If you’re enjoying Nord Sud Ovest Est – The Legendary Story of 883, you’re in good company. The first two episodes recorded a 14% rise in viewership compared to the launch of They Killed the Spider-Man (already among Sky Original titles the most watched of all time), establishing the new chapter as the best serial debut of the last five years on Sky. Now, unless you already live there, you might also feel like taking a trip to Pavia to uncover the places indelibly linked to the exploits of the mythical musical duo made up of Max Pezzali and Mauro Repetto and those—sometimes a bit different due to organizational needs—visited by the series. Whether you arrived here out of pure curiosity or because you’re seriously considering organizing a getaway, here is everything you need to know about where the series created by Sydney Sibilia was filmed and other curiosities and details you perhaps didn’t expect.
Nord Sud Ovest Est: from Pavia to Another America, here are the shooting locations of the TV series
Available exclusively on Sky and streaming only on NOW every Friday with a new episode, Nord Sud Ovest Est continues the story of the 883, focusing on the events that led to the realization of the group’s eponymous, second and final album and to its subsequent breakup. In this second season, Pavia, the hometown of Max and Mauro, remains a cardinal point for the two protagonists played by Elia Nuzzolo and Matteo Oscar Giuggioli; something their manager/guardian Pierpaolo (Edoardo Ferrario) struggles to understand but goes along with in a way that is very entertaining for us viewers (the scene of the tavern basement transformed into a recording studio is just the beginning!). However, success inevitably ends up taking them elsewhere, even far away, such as the fashion-forward Milan and the America they dreamed of as kids.
The real filming locations, however, do not always coincide with the places depicted in the story: some settings were reconstructed in other cities. Pavia, obviously, is the heart of the 883’s story. Among the recognizable places are the Covered Bridge, the banks of the Ticino, the Borgo Ticino district, and the alleys of the historic center. In Vicolo Novaria lies the true brick-faced house of Max Pezzali, where in the tavern basement some of the remarkable 883 songs were born. In the series, however, you see a house that actually sits in Rome, in the Boccea area. It is only thanks to the framing and post-production effects that it appears to be in Borgo Ticino, in the Lombard city. The Jolly Blue, the arcade that hosts afternoons and gives the title to a song from the first album, no longer exists. It used to be on Viale Vittorio Emanuele II, where a nearby hotel now houses a venue; in the series it has been rebuilt in a place not precisely specified between the capital and other municipalities in Lazio.
In fact, Rome was the main base for filming the second season, where production paused for more than one hundred days. Many interiors were adapted to recreate the world of discography, television, and show business of the nineties. Milan was especially important for the first season, whose shooting involved the Central Station and the Alcatraz nightclub, transformed into the legendary Rolling Stone venue. Turin, on the other hand, was reached for the second season, leveraging its city center and its elegant architectures to recreate the atmosphere of the great Italian cities of that era. The biggest production challenge, however, was to scenographically narrate the journey of Max, Mauro, and their entourage to America, precisely the Los Angeles area, for the video shoot of Nord Sud Ovest Est, which, as Claudio Cecchetto (Roberto Zibetti) and Repetto wished, had to be memorable. Something the series brings to the screen in the second part of the season. The crew did not actually reach the United States but the closest and most accessible Spain.
The arid landscapes of Almería, in Andalusia, and the Spanish desert were used to recreate the journey of Max and Mauro and the Western-inspired imagery of the Nord Sud Ovest Est videoclip. Its dusty streets and open spaces recall the American West and the California desert of the original video. And in that area the production sourced a red Cadillac, the car used in the videoclip. For the shoots, Torremolinos, a seaside town in southern Spain, was also reached, a nod to the summery atmospheres described in 883’s music. For some shots of the endless roads, the Italian territory was also used, in the Tuscia region, near Montalto di Castro, along roads such as the Provinciale delle Quattro Dogane. The open and barren landscape helped evoke the great roads of the United States. The vibe of 1990s LA music scene, including the famous Viper Room, the venue tied to the city’s rock scene, was recreated by constructing the necessary spaces specifically for the series.
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