In the first season of Game of Thrones, the famous television series inspired by the series of fantasy novels "A Song of Ice and Fire", distributed by HBO and at the moment arrived in Italy only on Sky with the name "Game of Thrones", he had chosen Malta to shoot the city scenes of King's Landing (Kings Landing in original language). Due to some incidents related to the damage to a protected area by a production partner, it was necessary to change the set for the shooting, choosing as reference the Croatian city of Dubrovnik, the ancient Ragusa, the Pearl of the Adriatic, endangered by the Yugoslav war but restored to its former glory in the last 15 years, also thanks to the support of Unesco which included it in the World Heritage List.
With a base like the Old Town of Dubrovnik, no special scenographic arrangements or special effects were necessary to reproduce the fortified port city of King's Landing, the stronghold of the Lannister family. The shots take great advantage of the large external walls, which certainly seem more "from film" than real fortifications built over time by human hands, as well as the narrow streets of the old City, where several scenes take place during the episodes.
Particularly the protagonist is then the city during the siege that concludes the second series, in which the Lannisters are called to defend King's Landing tooth and nail. It is a siege that arrives from the sea, with imposing ships that they head towards the port, and then disembark the troops to take the city-fortress by land, clashing in a tough battle with the city handle led by Tyrion Lannister.
For those who have seen the series and are passionate about it, a visit to Dubrovnik can turn into a splendid déjà vu, due to the way in which the setting of the series has been well integrated into the city set that hosted it. For those unfamiliar with it, they could go and see it to understand how much it is worth do not miss such a pearl, which shines in front of our peninsula beyond the Adriatic.
In addition to Old Town of Dubrovnik, also the facing and fascinating island of Lokrum, which is part of the city complex, was chosen for some shots. The thousand-year-old Benedictine monastery was in fact the set of some of the scenes that took place in the city of Qarth.
