The Monster of Florence Series to Premiere October 22 on Netflix

Netflix has officially announced the release date of The Monster of Florence, a highly anticipated limited series set in the Tuscan capital and based on one of the most chilling real-life murder cases in Italian history. The four-episode series will debut worldwide on October 22, 2025.

The four-part limited series is directed by Stefano Sollima and co-created with Leonardo Fasoli. Filmed largely on location, the show revisits one of Tuscany’s most harrowing serial-killer cases. The two previously collaborated on the critically acclaimed crime series Gomorrah, and now return to tell the true story of one of Italy’s longest and most complex criminal investigations.

The cast is entirely Italian and includes Marco Bullitta, Valentino Mannias, Francesca Olia, Liliana Bottone, Giacomo Fadda, Antonio Tintis, and Giordano Mannu  . The series delves deep into true testimonies, court records, and the complex investigations that unfolded between 1968 and 1985, including the infamous eight double murders committed with a 22‑caliber Beretta.

A criminal investigation launched in the early 1990s led to the conviction of two men—Giancarlo Lotti and Mario Vanni—sentenced in 1999 as perpetrators of four of the double murders. A third suspect, Pietro Pacciani, was convicted in the first trial but later acquitted on appeal; he died before a retrial could take place.

Despite these verdicts, no physical evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, or the murder weapon—a presumed Beretta pistol—was ever found linking the so-called “compagni di merende” to the crimes.

Over the years, prosecutors in Florence and Perugia explored various leads, including the theory of an occult motive and possible unknown instigators, but none have ever been confirmed. To this day, the Monster of Florence case remains one of Italy’s most disturbing and unresolved criminal mysteries.

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