Naples, Italy—where to even begin? The city in the south is not a first stop for touristing Americans. It boasts not the candy colored novelty of the Amalfi Coast, the opulent glean of Lake Como, or the grandiose historical tourism of Rome. When travel guides list top places to visit in Italy, the city is often left off. I’m biased—I have Naples in my blood, this is the city that bore various relatives, and I see its heritage in people I love as well as in my self—but for many, Naples’ appeal is somewhat nebulous, not unlike the wrought and poignant dynamics in Elena Ferrante’s work.
The third largest city in Italy, Naples has more than meets the eye. It is filled with salt of the earth locals and rustic, hearty food. It has also earned a reputation for organized crime and a gritty chaos that is a far cry from the north’s bucolic provinces. But despite his hailing from Rome, it is Naples, says Saverio Costanza, creator of the television series My Brilliant Friend, that is the distilled heart of all Italian society.
“The Neapolitans are us,” he tells me.
Ahead of the start of the show’s fourth and final season, which begins airing September 9 and will officially end October 28, Costanza spoke to Conde Nast Traveler about the wild and wonderful Italian city at the heart of Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, on which the HBO drama is based. To be Neapolitan is to be voraciously proud, and loyal—but as Ferrante explores, the identity also bears the weight of a culture marred by machismo, violence, and archaism. Through Elena and Lila’s eyes we see two women who are living manifestations of Naples—of its irascible political climate, of its insatiable pull, of its resilience—and passion that swings between all consuming love and visceral hatred. The beauty of the show, and Ferrante’s novels, is that it never asks viewers to love Naples wholeheartedly, nor revile it. Instead, it holds a mirror up to those who look down on the city, who condescend to the people of Naples and their working class identity, even the way they look with their darker skin and deep brown eyes. It celebrates, in its honesty, a city that is wholly and unapologetically itself: Italian. It reminds viewers that places, like people, are more than good or bad—and it reminds those of us with Neapolitan roots to take pride in our heritage.
From the densely packed Rione [the densely packed Neapolitan neighborhood setting] where Elena and Lila grow up, to the island of Ischia, Naples is as much a character unto itself as Elena or Lila, and it’s integral to delivering an adaptation that is true to Ferrante’s work. Visually this was achieved by creating a portrait of the city that was authentic historically and emotionally—and that brought into consideration everything from each room’s wallpaper to the amount of food on each table. Here’s how.