Romanzo Criminale - Der Pate von Rom

When this series came out Italy was taken by a storm. Usually Italian TV it's a mix of boring carabinieri and saints portraits...This is the best series we ever produced. And I can assure you that not only it's based on a real story, but the associates and the families member still alive are very much part of the criminal web of Rome.And like me, whoever was born in Rome knows very well La Banda della Magliana and it's legacy.All the characters have different name but if you look up for the real story they're easy to spot. Some of them are still alive and the actual Freddo is just being taken off the special witness protection program and he's back in Rome.

I had heard nothing about this, I just saw it advertised on TV as "Italian Sopranos" so myself and my wife started watching it. We both agree that this is one of the best TV series we have seen.

The casting is spot on with the characters being totally believable and very very well acted. The attention to detail is fantastic seeing that it is set in Rome in the 70's (for the first series anyway) so the cars. clothes and hairstyles and even the home furnishings are all authentic.

The story is gripping as the gang go from plot line to plot line and the interactions between the characters keep you guessing as to what is going to happen next. The fact that its set against a backdrop of when Italy was going through a period of its history which involved the turmoil of corruption, terrorism and criminality and that's just the government, leaves you with a hard choice of who to root for.

All in all thoroughly entertaining and believable.

Mark S.

This is quite simply one of the best pieces of television ever from any country, its rates alongside older classics like I Claudius and Poldark and more recent classics like The Wire and The Shield

The casting in this is absolutely spot on for each and every character.

The way the story unfolds is script writing at its best with a number of stand out Oscar worthy performances.

The interplay between the characters within and outside the gang of criminals is a joy to watch.

The series can be both violent ,ruthless and quite simply beautifully poignant also. All in all a true masterpiece.

I cannot recommend this enough;]

Now that Gomorrah has reached 4 seasons (soon the fifth and I hope last season) I can say that Romanzo Criminale is perhaps the most beautiful and perfect show ever filmed, Gomorrah is another masterpiece but unfortunately it is lasting too long, even if it is still on levels very high you begin to notice the repetitiveness of the situations, in fact I hope that they keep their word and that with the fifth they close everything. Romazon, on the other hand, is perfect, a smart, short series that does not linger and tells the criminal epic of this gang in a sublime, perfect and blunt way. Stefano Sollima confirms himself as the best Italian director ever

One terrific and most powerful Italian crime series, one of the most brutal I have ever seen, far far more bloody than any other American one. I find here the same violence we had in the Italian films from the seventies. Really exciting scheme, with so many outstanding characters to whom you get glued to, no matter the degree in criminality they are involved in. Stefano Sollima is definitely the new master of the Italian crime industry, as Michele Placido was one or two decades ago, and in a more terrific way. I remind you that Stefano Sollima already gave us SUBURRA and GOMORRA series and of course next year the next movie to SICARIO and named SOLDATO, about Mexican drug cartels. So, after Italian mafias, Sollima will be plunged deep into the Spanish spoken underworld, far more brutal than the Sicilian one. Back to this series, I am still shaking, reminding how impressive the late seventies, eighties and early nineties atmosphere were, with the music score of those fantastic years. This is a pure masterpiece. And this actress Giovanna Di Rauso, the female killer amazon with snake eyes, the kind of lady who, if I crossed her path in the street and saw her asking me for the time, I would quickly give her my watch and run away from this shark female. What a dame....What eyes she has...

A pure must see....