The Godfather

Michael Corleone, the youngest son of the New York Mafia boss Vito Corleone, hides in Sicily after killing two men. Walking in the hills he falls for Apollonia, a village girl, and at this small bar he asks her father, the owner, for permission to court her. A real filming location: the bar still works and keeps photos and objects from the film.

Access · Working bar with tables outside; ordering a granita or a lemon drink is the way to sit there. Very busy with tour groups at midday. Check before you go.

Michael marries Apollonia here, and the whole village follows the couple in a procession down the steep street. A real filming location: the church stands on a rocky spur at the top of Savoca. Some guides call it Santa Lucia, after the saint whose statue it keeps.

Access · Working church with irregular opening times, especially out of season; the outside and the view are always free. Check before you go.

This 18th-century villa among lemon groves is the home of Don Tommasino, the old family friend who shelters Michael in Sicily. Here Michael teaches Apollonia to drive, and here a car bomb meant for him kills her. In Part II young Vito's family stays here, and in Part III the old Michael dies alone in its garden. A real filming location, used in all three films.

Access · Private property: visits only by reservation, often as part of a Godfather tour. Check before you go.

In Part III Michael's son Anthony makes his debut as an opera singer in Cavalleria rusticana, a Sicilian opera, while killers hunt Michael in the hall. As the family leaves, a bullet meant for Michael kills his daughter Mary on these great outside steps: the last tragedy of the saga. A real filming location for the steps and the front; the opera house was closed for restoration, so the inside was rebuilt in a studio.

Access · The steps are free to see at any time. The theatre has guided tours and performances. Check before you go.

The real Corleone, the family's home town inland near Palermo, looked too modern in the 1970s, so the hill village of Forza d'Agrò played it. In the first film Michael walks past this church with his two bodyguards; in Part II its steps and square are the Corleone that the boy Vito flees in 1901; in Part III Michael and his former wife Kay stop at a wedding here. A real filming location, standing in for Corleone.

Access · Working church; the square and the steps are free. Inside, respect services. Check before you go.

A small square at the top of Forza d'Agrò, reached through a Gothic stone arch. In Part II it is part of the Corleone of 1901, where the boy Vito's family is struck by the local boss, Don Ciccio. A real filming location, standing in for Corleone.

Access · Public square, free at any time; the church opens rarely. Check before you go.

In Part III the old Michael drives Kay to Corleone and shows her the small stone house where his father Vito was born. A real filming location: a private house in a lane of Forza d'Agrò, with a tile by the door showing the scene.

Access · Private home: look only from the lane, keep your voice down and do not knock.

In Part III Kay, Michael's former wife, arrives in Sicily for their son's opera debut and steps off the train here; in the film it is the station of Bagheria, a town near Palermo. A real filming location, standing in for Bagheria: a pretty early-1900s station by the sea.

Access · Working railway station, open to everyone; the bar inside is a nice stop. Check before you go.

A small village on a ridge above the Alcantara valley. In the first film Michael walks its lanes with his two bodyguards during his exile, and in Part II the boy Vito hides here from the men of Don Ciccio, the local boss who has killed his family, before he escapes to America. A real filming location, standing in for the Corleone countryside.

Access · Public streets, free at any time; a quiet village with few services. Check before you go.

A 19th-century villa built by the Whitakers, an English family of Marsala wine merchants, in a large garden. In Part III it plays the Corleones' villa in Bagheria, where the family stays and celebrates Anthony's opera debut. A real filming location, inside and out, standing in for Bagheria.

Access · Museum with an entrance fee; you may need to ring at the gate. Check before you go.

A 19th-century castle-style mansion in the town of Acireale. In Part III it is the home of Licio Lucchesi, a powerful politician who has betrayed Michael, and the place where he is killed. A real filming location; today it is a private residence.

Access · Private residence: seen only from the outside, from the square and the street.

In Part II the grown-up Vito, now rich in New York, returns by train to Corleone in the 1920s with his wife and children, and steps down at this little country station. A real filming location, standing in for Corleone station: a disused stop alone in the fields between Enna and Catania.

Access · Disused station in open country with no services; look from the outside and stay off the tracks. Check before you go.

A Greek temple of the 5th century BC standing alone on a green hill in western Sicily. In Part III the Corleones' cars drive past it on the road to Bagheria. A real filming location, seen in the background.

Access · Archaeological park with an entrance fee; little shade, so bring water and a hat. Check before you go.

A small medieval church at the edge of the hilltop town of Erice, with twin bells and a well in its courtyard. In Part III it is the entrance to the place where Michael, sick and tired of his crimes, goes to meet Cardinal Lamberto, a good priest who later hears his confession. A real filming location.

Access · Church open at irregular times; the outside is free. Erice is often in cloud, so bring a jacket. Check before you go.

In the first film Michael Corleone, the youngest son of the boss Vito, stands here as godfather at the baptism of his sister Connie's baby, while his men kill the heads of the rival families all over the city. Years later, in Part III, the old Michael receives a high honour from the Church in the same building. A real filming location for both films.

Access · Working church: the inside opens for Mass and at set times, and there are guided tours. Check before you go.

The office of Genco Olive Oil, the family business that covers Vito Corleone's real work. In the first film Vito steps out to buy oranges at the fruit stand across the street and two killers shoot him; he survives. A real filming location: the old name Mietz is still on the front, but the original shops are gone and today the ground floor holds Chinese markets.

Access · Public street; the ground floor is shops. The pavements are busy, so step aside for photos.

After Vito Corleone is shot, his youngest son Michael visits him in hospital at night and finds the guards gone. He moves his father to another room, then waits on the front steps with Enzo, the baker, pretending to be armed until the killers' car drives away. A real filming location: the hospital's own history says the crew used a ward on the fourth floor for the scenes inside; from the street you see the old building on Second Avenue. It is still a working hospital.

Access · A working hospital: see it from the street and do not go inside for photos.

In Part II we see the young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) around 1917, a poor Sicilian immigrant in the Italian quarter of New York. Here, during a street feast, he kills Don Fanucci, the local gangster who takes money from every shop, and starts his rise. A real filming location: this East Village block was dressed as the Little Italy of the 1910s, standing in for it.

Access · Public street, free at any time; the houses are private homes, so look from the pavement.

The Corleone family home in the first film, said to be on Long Island. The film opens here with the big wedding of Vito's daughter Connie, while the Godfather receives people asking for favours in his study. For filming, a false wall with a gate was built across the street. A real filming location, standing in for Long Island; today the house looks different and is a private home.

Access · Private home on a quiet dead end street: look only from the street, keep your voice down and do not ring.

In the first film Michael and his girlfriend Kay come out of a Christmas film here and see a newspaper headline: his father has been shot. A real filming location: the great Art Deco theatre looks almost as it did in the 1970s.

Access · Working theatre with shows and guided tours inside; the outside is free at any time. Check before you go.

In Louis' Restaurant, a small Italian place in the Bronx, Michael meets Sollozzo, the drug dealer who had his father shot, and McCluskey, a corrupt police captain. He takes a gun hidden in the bathroom and kills them both: the quiet son becomes part of the family business. A real filming location, but the restaurant (then the Old Luna) is long gone and today this is an ordinary shop front.

Access · Nothing of the restaurant is left: look from the street only.

After Vito Corleone dies in his garden, the family gathers here for his funeral, with the Manhattan skyline behind the tombs. During the burial one of Vito's old captains comes to Michael with an offer that reveals who will betray him. A real filming location: the cemetery is still in use, but the spot of the Corleone tomb is now an empty patch of grass.

Access · Working Catholic cemetery: keep to the paths and be quiet and respectful. Opening times vary. Check before you go.

At the end of the first film, while Michael is at the baptism, his men kill the heads of the rival families. Barzini, the most powerful of them, is shot on these wide steps by a killer dressed as a policeman. A real filming location: today the building is the New York State Supreme Court.

Access · Working courthouse: the steps and the square are public; inside only for court business, with security checks.

In the first film this is the hotel where Michael and Kay stay in New York. At the end, in the night of revenge, Clemenza, one of Vito's trusted captains, kills a rival in one of its lifts. A real filming location, still a luxury hotel.

Access · Working luxury hotel: the outside is free; the bar is open to non guests. Check before you go.

In Part III Joey Zasa, an ambitious gangster who wants Michael's old territory, is shot dead in the middle of an Italian street festival, among the stalls and the procession. A real filming location in Little Italy; sources do not say which block.

Access · Public street, free at any time.

In Part III Vincent, the hot headed son of Michael's late brother Sonny, and his cousin Mary, Michael's daughter, have a drink in this old Little Italy bar, then called Mare Chiaro. Their love is forbidden and will end badly. A real filming location: the bar has changed its name and still works; it also appears in The Sopranos.

Access · Working bar: order a drink to sit inside. Check before you go.

In Part III Michael tries to make the family legal by buying control of Immobiliare, a huge European property company linked to the Vatican, and the meeting about the deal was filmed in this grand 1907 building. A real filming location. Today it houses the National Museum of the American Indian.

Access · The museum is usually free, with a security check at the door. Check before you go.

In Part II Michael, now the boss, runs the family from a large estate on Lake Tahoe. The film opens there with the party for his son's First Communion; later killers fire into his bedroom, and on this lake his brother Fredo, who betrayed him, is killed in a fishing boat. A real filming location: Fleur du Lac, built in the 1930s for the industrialist Henry Kaiser, today a private gated estate of holiday homes.

Access · Private gated property: no visits. From the road you see only the gate; the best view is from the lake, on a boat trip or a hired boat. Check before you go.

In the first film Jack Woltz, a powerful Hollywood producer, refuses a film role to the singer Johnny Fontane, Vito Corleone's godson. Tom Hagen, the family lawyer, visits him at this grand estate, and the next morning Woltz wakes up with the head of his prize racehorse in his bed. A real filming location for the estate; some sources say the bedroom scene was filmed on Long Island. A private home.

Access · Private estate: seen only from the street. Do not stop at the gate. Check before you go.

In Part II Michael flies to Havana in 1958 to do business with Hyman Roth, an old gangster who is his partner and secretly his enemy, just before the revolution. Parts of the Havana hotel scenes were filmed in this 1950s hotel, and its balcony from the film is still there. A real filming location, standing in for Havana.

Access · Working hotel: the lobby and the bar are the easy way in. Check before you go.

In Part II the Cuban dictator Batista gives a New Year's Eve party at his palace in Havana and announces he is leaving the country as the rebels win. At that party Michael kisses his brother Fredo and tells him he knows Fredo betrayed him. The Dominican presidential palace was used for these scenes: a real filming location, standing in for Havana.

Access · Seat of the Dominican government: see it from the street; inside only on occasional guided visits. Check before you go.

In Part II, at a Havana nightclub show, Fredo lets slip that he knows Johnny Ola, Roth's right hand man: Michael understands that his brother betrayed him. The cabaret was filmed in this 1950s theatre: a real filming location, standing in for Havana. Today it is abandoned and the government plans to restore it.

Access · Abandoned building: look only from outside and do not go in. Check before you go.

In Part II the front of the Dominican National Library, a modern building of the early 1970s, was filmed as the outside of the American embassy in Havana. A real filming location, standing in for Havana.

Access · Public library on a public square; the square is free to walk. Check before you go.

At the start of Part II, in 1901, nine-year-old Vito Andolini reaches New York alone, after his family is killed in Sicily. At Ellis Island, the immigration station, an officer writes down the name of his village as his surname: he becomes Vito Corleone, and because he has smallpox he is kept in quarantine. A real filming location: the hall where the immigrants queue was recreated inside the old fish market of Trieste, built in 1913 on the seafront and today the Salone degli Incanti, an exhibition hall.

Access · An exhibition hall: inside only during exhibitions and events, with hours and tickets that change with each show. The front on the seafront is always visible. Check before you go.