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‘The Godfather’ descended on a tiny Sicilian village, and it’s never been the same

  • More than 50 years after The Godfather filmed in Savoca, the tiny Sicilian village remains a top tourist destination, with daytrippers flocking to sites like Bar Vitelli throughout peak season.
  • Director Francis Ford Coppola transformed the isolated village in 1971 by casting locals as extras for the wedding sequence featuring Michael Corleone and Apollonia Vitelli.
  • Enza Trimarchi, now 76, recalls the filming as transformative for a town lacking running water, earning 100,000 lire, roughly $165, for her cameo appearance.
  • Bar Vitelli, housed in a 15th-century building, has become the village's main tourist stop, though peak season crowds force owners to restrict access during peak times.
  • Researcher Coglitore has tracked down 40 Sicilians who appeared as extras, collecting archival photos for an upcoming book, The Godfather in Savoca, to preserve the film's legacy.
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By Silvia Marchetti, CNN. When Francis Ford Coppola cast Enza Trimarchi as an extra in "The Godfather" in 1971, the 22-year-old seamstress had no idea she was participating in something that would change her hometown and define it for decades. Trimarchi appeared in a key Sicilian scene: the wedding of aspiring mafia boss Michael Corleone and Apollonia Vitelli, filmed in the hilltop village of Savoca. For her, the arrival of Coppola and the film'…

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KIFI broke the news in Idaho Falls, United States on Monday, April 20, 2026.
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