1992 (TV series)

1992
Genre	Drama Political drama Political thriller
Created by	Stefano Accorsi Alessandro Fabbri Ludovica Rampoldi Stefano Sardo
Starring	See actors
Country of origin	Italy
Original language(s)	Italian
No. of seasons	1-in production
No. of episodes	10
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mario Gianani Lorenzo Mieli
Editor(s)	Wildside Sky Italia La7
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	60 minutes
Distributor	Sky Italia
Broadcast
Original channel	Sky Atlantic Sky Cinema
Picture format	1080i (HDTV)
Audio format	5.1-channel surround sound
Original airing	March 24, 2015 (2015-03-24)
External links
Website

1992 is an Italian political drama television series created by Alessandro Fabbri, Ludovica Rampoldi, Stefano Sardo and based on an idea by Stefano Accorsi. The first season, comprising ten episodes, premiered on March 24, 2015, on pay-tv Sky Italia channels Sky Atlantic and Sky Cinema 1.

Set in Rome, Milan and different Italian cities, the TV series offers a thrilling story following six people whose lives are intertwined with the rapidly changing political landscape in the early 90s, during which Italy was gripped by the Clean Hands investigation into political corruption. Subsequently, this led to the termination of the First Republican Party as well as the termination of several other Italian parties. This controversial period in Italy resulted in the suicide of various political figures.^[1]

It’s difficult to avoid seeing this TV series as a cross between House of Cards, The Sopranos, The West Wing.^[2][3]

Production

It all began in Milan on February 17, with the arrest of a second-tier politician. It is 1992, and the series’ eponymous year will prove to be a year of turmoil and upheaval, redefining Italy’s life, and redrawing the map of its powers that be.

Opening scenes show the arrest of Mario Chiesa, general manager of Pio Albergo Trivulzio, a public elderly care facility in Milan. This will prove the spark that sets ablaze a bonfire of scandal in what will soon come to be known as Tangentopoli; the rest is history, and it is also the meat and bones of 1992, based on an idea by Italian movie star Stefano Accorsi, who also stars, created by Alessandro Fabbri, Ludovica Rampoldi and Stefano Sardo, who all wrote the teleplays. Nicola Lusuardi is the story editor.

The series paints an accurate portrayal of the era, bringing it back to life through a painstakingly researched palette of details: all the colours and fashion, the taste and lifestyles. Nailing period details to perfection, the story has its fictional characters interact with the true heroes and victims, those who were splashed on that crucial year’s headlines: they blend into the story, with their real names. Men of law such as Antonio Di Pietro, Piercamillo Davigo, Gherardo Colombo, political leaders such as Mario Segni, Mario Formentini, Umberto Bossi, all relive in an array of outstanding performances from actors who have their style, manners, body language and exact turns of phrase down pat.

Even in a stunning array of individuals that will go on to shape their country’s future, one background appearance does not go unnoticed: Silvio Berlusconi, not yet a politician at that time, who nonetheless laid out his vision on Italy’s outlook, based on his own blend of optimism and hope, in two public speeches. The other characters’ stories are woven into the fabric of real-life chronicles and true stories, seamlessly blending fact and fiction. Six ordinary people’s lives, unfolding within a framework of drama and crisis that has made it a watershed year in the country’s history.

Sweeping investigations and dragnets, politicians and businessmen put behind bars, the balance of powers coming undone and, ultimately, putting the nation’s very stability in danger. None of the dramatic events are left out of the story’s reach: the rise and rise of the populist Lega Nord party, the chain of suicides committed by powerful men of business and finance who had come under scrutiny, the murderous attacks on anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino; and ultimately, the Clean Hands operation’s undoing of the country’s then-prime minister and top politician, Bettino Craxi.

Filming

Production took 21 weeks of principal photography and 109 days on set, involving a cast of 156 actors and 3.000 extras. Shooting took place on about 100 different locations, including Italy’s house of Parliament and Villa Fendi in Rome, and the landmark Pirelli Tower in Milan.

Overall, the costume design of 1992’s characters is influenced by the tradition of noir cinema, by 1940s fashion, and by the navy blue dresses of early Nineties yuppies. Each and every character had its own defining wardobe to help flesh his/her out, just as was usual in American noir movies of the 40s and 50s. Likewise, there is a color palette to match the personality of each character. In keeping with actual fashion trends of the year that gives the series its name, the series’ overall looks feature lines that are cleaner, softer and more sensual than in Eighties’ drama-loving, excess-embracing fashion. The dominating color is absolute black, as favoured in the grunge style of Milan’s underground squats and clublife.

Series synopses

Season 1 (2015)

In the winter of 1991-92, the political change is blowing in Italy. The year of the Clean Hands has begun, a major criminal investigation set up by the Milan District Attorney. Leonardo Notte (Stefano Accorsi) is the pivotal point in this intricate power-play, a slick, brilliant advertising man who believes only in himself, and who'll be in the front row when a new savior steps into the arena.

The biggest fish caught so far is Michele Mainaghi (Tommaso Ragno), a mighty Milanese entrepreneur whose pharmaceutical firm sold tainted blood that infected many innocent citizens. This is how Luca Pastore (Domenico Diele) contracted AIDS. The young cop, part of the Mani Pulite team led by Antonio di Pietro, now seeks revenge and goes on to meet Rocco Venturi (Alessandro Roja) another police officer with a dark side. The married man Mainaghi has another problem: his ravishingly beautiful mistress Veronica Castello (Miriam Leone), who wants a career on national TV. After he falls out of grace, she falls back on her one-time lover Leonardo Notte, who is haunted by a secret from his past. Bibi Mainaghi (Tea Falco) is the spoiled daughter of a wealthy industrial tycoon at the center of the country’s system of corrupt political and business cronies.

In this simmering cauldron of corruption, one apparently upright person is on the rise, Pietro Bosco (Guido Caprino), a Gulf War veteran, a solid mass of rough-hewn man endowed less with brains than with brawn: he leaps into a fight and saves the life of a man who turns out to be one of the leaders of the new party Lega Nord. Before anyone notices, Pietro becomes the Lega Nord's poster-boy for bravery and a candidate for Parliament. Not only that: the beautiful Veronica believes he could be useful to boost her TV career, but falls in love with him, and the two begin planning a life together. But this togetherness has a price, and Pietro has to betray his friends and his convictions if he wants to continue his political career and, most of all, build a family with Veronica.

Episodes

Series 1 (2015)

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1		Giuseppe Gagliardi		March 24, 2015 (2015-03-24)
Politician Mario Chiesa’s arrest ignites a nationwide scandal: Italy’s Tangentopoli. As the political fallout spreads across the country, we follow the intertwining lives and ambitions of six main characters.
2	2		Giuseppe Gagliardi		March 24, 2015 (2015-03-24)
Showgirl Veronica’s tv career is on the verge of a major breakthrough, but the Tangentopoli affair seems to stop her in her track. Pietro, a Gulf war veteran, takes on the challenge of politics.
3	3		Giuseppe Gagliardi		March 31, 2015 (2015-03-31)
Luca, a policeman, obtains the revenge he is seeking, but justice is another matter. Advertising man Leo finds himself under the threat of blackmail: someone has dug out some murky truth about his past.
4	4		Giuseppe Gagliardi		March 31, 2015 (2015-03-31)
A new chance comes up for Veronica: her dreams again seem within reach. Bibi is confronted with a responsibility she had so far managed to elude.
5	5		Giuseppe Gagliardi		April 7, 2015 (2015-04-07)
All main characters are faced with a major reboot in their lives: some have to take a step back to get started anew, whereas others suddenly get more than they had even dared to hope for.
6	6		Giuseppe Gagliardi		April 7, 2015 (2015-04-07)
Luca gets close to Bibi’s projects for the powerful Mainaghi holding company. Leo undertakes a risky rise to power. In the background, the country is shaken by a new, devastating Mafia attack.
7	7		Giuseppe Gagliardi		April 14, 2015 (2015-04-14)
In apparent summer calm, the old political establishment is hard at work on a major counterattack. Meanwhile, the main characters have to face the uneasy consequences of their ambitions.
8	8		Giuseppe Gagliardi		April 14, 2015 (2015-04-14)
As prosecutor Di Pietro finds out, a spy hides within his Mani Pulite (“Clean Hands”) investigation team. Leo is close to fulfiling his political hopes and dreams, but he undergoes a crisis of faith.
9	9		Giuseppe Gagliardi		April 21, 2015 (2015-04-21)
Luca is ready to put everything at risk to get his revenge: his position within the Mani Pulite (“Clean Hands”) task force is compromised. Pietro has to renege on his own self to save his relationship with Veronica.
10	10		Giuseppe Gagliardi		April 21, 2015 (2015-04-21)
Di Pietro and the Mani Pulite team involve Prime minister Bettino Craxi as a prime suspect in their investigation. Our six main characters are confronted with extreme choices. It all builds up to a final judgement day: he who is willing to pay the most terrible price will win.

Main cast and characters

• Stefano Accorsi as Leonardo Notte, a marketing man with a murky past, coming back to haunt him just as 1992’s events seem to bring about the professional chance of a lifetime. Anonymous blackmail forces Leo to confront a morbid episode in his past that he had surgically removed from his memory. His glitzy, no-strings-attached lifestyle is turned upside down by the appearance of Viola, his hitherto unknown teenage daughter. As Leo tries to free himself from the shadows of the past, he stumbles into a revolutionary idea that could shape the future of his trade - and his own.
• Guido Caprino as Pietro Bosco, a 33-year old veteran of the Gulf war, finds himself elected in the Italian parliament, with the rising Lega Nord party. A gregarious rugby lover and beer drinker, he turns out to be the ultimate fish out of water in the hidebond Parlamento, a world he is totally alien to. His only chances lie in finding the right mentor; thus, Pietro will put his career in the hands of a seasoned politician who will show him the ropes - certainly, at a price.
• Domenico Diele as Luca Pastore, a judicial police officer, works side by side with maverick prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro. Motivated by a personal quest for revenge, he is hard at work to solve the Tangentopoli conundrum. Investigations, arrests, interrogations. Under pressure and under menace. Because strong headwinds are blowing, and not just from outside the prosecutors’ offices.
• Tea Falco as Beatrice “Bibi” Mainaghi. Daughter of the aforementioned tycoon, is the black sheep in a power dinasty, but her life will take a new, radically unexpected turn in the wake of Tangentopoli.
• Miriam Leone as Veronica Castello, a showgirl on the fast track to fame. She needs it, physically, and is out to get it at all costs: the unconditional love of a prime time audience is the only viable conduit for her self-esteem. As the lover she has picked, powerful tycoon Michele Mainaghi, goes under in the investigations, Veronica briefly finds herself at a loss, then starts the search for a new, powerful pigmalione t position in the pecking order of the new powers that be.
• Alessandro Roja as Rocco Venturi, a young Roman police officer, also joining Antonio Di Pietro’s team of investigators. A sly look and his trademark fast talk would seem to put him as a natural leader in that team, but he will turn out to hide a totally different truth behind his gung-ho mask.

Other characters:

• Irene Casagrande as Viola Notte
• Teco Celio as Gianni Bortolotti
• Fabrizio Contri as Marcello Dell'Utri
• Antoio Gerardi as Antonio Di Pietro
• Gianfelice Imparato as Gaetano Nobile
• Bebo Storti as Enrico Lodato
• Elena Radonicich as Giulia Castello
• Tommaso Ragno as Michele Mainaghi

Reception

Italy Ratings

TV Season	Season	Date	Timeslot	Episode	Viewers on Sky Italia TV
2015	1	March 24, 2015	9.10 PM	1	723,000[4]
			10.05 PM	2	617,000[4]
		March 31, 2015	9.10 PM	3	545,000[5]
			10.05 PM	4	456,000[5]
		April 7, 2015	9.10 PM	5
			10.05 PM	6
		April 14, 2015	9.10 PM	7
			10.05 PM	8
		April 21, 2015	9.10 PM	9
			10.05 PM	10

Foreign countries

As of March 24, 2015 1992 was also being broadcast in Austria, England, Germany and Ireland. The TV series will be distributed in France, Spain and Scandinavia coming soon.^[6]

Other media

Soundtracks Season 1

Song	Artist(s)
Above the clouds	Paul Weller
All that she wants	Ace of Base
Daydream	Smashing Pumpkins
Everybody hurts	R.E.M.
Found love	Double Dee
Gypsy woman	Crystal Waters
I nearly lost you	Screaming Trees
Killer	Seal
Movin' on up	Primal Scream
Nightswimming	R.E.M.
Non amarmi	Aleandro Baldi feat. Francesca Alotta
Please don't go	Double You
Set adrift on memory bliss	PM Dawn
Taillights fade	Buffalo Tom
The concept	TeenAge Fun Club
(Trhu) The gates of the big fruit	Urban Dance Squad
Waiting for the miracle	Leonard Cohen
Washer	Slint

References