Naples, the capital of sets. A new Cinecittà in Marcelle Padovani's reportage

“Over five hundred films, including features, shorts and documentaries in three years” suggest we should talk about a new Cinecittà, writes journalist Marcelle Padovani in her report published by L'Obs.
From the set of the series “I bastardi di Pizzofalcone”, an adaptation of the novel by Maurizio De Giovanni, directed by Alessandro D'Alatri, with which the French journalist opens her report, to the series based on the best seller by Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend, directed by Saverio Costanzo.
The relaunch of Naples as a set began in 2015 - it is said - with the first season of the series "Gomorra", made with Neapolitan workers and then sold in over one hundred and ninety territories around the world. Since then, the city, says Padovani, has welcomed five hundred productions in three years and today about ten films and series are being shot, again, the fourth season of "Gomorra", the Sky series made by Cattleya, which the French magazine chose as the image accompanying the article with the popular Genny Savastano (Salvatore Esposito).
Padovani tries to understand where the real “Miracle in Naples” comes from. “Let’s not forget that Naples has always been the Italian capital of culture, like Rome the administrative capital and Milan the economic capital. Naples has known how to welcome everyone with open arms for millennia, even invaders, and today it does the same with film and television crews,” writes L’Obs, recalling the birth of the Film Commission, wanted ten years ago by the Campania Region to attract major producers, and the Cinema Office, created three years ago by the municipality of Naples “without spending a penny”. “Naples is the only city in the world that can offer this luxury”, explains Mayor De Magistris. “Here we don’t make producers pay the tax for occupying public land, we put the police at the disposal of screenwriters, we open abandoned municipal buildings for free to television crews, we demonstrate flexibility on the rules in the name of culture”.