Famous for making his locations as much part of his movies as his actors, what made director Woody Allen fall for Oviedo?

You would think the citizens of Oviedo might treat Woody Allen a litle more gently; after all, he gave their city its first taste of Hollywood. They did raise a statue in tribute to him on one of the main streets, but invariably, it ends up stripped on his signature boffin-style glasses. Although they're welded on, local fans keep stealing the glasses as souvenirs.

“Guys come with blowtorches at night and take the spectacles. I’ve been there when I’ve had half my glasses off!” said Allen, who continued: “It’s a good statue … I’ve got my sport jacket on and corduroy trousers.”

The director first visited Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, in 2002 to receive a prestigious Prince of Asturias Foundation Award from Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia (who was born in the city). Allen was so impressed by Oviedo then that he called it “a fairytale city”.

“Oviedo is a delicious, exotic, beautiful, clean, pleasant, tranquil and pedestrianised city. It is as if it did not belong to this world, as if it did not exist,” he is quoted as saying on the plaque beneath his statue.

Allen returned to use several locations in Oviedo and nearby Avilés as the setting for part of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, his 2008 film. The action kicks off when Juan Antonio, played by Javier Bardem, invites Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) to fly in his private plane to Oviedo to “see a wonderful piece of art”. He takes them to one of Spain's most important pre-Romanic ruins – the church of San Julian de los Prados, and then to Mount Naranco, the wooded hill overlooking the city, where he shows off another of Oviedo’s Romanesque gems, the church of Santa Maria del Naranco, originally a palace built in 842 for Asturian King Ramiro 1.

Read the full aricle in our August 2009 issue.