Move over, Montalbano – there’s a female detective on the case! Miriam Leone tracks down the causes of the city’s charm.
Inspector Montalbano fans who tune into More4’s Italian crime drama Thou Shalt Not Kill expecting sun baked scenery will be disappointed. Whereas Montalbano’s beat is southern Sicily, newcomer Chief Inspector Ferro’s patch is the northern city of Turin. “The atmosphere of the drama is very cold and very Nordic,” says Miriam Leone, who plays Valeria Ferro. “Italy is a very long country, and the north is totally different from the south. Turin almost becomes a protagonist in the drama because of the light – the grey tones, the shadows. It’s not the Italian cliché – it’s more like The Killing, and it was a new approach to crime dramas in Italy.”
Like most Scandi noir dramas, Thou Shalt Not Kill is about a tough but troubled female detective. “She’s the boss in a man’s world,” says Leone. “She’s strong, smart and fragile at the same time. Her father was killed when she was a baby, and when she investigates a case, it’s as if she’s trying to solve her father’s murder. In Mediterranean culture, it’s rare that a woman is the lead in a crime show. I’m very proud of this character.”
In the opening episode, the body of a young woman is found in an abandoned industrial estate and there are only brief glimpses of the city’s grand boulevards and regal palazzi. A ducal city that was occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Wars, Turin was the first capital of a united Italy in the 1860s. “It’s often called ‘Little Paris’,” says Leone. “It’s a very elegant city with a beautiful old centre, big squares and many interesting museums and parks. It’s great for shopping, too, with a huge flea market on Saturdays and Sundays.”
The most famous landmark is the dome of the Mole Antonelliana with its aluminium spire that soars above the old town. Turin is also famous for being the birthplace of Fiat. “It’s a city of many different cultures. Many Sicilians came here to work, so the most popular words are Sicilian,” explains Leone, who lives in Rome and grew up in Sicily. “Not words I can tell you – bad words!”
Although you won’t see Ferro downing tools for leisurely lunches as Montalbano does, Turin’s oldest restaurant, the plush Del Cambio, opened in 1757. “Important historical personalities like Mozart have eaten there. It’s a great place to go for a very fancy dinner,” says Leone. Piedmont has a gastronomic pedigree, as the Slow Food movement originated here. Dogs are trained to scour the countryside in search of white truffles in November, with prices reaching €5,000 per kilo. Leone says that she became “obsessed” with the traditional antipasto vitello tonnato: “Very thin slices of veal served with an anchovy sauce. It’s delicious.”
Move over, Montalbano – there’s a female detective on the case! Miriam Leone tracks down the causes of the city’s charm.
Inspector Montalbano fans who tune into More4’s Italian crime drama Thou Shalt Not Kill expecting sun baked scenery will be disappointed. Whereas Montalbano’s beat is southern Sicily, newcomer Chief Inspector Ferro’s patch is the northern city of Turin. “The atmosphere of the drama is very cold and very Nordic,” says Miriam Leone, who plays Valeria Ferro. “Italy is a very long country, and the north is totally different from the south. Turin almost becomes a protagonist in the drama because of the light – the grey tones, the shadows. It’s not the Italian cliché – it’s more like The Killing, and it was a new approach to crime dramas in Italy.”
Like most Scandi noir dramas, Thou Shalt Not Kill is about a tough but troubled female detective. “She’s the boss in a man’s world,” says Leone. “She’s strong, smart and fragile at the same time. Her father was killed when she was a baby, and when she investigates a case, it’s as if she’s trying to solve her father’s murder. In Mediterranean culture, it’s rare that a woman is the lead in a crime show. I’m very proud of this character.”
In the opening episode, the body of a young woman is found in an abandoned industrial estate and there are only brief glimpses of the city’s grand boulevards and regal palazzi. A ducal city that was occupied by the French during the Napoleonic Wars, Turin was the first capital of a united Italy in the 1860s. “It’s often called ‘Little Paris’,” says Leone. “It’s a very elegant city with a beautiful old centre, big squares and many interesting museums and parks. It’s great for shopping, too, with a huge flea market on Saturdays and Sundays.”
The most famous landmark is the dome of the Mole Antonelliana with its aluminium spire that soars above the old town. Turin is also famous for being the birthplace of Fiat. “It’s a city of many different cultures. Many Sicilians came here to work, so the most popular words are Sicilian,” explains Leone, who lives in Rome and grew up in Sicily. “Not words I can tell you – bad words!”
Although you won’t see Ferro downing tools for leisurely lunches as Montalbano does, Turin’s oldest restaurant, the plush Del Cambio, opened in 1757. “Important historical personalities like Mozart have eaten there. It’s a great place to go for a very fancy dinner,” says Leone. Piedmont has a gastronomic pedigree, as the Slow Food movement originated here. Dogs are trained to scour the countryside in search of white truffles in November, with prices reaching €5,000 per kilo. Leone says that she became “obsessed” with the traditional antipasto vitello tonnato: “Very thin slices of veal served with an anchovy sauce. It’s delicious.”