Where it was filmed 'Petra'

The character of Petra Delicato was created by Alicia Giménez-Bartlett. In contrast to the novels set in Barcelona, television Petra (Paola Cortellesi) lives and works in Genoa. To get to the Police Station, Petra leaves her villa in the pine forest of Arenzano, heads along several creuze – the staircases that lead from the highlands of the hills down to the valley – and takes the Zecca-Righi funicular, a single-track urban line linking largo Zecca to the hills of Mount Righi that dates to the late 1800s. Thanks to Petra, spectators will see something of the coastal road that links Voltri to Arenzano, known as the passeggiata di Arenzano.

Panning shots introduce the thousand faces of Genoa: from the harbour, airy and omnipresent, its vocation for trade displayed in the industrial warehouses and for tourism in the many glass-fronted buildings reflecting the city and its seascape, to the carrugi, the narrow alleys of the historical centre which give the city a dark and mysterious atmosphere. Petra and her deputy Antonio Monte (Andrea Pennacchi) walk around the old harbour several times where the bigo, a monument designed by Renzo Piano of a large loading crane similar to those used in shipping, is clearly seen. On the Spinola bridge is the Genoa Aquarium where Petra retreats whenever she needs space to think, e.g. in Episode 1, after a dead body is discovered in vico del Campo in the Prè neighbourhood of the historical centre.

Overcoming initial difficulties due to differences in character and method, the working relationship between the two main characters builds gradually with each episode. While they are walking in largo Sandro Pertini in Episode 1, Antonio confesses to Petra that he has never been inside the Carlo Felice Opera House, its neoclassical pronaos rising behind the Garibaldi monument. In the final scenes, the theatre is seen again from the perspective of piazza de Ferrari of which Largo Pertini is an extension. Another location seen in various shots: via XX Settembre, with its long stretch of facing porticoes, links piazza De Ferrari with piazza della Vittoria. This piazza, with its imposing triumphal arch built in the 1930s to honour those who died in WWI, appears in all its majesty in the opening title sequence of Episode 3.

Also featured several times in the series is the Galliera Hospital in the Carignano neighbourhood, where Petra and her deputy leave after the woman has been attacked (Episode 1) and a man is in a coma (Episode 2). The hospital entrance is “surveyed” by the statue of Maria Brignole Sale, Duchess of Galliera, who built it between 1877 and 1888.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception inside the Albergo dei Poveri in piazza Emanuele Brignole in the Castelletto neighbourhood appears in Episode 2: when a man recognises the dog that Petra is walking on a leash. Petra and Antonio unleash the two dogs on Voltri beach, in the extreme western outskirts of Genoa.

The case in Episode 3 takes Petra and Antonio to the Imperial Palace Hotel in Santa Margherita Ligure, a setting with an atmosphere straight out of the Belle époque. The key meeting with the episode antagonist takes place at the Palasport of Genoa. The episode also gives a glimpse of the residential complex in the Pra’ neighbourhood whose buildings are nicknamed the “washing machines” because of their shape: here the kidnapped policeman is found.

Another popular housing complex appears in the series: rising on the hills between Marassi and Quezzi, the sinuous shape of the so-called biscione (snake) of Marassi stands out. Then there is piazza Rossetti, facing the Foce neighborhood, where the Salone Nautico Boat Show normally takes place, which is overlooked by an attic with a sea view used in several interior shots. Moving away from the city, the show provides glimpses of the Riviera di Levante, including Sestri Levante (where illegal dog fights take place in the shipyards) and Chiavari.

The action moves to Rome for Episode 4. A reluctant Petra arrives with her deputy Antonio at Termini Station. Shooting took place on the outskirts of the city – including via Prenestina near the ring road, where Petra meets an informant at the Las Vega Café – but mostly in the historical centre. Just as they do in Genoa, Antonio and Petra discuss their cases at a bar table or while walking, for example through the Campo Marzio area, from via d’Ascanio and piazza di Firenze where the building at number 27 provides the exterior facade for the residence of a noble; or on the riverside lungotevere near Castel Sant’Angelo. On a long solitary walk, Petra heads away from Palazzo Borghese in piazza Borghese, the Ara Pacis in via di Ripetta with the obelisk of piazza del Popolo in the background, Trajan’s markets (with the Colosseum’s imposing bulk in the distance) and piazza del Campidoglio with its viewpoint over the Roman Forum.