Location Flashback: Summertime (1955) Campo San Barnaba – Venice, Italy

In this scene of Summertime while sightseeing during her dream Italian vacation, American Jane Hudson (Katherine Hepburn) shoots a home movie of the area, but takes one too many steps backward and ends up falling in the canal.

Campo San Barnaba is a campo in the Dorosoduro sestiere of Venice, Italy. The neighborhood’s church is the San Barnaba. It has been featured in numerous films, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where it served as the exterior to the library.

The film was shot on location in Venice in Technicolor in 1954. On a budget of $1.1 Billion. It was one of the first British-produced films to be shot entirely on location. A co-production between the United States, United Kingdom, and Italy, Summertime was released theatrically by United Artists in the U.S. on June 21, 1955, and premiered in the United Kingdom later that Autumn under the alternative title Summer Madness.

Premiered at Venice’s Palace Theatre on
May 29, 1955