Even the heavens opened to mark the unveiling of Netflix’s new headquarters in Rome, just a stone’s throw away from La Dolce Vita’s Via Veneto. It was a grand-style inauguration, unfolding in the presence of Reed Hastings, the founder and co-CEO of the platform, which now has seventy or so staff working various roles in Italy.

“The opening of the Rome office is a clear sign of our strong, long-term commitment to this country and it will allow us to work in closer contact with Italy’s creative community in order to create a variety of big shows and films ‘made in Italy’", stated Hastings, who also responded to uncomfortable questions, such as the recent fall the group has seen in subscriptions (though they’re on the rise in Italy, at almost 5 million subscriptions) or the 54 billion lost on Wall Street.

The proud owner of five David di Donatello awards, including a Best Film trophy for The Hand of God [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], the group is also highly committed to all things parity and gender equality, whether in terms of content or the heavy presence of women managers, directors and producers. These include Viola Prestieri, Alice Urciuolo, Isabella Ferrari and Pilar Fogliati, who were just some of the guests taking part in the morning event, alongside Alessandro Gassmann and Renato De Maria.

Stealing focus among the various series which are soon to be coming our way is the latest version of The Leopard (Indiana Production and Moonage Pictures), which will be measuring itself up against Luchino Visconti’s work of the same name and Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel, all under the direction of Tom Shankland. Inganno (Cattleya, majority-owned by ITV Studios) is a sentimental thriller written by Teresa Ciabatti and playing with suspense, taboos and uncomfortable truths about love. Zerocalcare’s new animated project (Movimenti Production in collaboration with Bao Publishing) transports us into the world of the great Roman comic book writer by way of six episodes which each last 30 minutes or so and which don’t act as a sequel to Tear Along the Dotted Line. Lotto Gang (BIM Produzione and Feltrinelli Originals) recounts an incredible adventure where action meets Italian-style comedy, which is loosely based on the true story of the biggest and most ingenious lottery scam ever to take place, and is set in the Milanese hinterland of the mid-90s. And Odio il Natale (Lux Vide, a company belonging to the Fremantle Group) sees Pilar Fogliati leading Netflix’s first Italian Christmas-themed series which recounts the anxieties of a thirty-year-old woman who isn’t yet “settled” and who discovers new values over and above social pressures.

As Series Vice-Present Tinny Andreatta explains: “We want to talk about Italy’s other side, the mysterious, forbidden, courageous side which makes us think and sends imaginations soaring”.

Numerous films have also been announced: Robbing Mussolini [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Bibi Film) is an ambitious heist movie full of action and humour, directed by Renato de Maria and starring Pietro Castellitto, Matilda De Angelis and Isabella Ferrari, which sees a gang of delinquents deciding to steal Mussolini’s “treasure”; My Name is Vendetta [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Colorado Film) is a high-adrenaline action and survival film set in Northern Italy, and written and directed by Cosimo Gomez; Love & Gelato (HT Film), which is written and directed by Brandon Camp, recounts the adventures of a young American woman who is looking to find herself while on holiday in Rome; Under the Amalfi Sun [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Lucky Red) is the “adult” sequel to Under the Riccione Sun [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], directed by Martina Pastori in her directorial debut; Per lanciarsi dalle stelle [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (Lotus Film), directed by Andrea Jublin and based on the novel of the same name, is the story of a young woman who tries to face her biggest fears following the death of her best friend.film/440584 [+lee también:
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Non-fiction projects, meanwhile, include Wanna (Fremantle Italy), Il caso Alex Schwazer (Indigo Film), Summer Job (Banijay Italia) and Netflix’s first original Italian reality show, which is led by Matilde Gioli.