Last act for the one of the best known and most internationally appreciated productions, cult TV series Gomorrah, which broadcasts from 19 November on Sky and in streaming on NOW. A New York Times classification has found that the series, which has been sold to over 190 territories, is the fifth most significant non-American series of the past decade. The ten new episodes of Gomorrah 5 – Final Season are directed by Marco D’Amore (eps 1- 5 and 9) and Claudio Cupellini (eps 6- 8 and 10) and were shot in Naples, Riga (revealed as the hiding place of Ciro the Immortal) and Rome.
Salvatore Esposito, as Genny Savastano, returns in this fifth season after being forced to go into hiding in a bunker at the end of the fourth season. The cast of the final season also includes the celebrated return of Marco D’Amore, once again in the lead role of Ciro Di Marzio, who was believed to have died at the end of the third Season and – as the film The Immortal reveals – returns to the scene, alive, in Latvia. Retuning with them are: Ivana Lotito as Azzurra who, abandoned by Genny, will do all she can to keep little Pietro safe and far from his father and the world he represents; and Arturo Muselli, as Enzo Sangue Blu, the former King of Forcella, plagued by a guilty conscience for having seen too many comrades die because of him. There are also new characters who take their place in this final season.
“In Gomorrah – The Series the location scouting may appear simple but it is actually an endless challenge. The iconography of the series includes shared public spaces, large abandoned areas, disused complexes: this is what the viewer expects to see. And the aim of our work is to keep faith with that imaginary world, but without repeating ourselves, so we are constantly proposing new settings” say the location managers Adriana Malinconico and Vincenzo Busiello. They continue: “There was a meticulous research and study of all the abandoned industrial spaces and popular housing complexes that hadn’t been seen before for this new season. Scouting these former industrial areas and other places inaccessible to the public was one of the most thrilling phases of all our work: having the chance to access spaces now considered industrial archaeology is truly incredible, because it gives us the privilege of seeing the city through different eyes.” Of course, certain places in Naples reappear, such as the Vele in Scampia, a symbolic place in the series which has contributed greatly to creating the visual story of Gomorrah. “Alongside the established icons, the aim to give the series an epic conclusion pushed us to places that could be equally powerful visually, so, for the first time, we managed to access a residential complex designed by the architect Loris Rossi in the heart of Naples. It is a bona-fide amphitheatre created by one of the most visionary modern architects: the perfect arena for some of the key moments of this long-awaited finale”.
Other settings seen in the previous seasons include rione Ponticelli in Naples, in the eastern area of the city, which appears alongside the familiar scenarios of Scampia and Secondigliano: ring roads and large open spaces alternating with anonymous buildings in reinforced concrete, whose greyness is contrasted by large-scale street art and huge murals. There are new sets in the Caserta area too, from Villa Porfidia in Recale, a fortress-palace built at the end of the 1700s by the Bourbon dynasty with its iconic tower to Marcianise where the historic Palazzo Grauso Tartaglione featured as a location.
(Carmen Diotaiuti)