“After ‘La Meglio Gioventù’ I was offered various roles as detectives, but I rejected them because they lacked the truthfulness, which instead I found in this story. In the character I play in this fiction there is a real ‘Fenoglio Method’. Pietro Feniglio loves classical music, hates guns and wants to learn about human beings”. Thus Alessio Boni during the press conference to present the new TV series ‘The Fenoglio Method –
The cold summer at the Rai headquarters in viale Mazzini, directed by Alessandro Casale, where he is the protagonist, he talks about his experience on the set in the role of Pietro Fenoglio, a Piedmontese marshal of the Operational Unit of the Carabinieri who operates in Bari and investigates organized crime. The TV movie, broadcast starting from Monday 27 November for 4 evenings (2 episodes per episode), in prime time on Rai1 and also on Raiplay, is based on the trilogy ‘Il Maresciallo Fenoglio’ (Einaudi) by Gianrico Carofiglio who is also the screenwriter of the television adaptation. With Alessio Boni, the cast also includes Paolo Sassanelli (Antonio Pellecchia), Giulia Bevilacqua (Serena Morandi), Giulia Vecchio (Gemma D’Angelo), Michele Venitucci (Vito Lopez) and Marcello Prayer (Nicola Grimaldi). The artistic cast also includes Bianca Nappi, Betti Pedrazzi, Gianpiero Borgia, Pio Stellaccio, Francesco Foti, Alessandro Carbonara and Francesco Centorame.
‘The Fenoglio Method’ tells an epic story of Italian history with intimate and delicate tones. It is a journey into a ‘grey area’ where it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish what is right from what is wrong. We are in Bari in 1991, the Piedmontese marshal Pietro Fenoglio is one of the leading exponents of the Operational Unit of theCarabinieri. His strengths are his keen investigative instinct and deep respect for the law and truth, even when his human openness towards criminals brings him into direct conflict with his superiors. During his latest investigations Fenoglio began to harbor a suspicion that is obsessing him. He is convinced that local crime is no longer made up of just a handful of rival gangs, but that a real Bari mafia. Yet his personal investigations still have no practical evidence and are opposed by his superior, Colonel Valente. In the days following the arson of the Petruzzelli Theatre, beating heart of the city of Bari, tension is sky high: ambushes, killings and cases of white lupara create a climate of terror that makes life in the city impossible. And Fenoglio is unable to decipher the reasons for that unprecedented explosion of violence. Until an unexpected and shocking fact emerges: the son of Nicola Grimaldithe most powerful and ruthless boss in the area, was seized.
During the investigations carried out in collaboration with the officer Pellecchia, whose brisk ways clash with the legalistic attitude of his superior, and led by the surly and charismatic PM Gemma D’Angelo, Fenoglio wants to see clearly. He discovers that the boss paid a ransom to get his son back, but that the child never returned home. Everyone’s suspicions focus on Vito Lopez, former right-hand man of the boss Grimaldi: the very strong friendship that has linked them for years has in fact entered into crisis and resulted in a fratricidal and deadly fight. But is Lopez really the creator of the feud or is he just another scapegoat in a criminal war with no winners or losers? The question torments Fenoglio, while the attack of Cosa Nostra to the heart of the State with i mafia massacres by Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino and their respective stocks. The answer to the question that keeps Fenoglio sleepless will be given by an investigation different from all the others, which will lead to the discovery of a surprising truth. ”To fight the mafia you need to be empathetic with it, know it. It’s Fenoglio’s formula – continues Boni – what has Fenoglio left me? Patience: I’m becoming more and more intolerant. In part my children help me to have it, but you also need to have it when judging”.
‘The Fenoglio Method’ is ”a great work that is made up of numerous elements, including writing and cast – he explains Maria Pia Ammirati, director of Rai Fiction, during the press conference – If there is richness in the story there is also the desire to intertwine the various narratives and Carofiglio’s book is rich in the relationships of the characters. We thank the Carabinieri who allowed us to understand their peculiar traits”. ”If I expected to find exactly what I wrote in fiction I would be deluded – adds Carofiglio – it is not desirable, it would mean having a weak product that abdicates the duties of the television medium. My hope instead is that the series replicates the spirit of the characters and stories through a sense of credibility that is not always easy to find”. ”My Serena is empathetic, she knows how to take her partner. Fenoglio is very independent and Serena has a modern relationship with him, based on respect, freedom and dialogue – explains Bevilacqua – I hope that young people follow this series and remember what has been done for us”. ”Transposing Gianrico Carofiglio’s novel ‘The Cold Summer’ through images into a television series was a great privilege and at the same time an electrifying challenge – continues the director. My objective was to reconstruct as faithfully as possible the atmospheres that characterized the city of Bari, the capital of Puglia, which was the scene of the criminal events of the early 90s of the last century that unfold in the series”.
”A city, Bari, in which our protagonist Fenoglio, marshal of the operational unit of the Carabinieri, faces important and delicate investigations in the hottest months of the fight against Italian organized crime in those years – Casale continues – Pietro Fenoglio is a rare character . He believes in what he does and tries to do it at all costs, while remaining within the boundaries that he himself has chosen. And these boundaries are called Law. To accompany the Marshal in his complex investigations I chose actors and settings extremely linked to the territory, capable of making his investigative activity absolutely credible; in short, a choice, for me, necessary to immerse the spectators in the harsh reality of that period”. Also present at the Rai press conference to present the new drama were Gabriella Buontempo and Massimo Martino, producers of Clemart and Francesco Nardella, head of theRai Fiction. ‘Il Maresciallo Fenoglio’ is co-produced by Rai Fiction – Clemart Srl with the contribution of Apulia Film Commission.
