Proud Aro/Ace

In recent weeks, some macabre discoveries made in the waters off Linosa, near the village of Pietra del Bagno, have caused quite a stir.

A number of fake skeletons and various props have been found on the seabed around the island. These are from the production of the film The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan, the Oscar-winning director of Oppenheimer, a film dedicated to the tragic figure of the man in charge of the Manhattan Project.

The skeletons, in particular, have caused worry among divers and swimmers who didn't know that some of the scenes of the movie had been shot on the island.

It's not the first time that the production of this movie stirs up a hornet's nest in Sicily. This past spring, some environmentalists accused the Wildside production of ruining some parts of Egadi, the other Sicilian archipelago in which some of the scenes are set. To ascertain whether any damage has occurred and, if so, the extent of it in these archipelagos, Giusi Savarino, the Councillor for Land and the Environment, decided a few days ago to carry out further inspections, in collaboration with ARPA Sicilia and on the basis of reports already submitted by the Port Capitancy, which had previously highlighted the failure to remove certain props from the seabed around these islands. To make it worse, Egadi and Aeolian Islands are part of some of the country’s most important marine protected areas and are amongst the archipelagos with the greatest tourist appeal in our country. “Along with the authorisation to shoot the film in our region,” explained Councillor Savarino in a statement, “we had also provided precise rules and guidelines to protect the environment of the areas involved in the filming. The discoveries of the last few days are a cause for serious concern and, for this reason, together with ARPA, we will take action to assess the potential impact of these materials on the habitat and marine species in this area of significant natural value.”

We are delighted to host international film projects and are always willing to support these productions, but no one should think they can take advantage of our generosity by showing a lack of respect for the beauty of our environment." There has been no response yet from Christopher Nolan, but it is a known fact that the director's intention was to film in Sicily to make his ‘Odyssey’ as faithful as possible to the literary work. Nolan had been planning to shoot this film in the Mediterranean for years and waited until he had obtained all the necessary permits to film at the various locations, which – in addition to Sicily – included Tunisia and some mountainous regions of Greece. Furthermore, it is not the director himself who is under fire, but once again the film production company Wildside, which collaborated with him during shooting in the Aeolian Islands in May. In Lipari, however, a team of divers is reportedly already working to clean up the seabed, precisely to defuse the controversy.