The Gladiator fields, from the Pieve di Corsignano to Terrapille

The Elysian Fields of Gladiator, the wheat field with a dirt track winding between the ears, were filmed on the outskirts of Pienza. The dirt track starts at the Pieve di Corsignano, the Romanesque church below the village, and runs down between cereal fields to the Terrapille farm stay. You do it on foot, free and without a ticket: it is a country lane, not an enclosure.

What was filmed and what you see today

The wheat in the film is that of these hills, and the dirt track that crosses the Terrapille estate is the one you will walk. There are no signs or anything to recall the shoot, and the look changes with the year: green in spring, golden before the harvest, ploughed earth afterwards. Maximus's house is another place: it was filmed at the Poggio Manzuoli estate, beside the SP146 road between San Quirico d'Orcia and Pienza. It is private and cannot be visited, but from the gate you can see the double row of cypresses along the entrance drive.

Pienza also has its earlier film. In The English Patient, Piazza Pio II, the square of the Duomo, is the setting of the party for the end of the war, and the monastery of Sant'Anna in Camprena, on the outskirts, is the refuge where the protagonists hide.

The walk

1. The Pieve di Corsignano. Park in Pienza, not on the verge, and walk down to the church, on the outskirts of the village.
2. The track towards Terrapille. From the pieve, the dirt track heads away between the fields towards Terrapille. Walk as much of it as you like: you have the film's landscape from the start. Allow for some uphill on the way back and no shade.
3. The return. By the same route. Do not go into the fields or the farm stay's courtyard: the photo is taken from the track.

By car, complete the morning with the Poggio Manzuoli gate on the SP146. About 150 metres on, the dirt road to the chapel of the Madonna di Vitaleta leaves the road; it did not appear in the film but is one of the best-known images of the valley.