If a bunch of mafiosi Pugliesi foot soldiers ramraiding their way into an electronics shop and clearing the shelves while Spagna’s ‘Call Me Away’ blares away in the background is your thing, signori, signore, bambini e bambine, welcome to the first episode of Cold Summer!

Adapted from Gianrico Carofiglio’s best-selling 2018 novel of the same name, the eight-parter enjoyed a whopping 23% audience share when it premiered a couple of years ago in Italy.

Equal parts Gomorrah and Inspector Montalbano – a curious mix, we know, but it works – it’s a fictionalised version of the very real bloodshed that erupted in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s in Bari where the Sacra Corona Unita – AKA ‘The Fourth Mafia’ – acted for a while with almost total impunity.

“It’s been an amazing project, I love it so much!” enthuses Giulia Bevilacqua who plays public prosecutor Gemma D’Angelo in the eight-parter which is streaming here courtesy of Walter Presents. “I read the script before I read the book and loved Gianrico’s writing in both of them. I’m from Puglia myself, so even though I was only two or three when the events in the series took place, I can identify with the story and the characters.

“The number of mafia murders in Italy has gone down a lot (from 700 in 1991 to 17 in 2022) but there are still prosecutors like Gemma who are fighting the crime gangs and, in doing so, risking the safety of themselves and their families. The dangers are still very real for anyone who goes up agaist the Sacra Corona Unita.”

Cold Summer or ‘Estate Fredda’ was the codename given to the massive 1992 police operation which clipped mafiosi Pugliesi’s wings… for a while.

Regrouping under younger capos who are more tech savvy but just as brutal as their predecessors, the Sacra Corona Unita are currently thought to have 2,000 members and annual ill-gotten gains of at least $2.5 billion.

“In Italy, the mafia is a way of thinking that exists in not just Puglia but everywhere in Italy,” Giulia resumes. “Again, it’s not like the old days but we still have a problem with Sacra Cora Unita who are involved in things like drug trafficking and prostitution. As a visitor you won’t notice or be effected by it because it’s all happening in the background.”

Lest the Puglia Tourist Board take offence, she quickly adds: “Bari is beautiful and nowadays very safe to walk around.”

COLD SUMMER SPOILER ALERT!

When the son of mafia boss Nicola Grimaldi is kidnapped, a ransom is paid but a few days later the boy is found dead. The prime suspect is Vito Lopez, Grimaldi’s right-hand man until they had a bitter falling out. In an omerta-shattering twist, Lopez surrenders and offers to turn state’s witness, confessing to multiple crimes but denying involvement in the child’s murder. As the senior investigating carabinieri officer Pietro Fenoglio digs deeper, he uncovers a terrifying truth: two of his own colleagues are responsible.

The chemistry between Giulia’s character Gloria and Fenoglio, who’s played by heartthrob Lombardian actor Alessio Boni, is electric.

“Thank you!” she beams. “I loved working with Alessio who is a very well-known actor in Italy and a kind, generous person – both on and off set. Being the youngest one in the series, he offered me lots of advice and we became good friends.

“The story is fictional but based on real people and real events from that time, which Gianrico writes about as part of a trilogy.”
Does that mean we can look forward to Cold Summer follow-on series?

“I hope that we can continue the story,” Giulia concludes, “but there’s politics involved. Gianrico Carofiglio is seen in Italy as a very liberal person and at this moment we have right-wing politicians trying to limit our cultural choices. We have to make sure that they don’t win.”

• Watch Cold Summer now on the Walter Presents strand of channel4.com.