The horrifying true story behind The Monster of Florence on Netflix

by

I’m really loving how streaming has opened things up – it’s amazing when shows from anywhere in the world suddenly become huge hits. It feels like they just appear and everyone starts watching!

The Italian true crime series, The Monster of Florence, has recently become very popular on Netflix in the UK.

This series follows the decades-long pursuit of one of Italy’s most infamous serial killers, and explores the real events that inspired the show.

Read on for everything you need to know.

What is The Monster of Florence about?

For seventeen years, a terrifying series of eight double murders haunted Italy. Each crime involved the same weapon – a .22 caliber Beretta pistol. This led to one of the longest and most complicated investigations in Italian history, focused on finding the country’s first and most violent serial killer, known as The Monster of Florence.

This series is based on real events, using firsthand accounts, official records, and investigative journalism. Everything you see is based on verifiable truth. We believe that honest storytelling is the only path to justice for those affected.

This story explores the idea of monsters, but instead of focusing on those who hunt them, it looks at things from the monsters’ perspective. It suggests that anyone could be the real monster.

What is the true story behind The Monster of Florence?

The Monster of Florence refers to a real-life serial killer, known as Il Mostro, who terrorized Italy for 17 years, claiming the lives of 16 people. The killer primarily targeted couples in parked cars, often during intimate moments, and in some cases, the female victims were also brutally mutilated.

Investigators believe one person committed all the murders because the same gun – a 22-caliber Beretta pistol firing Winchester series H bullets – was used in each case. The gun remains missing.

The first victim attributed to Il Mostro was likely Barbara Locci and her partner, Antonio Lo Bianco, who were murdered in August 1968. The last confirmed attack occurred in September 1985, when Jean Michel Kraveichvili and Nadine Mauriot, a French couple, were shot and stabbed while camping in Italy.

Even today, the killer remains unidentified. Although three men have been accused of related murders, the case was reopened in the 2000s, and many Italians still believe it remains unsolved.

The series heavily explores a specific line of inquiry – the “Sardinian trail” – which suggests the killer, nicknamed “Il Mostro,” might have been connected to a Sardinian immigrant family named the Meles living in Tuscany.

The case began when Stefano Mele, Locci’s husband, was initially charged with her murder and given a 45-year prison sentence. He first admitted to killing both Locci and Lo Bianco, but later changed his story. He then accused several men from Sardinia, claiming they were having affairs with his wife.

It’s a relief to hear that some people caught up in this case were eventually cleared. That includes folks like Francesco Vinci, who had been involved with one of the victims, and family members of another suspect – Giovanni Mele, his brother, and Piero Mucciarini, his brother-in-law. They were all held for questioning, but thankfully weren’t involved when the attacks continued. By 1989, the police had ruled out everyone connected to the initial leads in Sardinia.

The series does not profess to know who the killer was, or implicate any one individual.

I was really struck by something Stefano Sollima, the co-creator and director, told TIME. He explained that, incredibly, no one has been convicted for all sixteen murders. That’s why they chose to tell the story starting right at the beginning – when the investigators first started to piece things together and realized they might be dealing with a serial killer. It really highlights how complex and frustrating the case was.

Our goal wasn’t to solve the mystery of the ‘Monster,’ but to present the story without judgment. We shifted the focus away from the overall investigation and instead centered each episode on a different suspect – the person investigators believed was responsible in that particular case.

Unlike many true crime shows, The Monster of Florence doesn’t change the names of the people involved – it uses their real identities.

I was really struck by what Sollima told TIME. He explained that everything you see in the show actually happened, and some of the conversations you hear are exactly as they occurred between the people involved. It felt so authentic knowing that.

As a true crime and film buff, I was really struck by something I read recently. Apparently, as late as March 2022, the families of the victims in the ‘Il Mostro’ case were still pushing for investigators in Florence to reopen the case and explore any new clues. It’s heartbreaking to think they’re still seeking answers after all this time.

You can now watch ‘The Monster of Florence’ on Netflix. Netflix subscriptions start at just £5.99 per month, and it’s also available through Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

Don’t miss The Monster of Florence! Add it to your watchlist on the TopMob app – download now for daily TV suggestions, exclusive content, and more.

Read More

2025-10-24 14:36