[Commlist] JICMS CFP: Giallo! The Long History of Italian Television Crime Drama

*/Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies/**

***

*Call for Papers*

*Giallo! The Long History of Italian Television Crime Drama *

**

Special issue edited by Luca Barra (Università di Bologna) and Valentina 
Re (Link Campus, Rome)*

*

Most of the Italian television drama able to circulate internationally 
belongs to the multifaceted crime genre, both in some sparse examples 
from the past and in growing contemporary productions (from premium 
channels and digital platforms to public service and commercial 
broadcasters). However, for many decades, only a limited range of titles 
has been given scholarly attention, drawing a useful yet partial account 
of an otherwise dense and multilayered history. Moreover, exceptions 
have often been studied far more than the most conventional crime series 
in the ‘giallo’ spectrum: most police procedurals are deemed too 
formulaic, or too popular, to be distinguished. Therefore, this special 
issue intends to overcome these limits by focusing on the historical 
evolution of the crime genre inside the development of Italian 
television, from the early stages to the latest mainstream and niche 
successes, and by highlighting the many crime titles that have become 
familiar to large Italian audiences.

Through the Italian crime drama and its evolution over the decades, an 
original history of Italian television and media can be easily outlined, 
where ‘giallo’ would often mark changes of pace, innovations, successes 
and failures. Already in the first twenty years of the so-called 
paleo-television and monopoly period, crime drama was facilitating the 
Italian ‘sceneggiato’’s turn towards a medium-long seriality: the 
investigations of ‘tenente’ Sheridan (from 1959 to 1972, first with 
/Giallo club. //Invito al poliziesco/and later with /Ritorna il tenente 
Sheridan/, /Sheridan squadra omicidi/ and /Le donne del tenente 
Sheridan/) or /Le inchieste del commissario Maigret/ (1964-1972), 
starring Gino Cervi; or /Nero Wolfe/ (1969-1971). Further on, it was 
crime drama that marked the transition—even the lexical transition—from 
‘sceneggiato’ to ‘fiction’, with the great success of /La Piovra/ 
(1984-2001). It was crime television that punctuated the golden age of 
public service fiction in the late Nineties: /Il maresciallo Rocca/ 
(1996-2008), /Il commissario Montalbano/ (1999-), /La squadra 
/(2000-2007) and the reassuring /Don Matteo/ (2000-). It was crime drama 
that underlined the innovations of commercial networks: /Distretto di 
polizia /(2000- 2012), /RIS. Delitti imperfetti/ (2005-2009) and 
/Squadra antimafia. Palermo oggi /(2009-2016). Once again, it was the 
crime genre that marked the arrival of premium original productions, 
first with Sky – /Quo vadis, baby?/ (2008), /Romanzo criminale. La 
serie/ (2008-2010) and /Gomorra. La serie/ (2014-) – and later with 
Netflix – /Suburra. //La serie/(2017-2020). Lastly, crime is one of the 
main battlegrounds for the return of Rai and Mediaset competition, 
innovating genres and aesthetics and establishing global partnerships, 
with titles like /Non uccidere/ (2015-2018), /Rocco Schiavone/ (2016-), 
/La porta rossa/ (2016-), /I bastardi di Pizzofalcone/ (2017-), 
/Maltese/ (2017), /Il cacciatore/ (2018) and /Il processo /(2019). In 
Italy, as in many other countries like the United States, the United 
Kingdom and Scandinavia, the entire nation is reflected in the history 
of its TV crime drama, mixing the reverberations of a changing society – 
which experiences new tensions and conflicts in terms of economic 
insecurity, political uncertainty, family and gender norms – with formal 
experiments and the shared imageries of a long-lasting, rich and always 
new genre.

The editors encourage submissions that cover, but are not limited to, 
the following subjects and topics:

1. The genre and its polymorphism. How has Italian TV, across its entire 
history, interpreted the many subgenres of ‘giallo’ (noir, police 
procedural, legal drama, detective story, crime, etc.)? How are these 
subgenres related to different periods, specific formats, channels and 
platforms?

2. The familiar hybridizations with comedy and melodrama. What are the 
strategies to ‘balance’ the roughness of crime in the Italian tradition? 
How have these interacted with the crime genre?

3. The less familiar hybridizations with other genres. How have popular 
genres like fantasy, the supernatural, gothic, science fiction and 
thriller impacted the ‘giallo’ traditions and innovations?

4. The geography of Italian crime. How have the places represented in 
the Italian ‘giallo’ changed in television history (centre vs. 
peripheries; urban vs. rural stories)? How have locations affected the 
narrative developments, the production and the national and global 
circulation of these series?

5. Literary adaptations and original productions. How has the frequent 
adaptation of literary investigators (i.e. Maigret, Nero Wolfe, 
Montalbano, etc.) influenced the narratives, characters, production and 
promotion strategies of Italian TV dramas? How do fully-original stories 
differ?

6. The Italian ‘giallo’ as a transmedial phenomenon. How have crime 
dramas hybridized languages, figures, characters and topics from 
different media, such as radio, comics and cinema?

7. Mainstream dramas and quality ‘giallo’. How has ‘quality’ or 
‘complex’ TV impacted Italian crime by featuring ambiguous heroes and 
antiheroes, multiple storylines, unconventional locations and a 
sophisticated visual style? And what is the role of more traditional, 
mass-oriented crime?

8. From amateur to professional female investigators. How have crime 
dramas, from Laura Storm to /Thou Shalt Not Kill/’s Valeria Ferro, shown 
an increasingly strong interest in female detectives? How does this help 
us understand, question and renegotiate evolving gender and genre norms?

9. The reality and fiction of Italian ‘giallo’. How have Italian crime 
dramas reinterpreted or hinted at the news of ‘cronaca nera’, in a 
complex entanglement between unsolved cases and judiciary truths? In 
which ways has the recent explosion of serial true crime also impacted 
fictional series?

10. The international circulation of Italian crime. After the first 
success of /La piovra/, in recent years more and more national 
productions have met with foreign acclaim. What are the elements that 
facilitate this international circulation, and what are the effects on 
narratives and productions?

11. Italian ‘giallo’ and the past: national history and national memory. 
How has the Italian ‘giallo’ tradition been proven capable of turning 
our gaze on the past and addressing unresolved social and political 
conflict? How do ‘gialli’ contribute to a shared national memory of 
mysteries and traumas?

12. Italian ‘giallo’ and the present: social tensions and moral 
dilemmas. From financial issues to terrorism, from immigration to the 
ties between politics, corruption and organized crime, how has the 
contemporary crime drama contributed to narrating conflict and fear in 
our societies?

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 30 April. Interested 
contributors should send the following materials to the guest editors 
Luca Barra, Università di Bologna (luca.barraATunibo.it 
<http://luca.barraATunibo.it>) and Valentina Re, Link Campus, Rome 
(v.reATunilink.it <http://v.reATunilink.it>): a 500 word abstract in 
English of original and unpublished articles, outlining the topic, 
approach and theoretical bases with a relevant bibliography and 
filmography; and  a 200 word biographical note. The accepted proposals 
will be notified by 31 May; completed articles should be sent by 15 
October for peer-review; authors will be notified of the results of the 
peer-review by 15 December 2021.


Dr. Flavia Laviosa
Senior Lecturer, Department of Italian Studies
Wellesley College
Editor-in-Chief, /Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies/
Editor, Book Series /Trajectories of Italian Cinema and Media /

/
/






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