Hannibal the Cannibal is back on the big screen, busily ravaging Florence. Here are the places where his alter ego, Sir Hopkins, unwinds.
"I need to come out of retirement and come to public life," Hannibal Lecter forewarns in Hannibal, next month's long-awaited sequel to the Oscar-snatching The Silence of the Lambs. The city that Lecter selects for his retirement years is the capital of "nice Chianti" - Florence, Italy. Posing as Dr. Fell, curator of the grand Palazzo Capponi, Lecter quietly lives the good life in Florence until the trouble begins.

Last spring, Sir Anthony Hopkins, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his original performance as the cannibalistic psychiatrist, spent several months living and filming in the Italian commune. Hopkins and the cast and crew of the big-budget sequel, which includes Julianne Moore and Gary Oldman, became well-known temporary Florentines, constantly trailed by paparazzi. Although he spent more time in character than he did sightseeing, Hopkins says he "enjoyed the whole experience of being there." The experience represents one more total immersion into a role for the son of a baker, born on New Year's Eve 1937 in Port Talbot, Wales. At 17, he wandered into a YMCA amateur theater production and knew he'd found his place in the world. In 1965, he auditioned for Sir Laurence Olivier, then director of the Royal National Theater of Great Britain at the Old Vic, and eventually became understudy to the master. But it was Hopkins' work in more than 90 films, including The Lion in Winter, The Elephant Man, Howard's End, The Remains of the Day, and Nixon, that placed him among the ranks of the finest living actors.

Becoming an American citizen last year, Hopkins now lives full-time in Los Angeles. But when the cinema goes dark, he will once again be Hannibal - long gone mad in Florence. Here are the places where he raged.