 Filming began on 3 May 1982 and took ten weeks. shot mostly on location in Rome . Kim Newman described the Rome of Tenebrae as unlike the one usually shown on television and in films , with none of the usual historical landmarks . Newman and Alan Jones agreed that this was a deliberate choice made by Argento , as some of his previous films had utilised so much of recognisable Italy . Argento himself said he had wanted to show Italy was not just a museum piece ; Newman said it was Argento 's way of saying , " Rome is a vibrant city . It is modern . " Most of Tenebrae 's location shooting was carried out in Rome 's EUR business and residential district . The first flashback scene was filmed at the Capocotta beach , south of the city near Ostia . The shoplifting scene near the beginning of Tenebrae was filmed on location at department store La Rinascente , off Piazza Fiume . Bullmer 's death in a public square was shot at a shopping precinct called " Le Terrazze " in Rome 's Casal Palocco residential neighbourhood . The scene in which Neal 's landlord 's daughter is killed was filmed outside the home of architect – and friend of Argento – Sandro Petti , switching to studio shots for her initial entrance into the house and back to Petti 's house for the confrontation with the killer . The scene at the beginning of the film where Neal boards his flight to Rome was filmed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York . 
