Inside the Hunt for the Monster of Florence: Is Italy’s Most Elusive Killer Still at Large?
Netflix reopens Italy’s darkest cold case with The Monster of Florence, a chilling drama retracing the Il Mostro murders that terrorized Tuscany from the 1960s to the 1980s—and the decades-long hunt that never found the killer.
Netflix is digging into one of Italy's most unsettling rabbit holes with The Monster of Florence, a dramatization of a real case that has obsessed the country for decades. It is grim, it is messy, and it is still unsolved — which is exactly why it sticks with you.
So yes, it is a true story
The series is based on Il Mostro di Firenze — the Monster of Florence — an unidentified killer who targeted couples around the hills near Florence between 1968 and 1985. Eight couples were murdered. Despite waves of arrests and endless theories, authorities never landed on a definitive perpetrator. The investigation even got revived in the 2000s, and as recently as 2022, victims' families have pushed for another look at the evidence.
The show’s angle: the Sardinian trail
Rather than pretending it can solve the case, the series zeroes in on one of the most debated leads: the so-called Sardinian trail. That points to the Meles, a Sardinian immigrant family connected to the first known victim. According to Britannica, Stefano Mele — the husband of that first woman — was convicted of her murder. But the killings kept happening while he was in prison, and he was released. Other relatives were investigated later and cleared.
The show plays it the way the history demands: it nudges several possible suspects, never nails anyone down, and by the end, every suspect walks. Frustrating? Yes. True to the case? Also yes.
The wilder theory you may have heard
Over the years, people have floated the idea that the Monster of Florence might have been the same person as the Zodiac Killer in California. It's chilling. It is also pure speculation. No proof has ever backed that up.
How the series frames the era
Director Stefano Sollima told The Hollywood Reporter that the goal was to explore the culture, politics, and police work of those years, not to provide a neat answer. He is very upfront about the scale of it all.
"We were able to tell of all the Italies of those years. And all the facets of a case about which everyone has an idea, but no one has really dealt with the whole — the enormous amount of insights, suggestions and facts."
"The point is that this series, like all the ones I love, asks a lot of questions and does not pretend to give answers."
The case, at a glance
- 1968: The first known killing linked to the Monster.
- 1968–1985: Eight couples murdered around Florence/Tuscany.
- 1970s–1990s: Multiple suspects and arrests; no definitive resolution.
- 2000s: Investigation reopened.
- 2022: Families push authorities to reexamine evidence again.
- Now: Netflix revisits the case with a dramatized deep dive.
Does it work as a series?
Critics are split. The Monster of Florence sits at 63% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes. People are into its icy mood, strong cast, and how it digs into obsession. The knock is that the storytelling can feel scattered and unfocused — which, to be fair, mirrors the case itself.
The Monster of Florence is streaming on Netflix. If you watch it, I am curious where you land on the show’s approach: intriguing slow-burn, or too many threads and not enough closure?