The Young Montalbano

The Young Montalbano (Italian: Il giovane Montalbano) is an Italian television series produced and broadcast by Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) in 2012 and 2015. It is a prequel to the popular series Inspector Montalbano (Italian: Il commissario Montalbano), based on the detective novels of Andrea Camilleri, set in the fictional town of Vigàta, Sicily.

The first season was originally broadcast in February–March 2012 by Rai 1 in Italy.^[2] The series was broadcast in the United States by MHz WorldView as part of their International Mystery series in October–November 2012.^[3] The BBC acquired the series in late 2012,^[4] and the first episode was broadcast by BBC Four in the UK on 7 September 2013.^[5]

Series producer Carlo Degli Esposti, in an interview published in TV Sorrisi e Canzoni in April 2012, confirmed that a second season was expected to start filming in late 2013,^[6] but it was then delayed until August 2014,^[7][8] and the second season was not broadcast in Italy until September–October 2015.^[9]

In 2016 UK's BBC 4 began broadcasting Series 2. The first episode 1/6, "The Man Who Followed Funerals" was broadcast on 6 January 2016.

Casting

Michele Riondino wrote in a blog for the BBC:

"Accepting the offer to play Salvo Montalbano in The Young Montalbano all happened when I was on the set of We Believed. I played a soldier from Garibaldi's army and I had a very scruffy look: unkempt beard, matted hair, mud stains on my face. The film producer was Carlo Degli Esposti, the same producer of Inspector Montalbano, who seeing me in that state had, as he puts it, an intuition. […] A few days later I received a phone call from my agent who told me about a phone conversation with Degli Esposti and how he had been impressed by my look. He told me that Carlo had in mind having young Montalbano as somewhat of a Che Guevara and that my red shirt soldier had convinced him I could be him. I was extremely flattered by the proposal but I didn't accept immediately. It took me several months before I managed to convince myself. Montalbano was always Luca Zingaretti. […] I feared some sort of media attack, since changing the face of the detective was almost blasphemy to some".^[10]

A subsequent meeting with Montalbano's creator, Andrea Camilleri, convinced him to take the role.^[10]

Characters

• Commissario Salvo Montalbano – Michele Riondino. Newly appointed police chief of Vigata. Character played in the original series by Luca Zingaretti.
• Vice commissario Domenico "Mimì" Augello – Alessio Vassallo (it). A police officer, Montalbano's deputy. Played in previous series by Cesare Bocci.
• Carmine Fazio – Andrea Tidona. A veteran police officer, initially Montalbano's deputy.
• Catarella – Fabrizio Pizzuto. A police officer. Originally played by Angelo Russo.
• Paternò – Alessio Piazza. A police officer.
• Gallo – Maurilio Leto. A police officer.
• Giuseppe Fazio – Beniamino Marcone (it). A police officer, son of Carmine. Played previously by Peppino Mazzotta.
• Padre di Montalbano – Adriano Chiaramida. Montalbano's father.
• Nicolò Zito – Carmelo Galati. A local TV news journalist.
• Dr. Pasquano – Giuseppe Santostefano. The coroner.
• Livia Burlando – Sarah Felberbaum. With whom Montalbano begins a relationship. Originally portrayed by Sonia Bergamasco.
• Adelina – Alessandra Costanzo. Montalbano's cook and housekeeper.
• Questore Alabiso – Massimo De Rossi. Montalbano's superior officer.

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Critical reception

Writing in UK newspaper The Independent on Sunday, Emily Jupp found that, "There are a few nods to TV detectives past. Questioning a policeman in Vigata, he turned to go, then in a perfect pastiche of Columbo, asked, 'and one more thing...' This being Italy, the question isn't about a clue, but about food, and soon his yearning for linguine alla vongole has been sated". She concluded by writing, "The niche appeal and subtitles might be a bit of a barrier, but by the end of the two-hour episode, I'd really warmed to this compelling Italian. Riondino's Montalbano could give Cumberbatch's Sherlock a run for his money".^[14]

Writing in free UK newspaper Metro, Keith Watson wrote, "Just as Shaun Evans makes for a physically unlikely but entirely credible young Inspector Morse, so Riondino gives the part of Montalbano an entirely convincing and individual interpretation. […] Even mundane procedural exchanges between cops in the station took on a kind of poetic lilt, weaving a hypnotic brand of Mediterranean magic. […] The feeling was the one you get when curled up with a book on holiday while the sun sets and you're on your second cocktail. Unfolding at a leisurely two hours, with no sense of urgency and no ad breaks, The Young Montalbano had plenty of time to slip local colour into the pair of murder stories that unfolded in laconic yet not entirely ungripping fashion. It was a rare thing: a crime thriller that teased and circled its prey, rarely breaking into a sweat. Fans of subtitled Euro treats, walk this way".^[15]

Gabriel Tate, reviewing the first episode in the London edition of Time Out, wrote: "The Young Morse? Well, Endeavour was pretty good. The Young Lund? Crying out to be made. But The Young Montalbano? Neither especially troubled nor notably enigmatic, the Sicilian detective has never been one of television's more intriguing characters, with the appeal of his show limited to the spectacular scenery and guessing which actor would chew through it the most during the course of that week's investigation. As origin stories go, this isn't exactly Batman Begins, although we learn that he did once have a full head of hair". Overall, he found the opener "Dull, dull, dull – for two hours".^[16]

As of 18 February 2016, The Young Montalbano had a rating of 8.0/10 (from 522 users) on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).^[17]

References

External links

• The Young Montalbano at the Internet Movie Database