About Inspector Montalbano
Inspector Montalbano (Il Commissario Montalbano) is a much-loved Italian detective series produced for RAI 1 and adapted from the best-selling novels of Andrea Camilleri. Set in the sun-soaked fictional town of Vigata in southern Sicily, the show follows Salvo Montalbano, a sharp and stubborn police inspector who solves cases his own way, often bending the rules and the patience of his superiors. Shot among the honey-colored Baroque towns of the Ragusa province and along the bright Mediterranean coast, the series is as much a love letter to Sicily as it is a crime drama.
Montalbano is famous for his deep devotion to good food, and the series lingers happily on long lunches of fresh seafood, his housekeeper Adelina's cooking, and quiet meals on his seaside terrace. He is supported by a memorable squad: his loyal and meticulous deputy Mimi Augello, the devoted officer Fazio, and the wonderfully bumbling switchboard man Catarella, whose mangled messages provide the show's lightest comic moments. His long-distance romance with Livia adds a warm, human thread that runs across the years.
Across its long run the series became a fixture of Italian primetime and a hit abroad, blending whodunit plotting with wry humor, regional color, and a strong sense of place. Episodes are feature-length and unfold at an unhurried, sunlit pace, treating crime in measured, non-graphic terms while keeping the focus on character, atmosphere, and Montalbano's instinct for justice. Anchored by Luca Zingaretti's commanding lead performance, it remains one of the most beloved and widely exported Italian television dramas ever made.
