Can This Love Be Translated? (이 사랑 통역 되나요?) is a series that aired on Netflix on January 16, 2026, written by the Hong sisters and directed by Yoo Young-eun. It tells about the troubled love story between Joo Ho-jin (Kim Seon-ho), a fluent multilingual interpreter, and the initially little-known actress Cha Mu-hee (Go Youn-jung), who wakes up after an accident on set and discovers that she has become very popular and recognized all over the world. The two meet by chance in Japan while both are traveling to clarify their past relationships, and this encounter leads them to meet again and again, by chance or fate, many times in the future, until they begin working together on a television program: “Romantic Trip”, where Cha Mu-hee, a contestant on this romantic reality show, uses Joo Ho-jin's translations to understand her Japanese partner.
Since the reality show the actress and her Japanese co-star Hiro Kurosawa (Sota Fukushi) are on is a romantic travel format, the two visit several locations, including Italy. Toward the final episodes, the protagonists find themselves in Italy, where the romantic locations provide the backdrop for some of the most romantic moments between Cha Mu-hee and Joo Ho-jin, creating a magical frame for a relationship that finally finds its expression. This series has chosen some rather original locations to film its scenes; in fact, in addition to Rome, which can be seen in other Korean productions, other key scenes are shot in Perugia, Siena, Civita di Bagnoregio, Florence, and Montalcino.
The majesty of the Italian locations is evident from the very first scene of the series, filmed in the cliff-top village of Civita di Bagnoregio in Italy, known as "the dying city," a city in Lazio accessible only by a long, steep pedestrian bridge. It's a timeless, fairytale-like landscape, fitting for a love story as complex and romantic as that of the two protagonists. The bridge almost seems like a symbol for these two characters who most of the time don't meet in person, but hear each other through headphones as he translates the Japanese actor's words for Cha Mu-hee, thus creating a sort of three-way love that complicates their relationship, forcing Joo Ho-jin to translate words of love and desire that probably feel more his than he thought. In a series that relies heavily on communication and the impossibility of communication, both emotionally and literally, as the two contestants are a Korean actress and a Japanese actor, filming the series abroad in a city where neither speaks the same language is certainly an interesting choice. Joo Ho-jin thus becomes the only possibility of connection between the Italian, Japanese, and Korean languages, and finds himself caught in this whirlwind of conversations, often translating even though he can't translate his feelings to the girl he cares about, but because of his work he is forced to translate the Japanese man's feelings instead of his own.
Before moving to Italy the troupe goes on a trip to Canada, where the story of the reality show begins. The scenes shoot in Florence actually became a bookstore location that in the series is set in Canada, namely the Giunti Odeon bookstore, located inside the historic cinema theatre, which offers a beautiful backdrop for the encounters of the characters who get lost, search for each other, and find each other again in this unique and magical place.
The most beloved scenes, as they are the most romantic because are the one which reveal the repressed feelings of the two protagonists, are undoubtedly those filmed in Piazza IV Novembre in Perugia, especially in front of the Palazzo dei Priori, and those in Piazza del Campo in Siena, where, against a beautiful sunset, the protagonists reveal their intimacy to each other in moving, emotional moments. What perhaps makes these scenes so intimate is also the decision to have almost no extras, deciding to shoot mainly at night and keeping the squares almost empty, to give the two characters the privacy the plot required. These Italian locations create a perfect aesthetically pleasing frame and have a unique, ancient, and very romantic atmosphere that allows the characters to finally declare their love.
The other scenes filmed in Italy come later, with episodes 9 and 10, where the film crew finally moves to Italy and shows us a collection of landscapes that aren't assigned a single location. Indeed, it almost seems as if cities like Perugia and Siena are somehow joined together to create a diverse Italian landscape. This choice, which might seem superficial at first glance, is actually a way of showing how Italy's diverse beauties manage to create a single frame within which a cohesive landscape is formed, even when filmed in different locations.
It's nice to see how beautiful locations have been chosen, but often those that aren't often found in mainstream media. This series has succeeded in highlighting and showing the world the beauty of these unique places in the heart of Italy, which will likely also benefit from increased tourism for fans of these Korean products, who may want to visit these stunning locations. It would be great to continue to see these lesser-known locations hit the world's screens, and this could be a great starting point for exploring these hidden gems.
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