Intro

In the footsteps of Elio and Oliver from B to Cremona

… I decided to go to Italy, somewhere in northern Italy and be part of that world that has been painted by André Aciman in his novel, by Luca Guadagnino in his film and by Claude Monet in his works created throughout 1884 in a captivating little town somewhere in northern Italy. I brought my camera with me, however I am aware I am far from being as good a photographer as Aciman a novelist or Guadagnino a director. My goal was not to travel to all the filming locations of Guadagnino’s film, nor to find all the traces of Elio and Oliver in B. My goal was to live in that painting. Even for just days, hours, minutes. Because I knew, inside me it will last forever.

One will understand the importance of Monet in this story only after reading the book. Not only the fact that Monet’s painting inspired Aciman to conceive the set for his novel, but Monet’s berm, as Elio’s secret place up on the hill in B, and as a motif that meets us again at the end of the book on a faded postcard. Monet also transpires from Guadagnino’s yellow-blue-green film-painting.

I traveled to Cremona in Lombardy, rode the bike miles and miles, from one little town to the next, village after village. Then a month later I went back, this time to Liguria to the Italian Riviera to discover the gem, the praised little town from the book, B.

And suddenly I found myself in the amazing painting of Monet, Aciman and Guadagnino, all at the same time.

I met wonderful people everywhere and I cannot thank enough for their kindness, charm and helpfulness. I could not mention all of them here, but under this link you can see my special thanks to the most important few of them.

In my blog I told many stories (in Hungarian), a very detailed journal of my trips to Italy. Also saying about that morning at a table in the Bourgeois Pig in the nicely hidden Franklin Village down under the posh Hollywood Hills with my want-to-stay-anonymous(-but-very-famous) friend who guided me to find the original Monet’s painting I was eagerly looking for. About my trips to LA’s charming Westwood Village or to the Musée D’Orsay in Paris to actually see those original Monet paintings from 1884 painted in that enchanting town, somewhere in northern Italy.

While I was posting them, many people contacted me from all over the world to ask me to also write (at least) one English version. But I just can’t. I added Google Translate to the page, instead. It definitely won’t do a great job, I have to admit. Below my Hungarian speaking friends and all those who risk the Google Translate will find the links to those blog posts. But even if you won’t read the written stories, just listen to stories told by the these photos, here on this website.

I hope you will enjoy it!

Art

P.S.

The original blog posts in Hungarian, related to my trip in the footsteps of Elio and Oliver from Bordighera to Cremona:

Szólíts a neveden (Call Me By Your Name)

Amikor a Burzsuj Disznóban egy lórúgás mellett megkerül Monet (When at Bourgeois Pig Over a Horse Kick Monet Turns Up)

Szólíts a neveden, és én elmondom, hogyan kerül képbe Monet (Call Me By Your Name and I Will Tell You About Monet)

Elio és Oliver nyomában – valahol Észak-Olaszországban 1. (In the Footsteps of Elio and Oliver – Somewhere in Northern Italy 1)

Elio és Oliver nyomában – valahol Észak-Olaszországban 2. (In the Footsteps of Elio and Oliver – Somewhere in Northern Italy 2)

Elio és Oliver nyomában – valahol Észak-Olaszországban 3. (In the Footsteps of Elio and Oliver – Somewhere in Northern Italy 3)

Elio és Oliver nyomában – valahol Észak-Olaszországban 4. (In the Footsteps of Elio and Oliver – Somewhere in Northern Italy 4)

Elio és Oliver nyomában – valahol Észak-Olaszországban 5. (In the Footsteps of Elio and Oliver – Somewhere in Northern Italy 5)