The mother of a childhood friend of mine, now in her 90s, still lives in our small hometown, Crema, near Milan. A few months ago, she started to tell us about a young, charming American actor named Tim who would pick her up in the mornings to have coffee in the piazza. My friend was worried and a little embarrassed. “My mother has a vivid imagination,” he told us. She resented that. “I’m not making things up!” she snapped.

She was right. Tim turned out to be Timothée Chalamet, the 22-year-old star of “Call Me by Your Name” and an Oscar nominee for best actor. The movie has been nominated in three other categories, too, including best picture. And it was filmed in and around Crema, where its director, Luca Guadagnino — originally from Palermo, Sicily — came to live a few years ago. The cast and crew set up camp here and stayed for some time.