User Reviews

'Mafia Only Kills in Summer' tells the story of Sicily circa 1980 by interweaving the lives of a prototypical Italian family with the real leaders of the Cosa Nostra and the heroes they killed. It's alternately charming, funny, and full of righteous anger; and it gets the balance just right, showing how the Mafia permeated through civil society.. While aspects of the humour are somewhat stereotypical, they go down well anyway because of the sheer heart of the portrayals. A favourite moment of mine is when the central protagonist, a boy on the brink of adolescence and obsessed with the Mafia, is taken by his parents to a psychologist, and in the Rorsach blots he is presented with sees alternately breasts, and (Prime Minister) Andreotti meeting with a Mafioso. Two series have been made to date; it's creator wants take the story through to the 1990s, and I hope he gets the chance to do so.

One of the best Italian series! How can Rai cancel a series like that and make series like Lolita Lobosco, Macari or Leonardo?

I have not seen the film with the same name, so I have no opportunity to compare, but the Series captivated me from the 1st episode. Wonderful and apparently realistic atmosphere (with real events and real persons included), skillful mix of comedy and tragedy, great performances (Francesco Scianna as Massimo and Edoardo Buscetta as Salvatore Giammarresi excelling others a bit)... And pleasantly and surprisingly free family relations in a Catholic country, with reference to love and growing pains. With 2 generations constantly visible, it should be both interesting to parents and children, with apparent explanation what was going on in Sicily in the late 70ies / early 80ies.

Although the Season 2 is somewhat less interesting / more protracted than Season 1, yet 9 points from me, well done! And again, as after watching Montalbano series, I am very keen on visiting Sicily, still never been there.

I've never felt moved to comment on a series before but just had to say that this was great TV. The script was superb even in translation it captured the bittersweet experiences of the family as it was caught up in the machinations of the Mafia as well as the more typical events of family life. The cast was uniformly excellent and each member was a delight to watch and the chemistry between the actors only enhanced the pleasure of watching. It was truly a gem - as beautiful as any found by Angela on the beach!

When you have a great story and quality actors you can appeal to any audience. Mafia only kills in summer delivers on all points. This is a really well done production that weaves a Sicilian family's day-to-day life with Italian socio-political problems in the late 70's and 80's. The setting is beautiful. The actors are compelling and believable. And the story all hangs together with a blend of comedy and drama in each episode. My only regrets when watching the series were a) I don't speak Italian, b) my inability during the pandemic to get on a plane destined for Palermo, and c) the series only lasting 2 seasons.

How is TV getting so good these days? I've just seen the first season of The Mafia Only Kills In Summer. I watched the first few episodes and thought it good. I've only just gotten back into it after a few months. This time around I was totally glued. I now can look forward to season 2. I bought both seasons on a hunch at a fire sale at JB HiFi here in Australia. Some times your luck is in. Everything about this series is so professional. Good photography and cinematography, and a really fun soundtrack hitting all the right notes. There are highs and lows, and a good deal of suspense. I haven't actually seen the original movie, but I'm guessing it contains memorable characters that are highly engaging, as well as just pure fun to watch. That is certainly what you get here. This is light where Gomorrah was dark. I do hope more people get to see this. I can't believe I'm only the third reviewer here at IMDb. In these uncertain times The Mafia Only Kills In Summer is a ray of light.

This was the best tv series I've watched I've never loved a cast more. I felt invested in every one of them. It's heartbreaking and joyful and jarring all at the same time.

I'm blown away by how good this series is. It's truly amazing how the acting, script and everything in between are so good.

The series follows Salvatore Giammaresi and his family in Sicily in the 1980s. We see Salvatore going to school and all the issues that follows, we also follow his mom Pia and Lorenzo and their struggle in a city where you cannot live "normal" without connections. It get's clear from the get-go that Sicily is not a easy place to live, at least not in the 1980 with the mafia corrupting the city.

We are witness to Lorenzo having to determine if he should report a crime he has been witnessed to or not, if he do it might have reputations for his family,

There is so much beauty and love that has gone into this series that it's just amazing.

I would with my full hearth recommend this series to anyone.

Discovered by accident while browsing the TV Programme. The story immediately struck me as something worth watching. But then I discovered a true beauty of this TV series - the stories, the dialogues, characters, cast, actors, camera. The episode with a burnt puppet and the owner of a bookstore is for me the highlight of the show. Not for binge watching - the stories are emotion packed and you should have time to recover before skipping to the next episode.

We have been watching this during the past month, and we both agree it's been our most enjoyable nightly binge since we watched the Swedish Wallendar series. Of course, everyone has different interests and tastes, and this is subtitled but, especially because we like Sicily so much, this has captured our attention. Really well conceived and written, humanized, both funny and serious, merging Sicily's modern history with fictionalized individual experiences living there, well acted even by the children, full of entertaining empathetic characters, devotedly anti-Mafia, inspiring..

If you want to fully enjoy with your family, watch this unique, romantic, family friendly, hilarious, charming, informative Italian tv show. It's great period dromedy based on the real events in Palermo during '70-'80. It touches all aspects of typical ordinary Italian family trying to survive in the corrupted country. Besides this you can enjoy in plenty of funny moments between family members. Tv show covers romantic issues, specific family relations (wife-husband, parents -kids, brother-sister, relations with colleagues, relations with institutions and mafia, religion issues. I truly hope that there will be third season.