MAESTA FILM ON MARIA JOSE OF SAVOY WHO WAS THE QUEEN OF ITALY FOR JUST 27 DAYS IN THE WORKS

    MAESTA MOVIE   

ON QUEEN MARIA JOSE OF SAVOY

According to Variety, the story of Maria José of Savoy, who served as queen of Italy after World War II for only 27 days before Italians voted to abolish the monarchy, will be shown in new historical film

Maria of Savoy was queen of Italy for 27 days

 MAESTA (“Majesty”), directed by Ginevra Elkann. The daughter of Albert I, the King of Belgium, Maria José married Italy’s Prince Umberto II, whose father, King Vittorio Emanuele III, cooperated with fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. She became known as “the May Queen” because she and her husband reigned for just 27 days in 1946, from May 9, when Victor Emanuel III abdicated in favor of his son, hoping to save the throne for the House of Savoy during the turmoil after Mussolini’s fall, until June 2, when Italians voted to abolish the monarchy and the Savoys went into exile. Known to be a rebellious royal and a surreptitious anti-fascist, Maria José then moved to Portugal and soon left her husband.

ITALO CALVINO'S PERIOD SET CLASSIC THE BARON IN THE TREES TO GET A MOVIE ADAPTATION

  THE BARON IN THE TREES  

TO BE TURNED INTO A BIG SCREEN MOVIE

The casting for the movie is underway

The latest book to get a big screen adaptation is Italo Calvino's 1957 novel THE BARON IN THE TREES which tells the adventures of a boy who climbs up a tree to spend the rest of his life inhabiting an arboreal kingdom. Italian director Alice Rohrwacher is set to helm according to Variety. The novel brings the story of a young baron, Cosimo Piovasco di Rondò, firstborn of a noble family sadly behind the times. The main story begins with a dispute on June 15, 1767 in the villa of Ombrosa, between an adolescent Cosimo and his father, after which Cosimo, who had quarreled with his father because he had refused to eat a snail soup, climbs the trees of the home garden and promises never to come down again in his entire life.

SEE ALESSANDRO BORGHI AND JOHN C.REILLY IN PERIOD SET ADVENTURE MOVIE HEADS OR TAILS TRAILER

  HEADS OR TAILS TRAILER  

WITH ALESSANDRO BORGHI & JOHN C. REILLY

Before its release in theatres and digital from April 10th and a visit to Cannes Film Festival this year, a trailer has been released for 

The film is out April 10th in cinemas

new period set western movie HEADS OR TAILS from directors Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis. Our favourite Italian actor Alessandro Borghi stars next to John C. Reilly who takes the role of Buffalo Bill. At the dawn of the 20th century, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show rolls into Italy, peddling the myth of the American frontier and sparking the imagination of Rosa, a young woman trapped in a stifling marriage to a powerful and violent landowner. When a rodeo between American cowboys and Italian butteri ends in tragedy, Rosa flees with Santino, the daring local rider who bested the Americans. But in a world where justice is sold to the highest bidder, Buffalo Bill and others join the hunt for the bounty on Santino's head. Rosa's dream of freedom quickly collides with the weight of reality-and like in every good Western ballad, fate flips a coin.

 

MIRIAM LEONE, FRANCESCO SCIANNA TO LEAD SKY'S GUCCI FAMILY MINI TV SERIES GAME OVER

    SKY'S GAME OVER   

SETS CAST FOR GUCCI FAMILY SERIES

Sky has set cast for their mini TV series on the Gucci family GAME OVER with Miriam Leone as Patrizia Reggiani, the former socialite convicted of hiring a hitman to murder her ex-husband played by Francesco Scianna, and Matilda Lutz is Allegra Gucci, the daughter of Maurizio Gucci and Patrizia Reggiani whose memoir the show is based on. The six episode drama will depict the vicissitudes of the iconic family-owned fashion empire, which imploded due to feuding, using multiple timelines. The narrative will be told through the eyes of both Reggiani and her daughter Allegra and will try to reconstruct the truth and identity of Allegra’s family in the timeless drama of a great Italian dynasty that, consumed by the struggle for power, ended up self-destructing.

BRAND NEW PERIOD SET ITALIAN TV SERIES TO ARRIVE TO THE SMALL SCREENS IN 2026: BEFORE US, MORBO K AND A WINDOW OVERLOOKING THE LAKE

  NEW 2026 ITALIAN SHOWS  

MORBO K - WHO SAVES A LIFE, SAVES THE WHOLE WORLD WORLD WAR 2 SERIES

We are in Italy today with our spotlights on new international 2026 period set series. Two episode series MORBO K will air on 27th and 28th of January. Shortly before the ghetto of Rome in 1943, Professor Prati,

Morbo K will air this month on RAI

 director of the Fate bene fratelli hospital, managed to transfer some Jewish families to a special ward, saving them from a sad fate. To prevent the Nazis from reaching the island, the doctor has the brilliant idea of inventing a highly contagious virus that affects Jews: the K disease, named after Nazi General Kappler who controlled Rome at that time. Among the families rescued by the director is also that of Silvia Calò, a young Jew with great artistic talent, but with a future already marked and linked to the family business. Silvia almost immediately fell in love with a young doctor, Pietro Prestifilippo, despite him being promised to another. Meanwhile, Kappler threatens the Jewish community, demanding a gold tribute to avoid deportation. However, in contravention of the word given, on an autumn day Kappler gathers the inhabitants of the ghetto and has them loaded on the trains destined for concentration camps. The fate of Silvia, Pietro and Professor Prati will be consumed in the last dramatic hours before the trains leave Rome.

 

  BEFORE US (PRIMA DI NOI)

Already airing as of January on Sunday nights in Italy is historical saga BEFORE US (Prima Di Noi) a great family saga that takes us through the Italian twentieth century from rural Friuli to the the factories of Turin. Three generations of the Sartori family are struggling between the search for personal success, the dream of revolution, a place in the school or the ring of a boxing match. Female and men, builders and destroyers, eternal archetypes looking for a place in the world. On them weigh the faults of the fathers, a spiral to fight against, what was before us that seems to condemn them all. It will be the youngest among the Sartori to finally find the strength to free themselves thanks to the words of Nadia, the founder of the family, the generating force protagonist of this story. A century of small and big history that contains everything: guilt, shame, anger, travel, ideals, forgiveness and above all love.

 

 

A WINDOW OVERLOOKING THE LAKE

1930s. The young marshal of the carabinieri Ernesto Maccadò receives his first assignment as commander in the station of a small village on Lake Como. He arrives from his native Calabria with Maristella, his beloved wife, and a suitcase full of dreams and fears about the ability to fulfill his duties in a distant and unknown place; a place where he will soon discover that it will not be easy to be accepted. Through sometimes realistic and sometimes surreal stories, we will follow the novel of formation of Maccadò, Maristella and little Vinicio, orphan in search of a family. But also of the brigadier Letterio Misfatti, a sort of Sicilian Virgil who together with his wife Agata will accompany the couple of Southern Italy to discover that small community on the shores of the lake, closed in their rituals and secrets. The path of Maccadò will be marked by prejudices and obstacles, so much so that it will be convinced that – failing to be welcomed, understood and appreciated by the country – it remains only the transfer. But will it be the right choice? The series is the suggestive fresco of a “small ancient world” and at the same time deeply current in the dynamics of knowledge and inclusion. Lively with events, relationships and unpredictable, funny, human-rich characters.

SEE MICHELE RIONDINO AS ANTONIO VIVALDI IN THE TRAILER FOR PRIMAVERA 18TH CENTURY VENICE SET BIOPIC ON THE FAMOUS COMPOSER

   ANTONIO VIVALDI  

PRIMAVERA BIOPIC TRAILER IS HERE

This one was released on Christmas in Italy, but will start rolling out around Europe this spring and we have the first trailer for a biopic on Antonio

Primavera will roll out from April

 Vivaldi the Italian Baroque composer and violinist who composed “The Four Seasons”!PRIMAVERAis the feature debut of Damiano Michieletto, an opera director. Set in 18th century Venice, the movie follows Cecilia (Tecla Insolia), a 20-year-old violin virtuoso who livesat the Pièta orphanage. Despite her talent, Cecilia remains confined within the orphanage, knowing that marriage is the only way out. Yet, her life takes a turn after she meets Antonio Vivaldi (Michele Riondino), a brilliant and ambitious composer who becomes the new violin teacher. Guided by Vivaldi and his music, Cecilia finds the strength to challenge the destiny that once seemed inevitable! Watch the trailer below:

 

NICOLE WALLACE TO LEAD POSTCARDS FROM ITALY TV SERIES FOR PRIME VIDEO

  NICOLE WALLACE TO LEAD 

PRIME'S POSTCARDS FROM ITALY TV SERIES

Nicole will star in the Italian language series

After starring in their Culpables movie trilogy and Allende's series adaptation of The House of Spirits (to air next year) Nicole Wallace will lead another new series for Prime Video. She will lead POSTCARDS FROM ITALY which follows the misadventures of Mia, a young and spoiled New York heiress who is sent by her grandfather to Palermo, without money or luxuries, to work as a real estate agent in the family business. The Upper West Side girl has to survive in Sicily without a credit card and the luxuries to which she is accustomed.

SEE FIRST IMAGE OF MICHELE RIONDINO AS ANTONIO VIVALDI IN PRIMAVERA 18TH CENTURY VENICE SET BIOPIC ON THE FAMOUS COMPOSER

   ANTONIO VIVALDI  

PRIMAVERA BIOPIC FIRST IMAGE IS HERE

Back in October I told you that we are getting a biopic on Antonio Vivaldi the Italian Baroque composer and violinist who composed “The Four Seasons”! And now we have first image from PRIMAVERA  the feature debut of Damiano Michieletto, an opera director. Set in 18th century Venice, the movie follows Cecilia (Tecla Insolia), a 20-year-old violin virtuoso who lives at the Pièta orphanage. Despite her talent, Cecilia remains confined within the orphanage, knowing that marriage is the only way out. Yet, her life takes a turn after she meets Antonio Vivaldi (Michele Riondino), a brilliant and ambitious composer who becomes the new violin teacher. Guided by Vivaldi and his music, Cecilia finds the strength to challenge the destiny that once seemed inevitable!

NETFLIX LAVISH ITALIAN 19TH CENTURY SICILY SET SERIES THE LEOPARD GETS A MARCH STREAMING DATE

  THE LEOPARD SERIES  

NETFLIX SETS MARCH STREAMING DATE

Leopard will premiere March 5th at Netflix

Netflix has set a March 5th streaming start date for their rather lavish six episode  THE LEOPARD historical series which will arrive to the streamer around the world directed by Tom Shankland.

 

WHAT IS THE STORY? 

 While Sicily is struggling in the turmoil of the Risorgimento in 1860, the Prince of Salina Fabrizio Corbera (Kim Rossi Stuart) reigns over his family and his possessions, convinced that even these disorders are destined to pass. He hasn’t come to terms with the idealism of young people like his nephew Tancredi (Saul Nanni), who joins the rebels risking his own life, or the ambitions of men like Sedara, a vulgar man who rides change by pandering to the nascent power of mafia criminal organizations and intends to use his beautiful daughter Angelica (Deva Cassel) to get what he wants. At Don Fabrizio’s side remains Concetta (Benedetta Porcaroli), his favourite daughter, who shares his intelligence and foresight. Her happiness will eventually be sacrificed in an attempt to ensure the survival of the power and of the name of the lineage. 

TAKE AN EPIC WORLD WAR II JOURNEY IN THE CHILDREN'S TRAIN NETFLIX HISTORICAL MOVIE

  THE CHILDREN'S TRAIN  

TAKE AN EPIC WORLD WAR II JOURNEY

Hitting Netflix as their new Italian original on December 4th is a moving World War II movie THE CHILDREN'S TRAIN which has the story set in

The movie will stream from this week

1946. Amerigo (Christian Cervone) is seven years old and has never left Naples and his mother Antonietta (Serena Rossi). His world, made up of streets and poverty, however, is about to change. On board one of the "trains of happiness" he will spend the winter in the north, where a young woman, Derna (Barbara Ronchi), will welcome him and take care of him. Next to her Amerigo acquires an awareness that leads him to a painful choice that will change her life forever. It will take him many years to discover the truth: those who love you don't hold you back, but they let you go. This epic film about a boy with two mothers is based on the best-selling novel by Viola Ardone. Stefano Accorsi also stars in the new movie. Check out the English language subbed trailer below and tell us what you think.

SEE MAGICAL TRAILER FOR OSCAR WINNER PAOLO SORRENTINO'S NEW MOVIE PARTHENOPE AN ODE TO HIS NATIVE CITY NAPLES

   PARTHENOPE TRAILER  

FOR NEW PAOLO SORRENTINO MOVIE

Currently scoring quite a success over in Italian cinemas is Paolo Sorrentino's new movie PARTHENOPE which was also written by the famous director. The film is a sort of a love letter to his

Parthenope will arrive in USA next February

native city Naples and will land in US cinemas next February and in France in January. Celeste Dalla Porta plays the titular role - Parthenope is another name for a woman who lives in Naples. The cast also includes Gary Oldman as an alcoholic American novelist John Cheever; Luisa Ranieri, Stefania Sandrelli, Silvio Orlando, Dario Aita, Marlon Joubert... The film which competed this year at Cannes is a magical realism story about a woman named Parthenope who bears the name of her city but is neither siren nor myth! Parthenope, born in the sea of Naples in 1950, searches for happiness over the long summers of her youth, falling in love with her home city and its many memorable characters. From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino comes a monumental and deeply romantic story of a lifetime. 

NETFLIX LAVISH ITALIAN 19TH CENTURY SICILY SET SERIES THE LEOPARD RELEASES STUNNING FIRST TRAILER

  THE LEOPARD SERIES  

NETFLIX RELEASES LAVISH FIRST TRAILER

Il Gattopardo will stream on Netflix next year

Netflix has revealed a rather lavish first trailer for their six episode  THE LEOPARD historical series which arrives next year directed by Tom Shankland.

 

WHAT IS THE STORY? 

 While Sicily is struggling in the turmoil of the Risorgimento in 1860, the Prince of Salina Fabrizio Corbera (Kim Rossi Stuart) reigns over his family and his possessions, convinced that even these disorders are destined to pass. He hasn’t come to terms with the idealism of young people like his nephew Tancredi (Saul Nanni), who joins the rebels risking his own life, or the ambitions of men like Sedara, a vulgar man who rides change by pandering to the nascent power of mafia criminal organizations and intends to use his beautiful daughter Angelica (Deva Cassel) to get what he wants. At Don Fabrizio’s side remains Concetta (Benedetta Porcaroli), his favourite daughter, who shares his intelligence and foresight. Her happiness will eventually be sacrificed in an attempt to ensure the survival of the power and of the name of the lineage. 

 

SEE TRAILER FOR LUIGI PIRENDELLO NOBEL PRIZE WINNER BIOPIC ETERNAL VISIONARY FROM MICHELE PLACIDO

  ETERNAL VISIONARY TRAILER  

FOR ITALIAN NOBEL PRIZE WINNER BIOPIC

90 years after Six Characters In Search Of An Author playwright Luigi Pirandello got the Nobel Prize in Literature, he is also getting a biopic as ETERNAL VISIONARY will arrive to cinemas this November.

The movie is out in Italy November 7th

Directed by famous Michele Placido it focuses on his trip to the Swedish capital to explore his turbulent inner and outer life, against the backdrop of his native Sicily, adopted home city of Rome as well as the cabarets of Berlin. Fabrizio Bentivoglio stars as Pirandello opposite Federica Luna Vincenti as Marta Abba, the actress who was his muse from 1925 to his death in 1936, while his wife Antonietta Portulano, played by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, was confined to a mental asylum. As Pirandello travels to Stockholm by train, he relives the charm and magic of the characters who populated his life and inspired his art, reflecting on the painful mental illness of his wife, his explosive and impossible love for Abba and difficult bond with his children, in an account that also touches on the playwright’s controversial relationship with fascism. 

SEE TRAILER FOR FERZAN OZPETEK'S NEW MOVIE DIAMANTI WITH DOMINA'S KASIA SMUTNIAK

  DIAMANTI TRAILER  

FOR NEW FERZAN OZPETEK MOVIE

Well, we probably won't be seeing her, sadly, anymore as Livia Drusilla the scheming empress of Rome as her Domina epic series has obviously died after two seasons, but gorgeous

Diamanti is out in Italy this December

Kasia Smutniak appears in DIAMANTI movie from renowned director Ferzan Ozpetek whose Nuovo Olimpo was a hit at Netflix last year. New movie is set for release in Italy on December 19th. 

 

WHAT'S THE STORY?

A director summons his favorite actresses, those he worked with and those he loved. He wants to make a film about women but doesn't reveal much: he observes them, takes inspiration, gets inspired, until his imagination catapults them into another era, into a past where the noise of sewing machines fills a managed workplace and populated by women, where men have small marginal roles and cinema can be told from another point of view: that of customs. Between solitudes, passions, anxieties, heartbreaking shortcomings and indissoluble bonds, reality and fiction interpenetrate, as do the lives of the actresses with that of the characters, the competition with sisterhood, the visible with the invisible.

 

NETFLIX LAVISH ITALIAN 19TH CENTURY SICILY SET SERIES THE LEOPARD TO STREAM IN 2025! SEE FIRST POSTER

  THE LEOPARD SERIES  

NETFLIX ANNOUNCES 2025 STREAMING

Il Gattopardo will stream on Netflix next year

Now, this one was shot back in 2023 and we have been waiting for almost two years for it to air, but we will have to wait a bit longer as it has now been officially confirmed for streaming in 2025, hopefully in the beginning of the next year. Netflix has revealed first poster for their  THE LEOPARD historical series which is the small screen adaptation of  Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's famous classic novel Il Gattopardo which was translated into more than 40 languages around the world. Tom Shankland directed the six episode saga which was previously adapted into a movie by famous Italian filmmaker Visconti! Thousands of extras and custom made costumes have been used in this ambitious production.

 

WHAT IS THE STORY?

While Sicily is struggling in the turmoil of the Risorgimento in 1860, the Prince of Salina Fabrizio Corbera (Kim Rossi Stuart) reigns over his family and his possessions, convinced that even these disorders are destined to pass. He hasn’t come to terms with the idealism of young people like his nephew Tancredi (Saul Nanni), who joins the rebels risking his own life, or the ambitions of men like Sedara, a vulgar man who rides change by pandering to the nascent power of mafia criminal organizations and intends to use his beautiful daughter Angelica (Deva Cassel) to get what he wants. At Don Fabrizio’s side remains Concetta (Benedetta Porcaroli), his favourite daughter, who shares his intelligence and foresight. Her happiness will eventually be sacrificed in an attempt to ensure the survival of the power and of the name of the lineage. You can check out the old announcement teaser below:

 

MICHELE RIONDINO TO PLAY ANTONIO VIVALDI IN PRIMAVERA 18TH CENTURY VENICE SET BIOPIC ON THE FAMOUS COMPOSER

   ANTONIO VIVALDI  

GETS PRIMAVERA MOVIE BIOPIC

The latest one of the big composers to get a biopic is Antonio Vivaldi the Italian Baroque composer and violinist who composed “The Four Seasons”! As Variety reveals, PRIMAVERA will be the feature debut of Damiano Michieletto, an opera director. Set in 18th century Venice, the movie follows Cecilia (Tecla Insolia), a 20-year-old violin virtuoso who lives at the Pièta orphanage. Despite her talent, Cecilia remains confined within the orphanage, knowing that marriage is the only way out. Yet, her life takes a turn after she meets Antonio Vivaldi (Michele Riondino), a brilliant and ambitious composer who becomes the new violin teacher. Guided by Vivaldi and his music, Cecilia finds the strength to challenge the destiny that once seemed inevitable!

NETFLIX REVEALS STREAM DATE AND A TEASER FOR THE LAW ACCORDING TO LIDIA POET PERIOD SET ITALIAN SERIES

 LAW ACCORDING TO LIDIA POET 

SEASON TWO SERIES TRAILER IS HERE

Quite unexpectedly, the 2nd season of Italy's period set series THE LAW ACCORDING TO LIDIA POET has been announced for October 30th over at Netflix. Lidia (Matilda de Angelis) is not allowed to be a lawyer because she is a woman. So this time she aims even higher, she wants to change the law. While she continues to collaborate with her brother Enrico (Eduardo Scarpetta), tackling new cases and fighting for women’s rights, she wants to convince him to run for Parliament so that her law can finally find a voice. Lidia is completely done with love, especially with Jacopo (Pier Luigi Pasino), responsible for having sold the family villa and on a collision course with all the Poëts. But Jacopo and Lidia are forced to meet again to share, reluctantly, a secret investigation that concerns them closely, rediscovering the complicity and fun that has always bound them. Giving a hard time to the protagonists, the new King’s Attorney, Fourneau (Gianmarco Saurino), a man of the institutions who unexpectedly treats Lidia as his equal, prompting her to question the complex and contradictory relationship she has with feelings, and the cost of personal renunciation that she is sustaining in the name of her ideals. 

SEE MOVING BATTLEFIELD WAR WAR TWO MOVIE TRAILER WITH ALESSANDRO BORGHI

  BATTLEFIELD TRAILER 

FOR NEW WORLD WAR TWO SET MOVIE

I have a trailer for you from a film that is in competition at the 81st Venice International Film Festival before hitting Italian cinemas September 5th! BATTLEFIELD

The movie is out in Italy next month

(Campo di Battaglia) follows two medical officers, childhood friends, who work in the same military hospital, where the most seriously wounded arrive from the front every day. Many of them, however, caused their wounds themselves, they are simulators, who would do anything to avoid going back to fighting. Stefano (Alessandro Borghi), from an upper-class family, with a father who plans a future for him in politics, is obsessed with these self-harmers and, in addition to being a doctor, he also acts as a cop in his own way. Giulio (Gabriel Montesi), apparently more understanding and tolerant, is not at ease at the sight of blood, he is more inclined towards research, he would have liked to become a biologist. Anna, a friend of both of them since university, suffers from being a woman. In those days, without an influential family behind you, it was difficult to obtain a medical degree. But she works voluntary at the Red Cross with determination. Meanwhile, something strange happens among the sick: many mysteriously get worse. Perhaps there is someone who purposely causes complications to their wounds, so that the soldiers are sent home, even crippled, as long as they do not return to battle. There is therefore a saboteur inside the hospital, of which Anna is the first to suspect. But on the war front, towards the end of the conflict, a kind of infection spreads which affects more than enemy weapons. And soon it also infects the civilian population...

1ST IMAGES FROM PERIOD SET MOVIES THE CAPTIVE ON MIGUEL DE CERVANTES, DUSE ON LEGENDARY ITALIAN STAGE DIVA

   1ST PERIOD SET IMAGES  

FROM ALEJANDRO AMENABAR'S THE CAPTIVE

We have first images from two new period set movies today, starting with Alejandro Amenabar's THE CAPTIVE with Julio Peña as “Don Quixote” author Miguel de Cervantes, a prisoner of Ottoman corsairs, and Alessandro Borghi as his captor. The film is set in Algiers in 1575 when Cervantes, a wounded 28-year-old Spanish Navy soldier, is held prisoner by Ottoman corsairs. A cruel death awaits him should his fellow countrymen fail to pay his ransom soon; but within the confines of his cell, Cervantes discovers a surprising refuge — the art of storytelling. Crafted from resilience and hope, his stories capture the attention of Hasan, the enigmatic and feared Bey of Algiers, igniting a secret affinity between captor and captive. Suspicions rise amidst growing tensions in the city, and Cervantes, driven by an unwavering sense of optimism, devises a daring plan for freedom.

 

FROM BIOPIC ON STAGE DIVA DUSE  

Thanks to Variety, we also have the first image from Italian costume movie DUSE from director Pietro Marcello about legendary Italian stage diva Eleonora Duse (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi). Noémie Merlant plays her daughter. Duse (1858-1924), was considered by many the greatest actress of her time. The film will follow latter part of her life when she is 60 and her legendary career is now long over. But in the brutal years between the First World War and the rise of fascism, she chooses to return to where her life began: on the stage and make her art a revolutionary act!