Few films capture the feeling of summer as vividly as Call Me by Your Name. The film tells the story of a boy's first love after meeting his father's research assistant during one unforgettable summer. In the countryside of northern Italy, Elio and Oliver spend six weeks together in a secluded villa, surrounded by lush landscapes and quiet intimacy—six weeks that neither of them will ever forget.
While André Aciman's original novel is set in a coastal town in Italy, director Luca Guadagnino relocated the film's primary setting to the inland town of Crema in Lombardy, near where he lives.
Elio's Place
Elio first meets Oliver at his family's summer villa, where they stay only during the summer and Christmas holidays. As Elio's father later says, they were fortunate enough to recognize each other. Yet despite that connection, neither of them can bring themselves to reveal their feelings. Instead, they circle around each other, letting time slip away.
After finally confessing their feelings in the piazza, they ride their bicycles deep into the countryside until they arrive at a hidden spring. Even in the height of summer, the water is almost freezing, fed by streams descending from the Alps. It is also a place that belongs only to Elio.
When Elio insists that this is his place and says he has spent countless hours reading books there, the moment reveals something deeper. By bringing Oliver here, he is quietly choosing to let him into the most private part of his world.
The Hidden Spring: Fontanile
The secluded spring where Elio and Oliver first touch each other and quietly acknowledge their love is, in fact, an artificial spring known as a fontanile.
In the film, Elio says that the water comes directly from the Orobie Alps. That is only partly true. A fontanile is a man-made spring basin built to collect naturally emerging groundwater that would otherwise flood the plains. By channeling and draining this water, the surrounding land could be reclaimed and made suitable for agriculture.
Today, Fontanile Quarantina no longer serves much of its original agricultural purpose. Instead, it has become a protected ecological site, a filming location, and a destination for nature lovers. Many fans of Call Me by Your Name continue to visit it as a kind of pilgrimage to one of the film's most memorable locations.
Source: Wikimedia Commons (Photo by Mannivu / CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Temperature of Emotion
Water appears throughout Call Me by Your Name, perfectly matching its midsummer setting. Swimming pools, springs, lakes, and waterfalls are more than beautiful scenery—they accompany every turning point in Elio and Oliver's relationship.
Water is there when Elio secretly watches Oliver, when they confess their feelings, when they wake after spending the night together, and even during their final journey before saying goodbye. Like their emotions, it is sometimes calm and expansive, and at other times loud and overwhelming, expressing what words cannot.
The water of a fontanile is remarkably clear and remains at a steady temperature of around 10°C–16°C throughout the year, with annual fluctuations rarely exceeding 5°C–6°C.
Perhaps Elio's feelings for Oliver are much the same. Despite the barriers of age, gender, and distance, the two share what Elio's father gently calls a "special friendship." Whether beneath the languid heat of midsummer or the quiet snowfall of winter, it feels as though that affection will remain unchanged.