Bobul’ová). The shop is located on the corner of via Cavour and via dei Serpenti; you can see the Colosseum in the background.

Via Urbana
Cuore sacro (2004)
Irene (Barbora Bobul’ová) goes to Father Carras’ parish church, to find out about Benny, the little thief. The scene is always set in Rione Monti, inside the church of San Lorenzo in Fonte in via Urbana, 50, the altar and the sculpture of the angel of which can be recognized. 

Testaccio and Trastevere

Ponte Sisto
La finestra di fronte (2003)
While walking and stabbing, on this characteristic Renaissance bridge, Giovanna (Mezzogiorno) and her husband Filippo (Nigro) meet Davide (Massimo Girotti) for the first time.

Piazza in Piscinula
La finestra di fronte (2003)
In this less known area of Trastevere, where Rome’s first Jewish quarter was built in ancient times, the house of the old Davide (Massimo Girotti) is located.

Tiber Island
Un giorno perfetto (2008)
Near the bridge Palatino, on the Lungotevere degli Anguillara, the young Aris Fioravanti (Federico Costantini) is drawing the profile of the Tiber Island. Silvana (Angela Finocchiaro) approaches intrigued.

Piazza dell’Emporio
La finestra di fronte (2003) 
The bar where Giovanna (Mezzogiorno) brings her sweets and where she meets Lorenzo (Raul Bova) is located on the corner of the square. They leave the restaurant to look for Davide and find him sitting on the steps of the Fontana delle Anfore, symbol of the district. Today the monumental fountain is no longer here but in the nearby Piazza Testaccio. 

Viale della Piramide Cestia
Le fate ignoranti (2001)
Antonia (Margherita Buy) and Michele (Stefano Accorsi) sit down on a bench having an ice cream. Behind them we can recognize the original facade of the Palazzo delle Poste, designed by the architects Libera and De Renzi and inaugurated in 1935.

Ostiense

Via del Porto Fluviale
Le fate ignoranti (2001)
At number 35 is the building where Michele (Stefano Accorsi) and his motley crew of friends and residents live. In several sequences it is possible to recognize the large internal staircase of the building. 

Gazometro
Le fate ignoranti (2001)
The terrace of Michele’s apartment (Stefano Accorsi), shot in different sequences of the film, is characterized by the iconic presence of the Gazometro, built in the 1930s and subsequently abandoned. An example of industrial archaeology, it is now the symbol of the district.

Ponte dell’Industria
Le fate ignoranti (2001)
After her husband’s death and after discovering he had a male lover, Michele, Antonia (Margherita Buy) is invited to a party with all his friends on a boat on the Tiber. We are near the so-called ‘iron bridge’, built in the mid-nineteenth century to join the railway line between Termini and Civitavecchia. Later, always along Riva Ostiense, Antonia finds her friend lost in the rain (Gabriel Garko).

Via Ostiense
Saturno contro (2007)
The apartment where Davide (Pier Francesco Favino) and Lorenzo (Luca Argentero) live together is at number 58.
Magnifica presenza (2012)
The pastry shop where Pietro (Elio Germano) works as a pastry chef and waiter, is at number 54.
Un giorno perfetto (2008)
The place where Aris Fioravanti (Federico Costantini) goes to live away from his father, is inside the Ex Mercati Generali, a huge complex that has been abandoned for years.
La dea fortuna (2019)
The eclectic house of the painter Michele is located along Riva Ostiense, overlooking the Tiber, on the opposite side of the India Theatre. Cultural events, exhibitions and shows always take place in these restored industrial spaces. 

Centrale Montemartini
Le fate ignoranti (2001)
In the first sequence of the film, Antonia (Margherita Buy) walks among ancient statues and industrial machinery in the rooms of the Centrale Montemartini Museum; here she pretends to meet a stranger who is actually her husband. 

Monteverde

Villa Doria Pamphilj 
La Dea fortuna (2019)
Villa Pamphilj, one of the city parks the Romans love most, is the set for the picnic among friends on the occasion of the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul, patrons of Rome. This park is enriched with fountains, historic buildings, gardens and a small lake as well as foot and bicycle lanes. 

Via di Donna Olimpia
La finestra di fronte (2003)
The building where Giovanna (Mezzogiorno) lives with her husband, Filippo (Nigro) and their children, is located in Gianicolense district, better known as ‘Monteverde’, in via di Donna Olimpia, 30. It is part of the same complex called ‘skyscrapers’ by Pasolini, in his novel Ragazzi di vita.
Magnifica presenza (2012)
The apartment of Livia Morosini (Anna Proclemer) is also located in the building at n. 30. She is one of the actresses of the old ‘Apollonio Company’, to whom Pietro (Elio Germano) addresses to get informed. 

Via Guido Cavalcanti
Magnifica presenza (2012)
The main set for the film is a decaying liberty building, located at number 37, where the protagonist Pietro (Elio Germano) goes to live and comes into contact with otherworldly presences.