We love traveling in Italy. Back home, our interest led us to RAI and the terrific shows they produce, and launched our immersion in MHz Choice on Amazon Prime. The first Italian shows we watched were wrapped in beautiful scenics, had great music and excellent actors. Detective Montalbano, based on the mystery novels by Andrea Camilleri, got us started. We enjoyed the novels and liked Camilleri’s personal story. He worked as a screenwriter and RAI producer writing books on the side. He published the first of many Montalbano books when he was 68. They’re set in Sicily and the books and subsequent series became international hits.
Detective Montalbano
Luca Zingaretti plays Inspector Salvo Montalbano, a detective and police chief who rarely misses a good meal, even in the middle of a complicated investigation. He begins each day with a swim in the Mediterranean and has breakfast on his terrace overlooking the sea. The interesting, twisty, police procedurals unveil life in small Sicilian towns as Montalbano’s squad, a mix of comic and serious characters, fight criminals and corruption. His best friend, Mimi Auguello (Cesare Bocci), is a handsome womanizer who inevitably develops the wrong theories. Inspector Giuseppe Fazio (Peppino Mazzotta), a literalist, reads from his notebook every detail of a crime to an impatient Montalbano. Agente Caterella (Angelo Russo) stumbles in out of Montalbano’s office but seems to be a tech whiz. Several actors have played Montalbano’s long-distance love interest, Livia, who drops in now and then from Genoa. The beautiful settings around Ragusa, as the fictional town of Vigata, and other parts of Sicily add to the pleasure of watching.
The Young Montalbano
The prequel to Inspector Montalbano is almost better than the original. Michele Riondino plays the newly arrived Vigata police chief and it’s fun to watch his eccentricities develop. Food, crime and beautiful scenery dominate this series, too.
Imma Tataranni
This police procedural set in Matera, in the south of Italy between Apulia and Calabria, has the same vibe as the Montalbano stories. But Imma Tataranni, a deputy public prosecutor played by Vanessa Scalera, has a complicated life. Her devoted husband Pietro De Ruggeri (Massimiliano Gallo) tries to ease her stress. Her teenage daughter Valentina (Alice Azzariti) adds to it. So do her mother, who suffers from dementia, and her mother-in-law, who hates her. The brilliant Imma wears short skirts and high heels no matter how inappropriate, has a great memory and manages against the odds, including opposition from her boss, to solve crimes. A young Carabinieri corporal, Ipazzio Calogiuiri (Alessio Lapice), adds sexual tension as her loyal partner with a secret crush. The series puts you in beautiful locations in the Basilicata region and that, too, adds to the viewing pleasure.
Murders at Barlume
Massimo Viviani (Filippo Timi) runs a bar on the coast of Tuscany. It’s the local for a band of quirky oldsters and they, like Massimo, enjoy the puzzles he plunges into now that he’s divorced. When the puzzles include murder Massimo follows the clues as the regulars urge him on and contribute their own zany theories. The mix of mystery and comedy on MHz totals ten episodes over two seasons.
Lampedusa
An MHz series of just two episodes, Lampedusa is set on the Italian island of the same name in the southern Mediterranean near the coast of Tunisia. Commander Serra (Claudio Amendola) arrives on the island to captain an Italian coast guard ship patrolling for refugees fleeing Africa for Europe. They’re packed into overflowing boats and inflatable rafts run by human trackers and Serra’s mission is to save lives and get the refugees to a center on Lampedusa. It’s a sympathetic look at the crisis that shows the refugees as people with hopes and dreams we recognize.
Bulletproof Heart
Bruno Palmieri (Gigi Proietti) is an investigative journalist nearing retirement. But he thinks he’s been living too cautiously, the result of a bullet lodged in his heart from a shooting thirty years ago. Now he wants to eat without counting calories and enjoy a glass of wine or two without worrying about his health. Above all he wants to chase the kinds of stories that make front-page news and solve mysteries, and doesn’t care that danger is involved. He has an enabler in his photographer friend Fiocchi (Marco Marzotta). The MHz series, set in beautiful Rome, has ten episodes over three seasons
Fog and Crimes
This serious police procedural is the polar opposite of the lighter Italian mysteries. Set in Ferrara where it always seems misty and cold, the police chief Franco Soneri seems equally moody. Played by Luca Barbareschi, the detective is an appealing character and you believe him as he digs into murder, corruption, sex offenses and everything bad that can happen in the Po Valley. He has a tangled relationship with Ukrainian lawyer Angela Corneila. played by Natasha Stefanenko, who sometimes represents people he’s investigating. It runs for two seasons with a total of ten episodes.
Nero Wolfe
This series transplants detective Nero Wolfe, the Rex Stout character, from his Manhattan townhouse on West 35th Street to Rome. The brilliant detective was asked to leave the United States because, the story tells us, the FBI felt threatened by his talent. Stout, played by Tino Buazelli, still doesn’t leave his home, his orchids, or the elaborate meals prepared by his chef. But he does respond to pleas for crime-solving help and sends his sidekick Archie Goodwin, played by Paolo Ferrari, out to investigate for him. The stories are charming, and the 1950’s period clothing and scenic Rome make it fun for the eight episodes that it runs over one season.
