Any Inspector Montalbano fans out there?

[bigredduke]

Set in Sicily, in Italian with English subtitles. Definitely worth a watch.
The desk sergeant, Catarella is hilarious.

34 episodes (approx. 90 mins each) currently available on BBC Four iPlayer, great for lockdown viewing.

You may even improve your Italian language skills!

[slob]

I really enjoy them. It’s quite funny when you spot that he’s quite sweary but they’ve cleaned up the subtitles.
Be warned, if you’re trying to learn any Italian, quite a bit of Sicilian dialect is backwards eg ‘I’m Inspector Montalbano’ is the Sicilian ‘Commissario Montalbano sono’ rather than the usual Italian ‘Sono Commissario Montalbano’

[Tim88]

I am a big fan of the show, fantastically attractive women...and scenary, of course. Also the Mafia issues are treated in such a way that there is never any glamour attached to them but the difficult fact of the coexistence of police and organised crime seems credible to me. I was told that it may be possible to rent (not cheaply!) the featured beachside appartment. If true, that would be a dream base for some Ducati action in the sun if we ever get out of this predicament.

[slob]

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g2251274-d653523-Reviews-B_B_La_Casa_di_Montalbano-Punta_Secca_Santa_Croce_Camerina_Province_of_Ragus a_Sicily.html

I know several DOC members from Sicilian clubs if anyone’s thinking of going there, but be warned most of them aren’t big on speaking English.

[bigredduke]

We enjoyed a week's holiday in Sicily around this time last year. We stayed on the East coast & flew into Catania. We wanted to visit some of the locations used for filming but as the hotel provided a shuttle bus we didn't hire a car & it was too far to visit the south east using public transport.

However, Mt Etna was clearly visible from our bedroom balcony & we had a day up there with a fantastic guide in a 4 x 4 (he was a geologist & volcanologist & hugely knowledgeable). Probably the highlight of the week.

I really loved Sicily & we shall definitely return but hire a car next time.

[The Clockie]

I used to be a big fan of Montalbano, including the subsequent Young Montalbano, and also found the women extraordinarily characterful and attractive. I never missed an episode and really appreciated that Mediterranean ambience.

When they restarted the series last year with the original chap, they must have had different scriptwriters because it was excruciating: all the subtlety of the relationships was gone and everything was cliqued. Each episode had to start with a vicious and gruesome murder, and instead of being dignified (and delicious!) women, the female leads were all the time pleading to be carried off into the bedroom! What had been interesting features of the previous episodes and characters were instantly overblown to ridiculous levels. Sadly, I had to give up watching what was previously a must-see, because it was such a pastiche of the original.

My message is definitely to watch it right from the start and avoid the most recent series. Why do they always have to ruin something really good? :thumbsdown:

Nick

[jerry]

An excellent TV series ,I watched every episode ,, some of the guys i work with are from Palermo , my daughter katrias boyfriend is not from Scicily but Puglia