Il Commissario Ricciardi

I almost gave up on the first episode however I am glad I stuck with it. At first it seemed too twee and saccharine, a bit clichéd. However subsequent episodes have been unexpectedly quite hard hitting and complex. Interwoven is a bittersweet love story, and Naples looks great, with Vesuvius as a dramatic backdrop. The characters are likeable too, and interesting, particularly Bruno and Garzo. I like the elements relating to Mussolini too. All in all a really good detective show. Inspector Montalbano is still my favourite, but I am really looking forward to the second series of this. I recommend this.

The scenery, the acting, the plots- everything is at its best. One of the most beautiful series I have ever seen. From the first episode I was captivated by Ricciardi. His longings, his sorrows, his flair: all are splendidly conveyed.

The side characters are also pleasant, well drawn. Very much enjoyed the dialogues, full of humor but also sensibility. I felt immersed in the story, as if I were on the streets of Naples myself. The first season is a masterpiece, but the second season is also very good: the ending is perfect as it is.

If I had to sum it up to one word that describes this series for me, it would be emotion. Pure, genuine emotion. A feast for the eyes and for the soul.

I am a lover of multi layered tv series and Inspector Ricciardi delivers that in spades. This is a detective series set in Naples in the 1930s. It has the supernatural in the shape of our hero who is cursed with hearing the voices of the dead, but that helps him to solve his crimes. His sidekick is an overweight police sergeant, who turns out to have a heart of gold and a great source of informants. Each episode is a stand alone mystery to be solved, but we also experience the emotional lives of our two main protagonists as they try to achieve happiness in their personal lives. This thread alone has a number of twists and turns. As might be expected from an Italian series, a lot of the female leads are beautiful.

Add to this that the series takes place in the rise of fascism in Italy, with shadowy characters never far away from the narrative.

It's a great series. Highly recommended.

I came here actually surprised by the low rate given by MADB, but after I realised it is actually worthless, I decided to write a short review to give a more unbiased overview of this mini serie.

It is a crime story with a super-tiny bit of supernatural in it: you can like it or not, it is surely not the main point of the serie, but more like a background perk for the main character.

The crime plots, per se, are average: surely pretty complicated but neither trivial or super shocking.

In my opinion the two strong points that make this serie unique are the setting and the shooting. The setting is the birth of fascism in Italy: the reconstruction of scenes, dresses, habits and feeling is manical! Never seen something so scrupulously precise outside documentaries (and sometimes not even in those). The shooting is also incredible (for Italian stardards): the use of lights and filters gives a feeling like almost being in a comic book.

For me is by far one of the best series from Italy of the last 20 years and an absolute must-see if you like the genre and/or the setting.

This series is photographed beautifully so each scene looks like an old-master painting. Delightful to see. The characters are engaging and draw you in. However, aside from portrayal of the drive by fascism to dictate behavior and our character's resistance to it, the episodes have a fairy tale lightness to them. Not by any stretch of imagination the psychological gloom of Endeavour or the hard hitting of Line of Duty. Instead, an enjoyable entertainment with glimpses of amusement and tongue in cheek, set in a contrasting fascist background. As an instance of the unreality the viewer is inclined to indulge, our Detective is attracted to a neighbor living in an apartment across the street, but he and her both are made so uncomfortable with their entrancement that their contact is primarily that of looking at each other through their apartment windows.

Interesting to watch despite its unbelievable aspects.