Where it was filmed 'I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone'

All of Naples, starting with the panoramic shot of the city in the opening credits, was involved in filming on this drama series. First off there are the homes of the protagonists: Lojacono lives in Largo Sellaria (which can be recognised by its fountain of the same name), and Laura Piras lives in Villa Gallotti in Posillipo. The police headquarters of Pizzofalcone, located in Via Egiziaca in the San Ferdinando district, is actually Palazzo Carafa di Santa Severina, a 16th-century building that is home to the Military Section of the Naples State Archive. The Centro Direzionale was instead used for the Public Prosecutor’s offices.

Another location we often see in the series is the Certosa di San Martino on Vomero Hill, where Pisanelli confides in his friend Brother Leonardo against the backdrop of a spectacular view over the city.

The rest is a jumble of mazes and neighbourhoods that are mapped out episode by episode and, despite seeming very close to one another on screen, are actually very far apart in some cases. They include the Quartieri Spagnoli, Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, Via Nilo, San Gregorio Armeno and San Biagio dei Librai, the home of the Renaissance-era Palazzo Marigliano, right up to Mergellina.

Piazza del Plebiscito is often featured in the background as the protagonists go about their business. Nearby, in Piazza Trieste e Trento, is the elegant bar where Lojacono and Piras exchange opinions on the case in the first episode and gain a deeper understanding of what is involved.

In Piazza del Gesù Nuovo Lojacono confronts his daughter, telling her the truth about the incident that cast doubt over his integrity as a police officer.

At Naples metro line 1 stop Toledo, in the San Giuseppe district, Pisanelli is forced to verify, in the second episode, the latest in a string of suicides by depressed elderly gentlemen.

Palazzo dello Spagnolo in the Sanità neighbourhood is the building where the murder takes place in the third episode.

The fourth episode delves into the university world, and some of its scenes take us inside the Monte Sant’Angelo building owned by the University of Naples Federico II. The funerals of the two victims instead take place in the Church of Sant’Anna dei Lombardi in Monteoliveto, a Renaissance masterpiece which is home to several works of art, including the sacristy decorated by Vasari.

Investigations into the crime that takes place in episode 5 centre around the cloisterand Church of Sant’Eligio Maggiore, an ancient church that dates back to Angevin times. Some of the chase scenes were filmed in and around Porta Capuana, Galleria Umberto I and the former wool mill in Santa Caterina a Formiello, while the investigation introduces us to Palazzo Serra di Cassano and, through a secret passage, the Bourbon Tunnel, an escape route and shelter for a group of Nigerian prostitutes. Some scenes were also filmed in Santa Lucia and Pallonetto.

In the sixth episode, a child is kidnapped at the National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa in the municipality of Portici, on the border between the Neapolitan neighbourhood of San Giovanni a Teduccio and San Giorgio on the eastern side of Naples. The disappearance of the child is linked to a strange burglary that has been committed at a luxurious villa. Investigations lead Lojacono to the historical Bagno Elena and then to the Pausilya Thermal Baths, a spa that looks out over the sea, Via Chiaia, with shots of the 16th-century Palazzo Cellammare, Porta San Gennaro, the oldest gate in the city, and then the historical buildings on the Chiaia Riviera where the grandfather of the kidnapped child lives, wrapping up in the former Eternit factory building in Bagnoli.