Available today, October 22, on Netflix, The Monster of Florence explores a series of unsolved murders that struck Tuscany between 1968 and 1985. This four-episode Italian miniseries, created by Stefano Sollima and Leonardo Fasoli, explores the case through the profiles of four suspects, while portraying a social context deeply marked by patriarchy and violence against women.
A chilling reconstruction of an extraordinary news story
Between 1968 and 1985, eight couples were murdered around Florence while alone in a car, often for some privacy. The killer, nicknamed "The Monster of Florence," always used the same weapon—a .22-caliber Beretta pistol—and four of the women suffered horrific mutilations. The identity of the culprit(s) remains unknown to this day, despite a sprawling investigation, dozens of leads, and several controversial arrests.
The series has decided not to retrace the entire investigation, which is too complex to be told in just four episodes. Instead, it focuses on four suspects, all linked to what investigators called the "Sardinian trail." Each episode follows the journey of one of them—Stefano Mele, Salvatore Vinci, Francesco Vinci, and Giovanni Mele—by highlighting their troubled relationship with women, which ranges from psychological violence to domination and humiliation.
A look at Italian society in the 1970s and 1980s
The Monster of Florence doesn't attempt to deliver a classic thriller or offer a resolution. Its creators, also behind Gomorrah and ZeroZeroZero, rely on court records to deliver a documented and unembellished narrative. The crime scene reconstructions are brief, brutal, and devoid of any dramatic effect.
Beyond the criminal enigma, the series is part of a sociological approach. It depicts an Italy marked by a dominant virilism, in which women were often considered objects of desire or suspicion. Magistrate Silvia Della Monica, involved in the investigation at the time, recently told La Repubblica that the murders clearly targeted women, victims of an "atrocious crescendo of violence and mutilation" that today would be called femicide.
Premiered at the Venice Film Festival, The Monster of Florence offers a sober and disturbing immersion into a still unsolved criminal case, while questioning a dark side of Italian social history.
