Where it was filmed 'Devils'

Based on Guido Maria Brera’s novel Devils (Diavoli), the story centres around the world of high finance. Set in London, the production also shot in Rome and Cetara.

While most of the exteriors in Season 1 are the ultramodern buildings, glass and steel glinting monoliths, of Canary Wharf – the financial heart of London, the interiors, carefully curated to reflect the characters, were created on sound stages or used private locations. The Bank, a place redolent of power, and the minimalist, luxury apartment belonging to Massimo Ruggero (Alessandro Borghi), were both built in the Lux Vide studios in Formello (Rome).  La Nuvola Convention Center, designed by contemporary architect Fuksas, in the heart of the EUR neighbourhood of Rome provided exteriors for the London branch of the New York-London Investment Bank (NYL) where Massimo, his team and mentor Dominic (Patrick Dempsey) work. The headquarters of Subterranea, the outlaw platform investigating financial and political misdoings were created from a disused apartment in the centre of Rome, an abandoned church and an archaeological site.

Massimo deals with his past in several episodes: his childhood home is in Cetara, a fishing village near Salerno on the Amalfi Coast, its simple, old furniture a contrast with his luxurious London apartment. This part of the story also features the village’s harbour, small square, tower, cemetery and other places.

Season 2 was also shot in Rome and London. The City of London, where Dominic Morgan’s bank is located, replaces Canary Wharf, its warmer tones and imposing classicism alluding to a more human side in the fight for good. Massimo Ruggero’s residence is also new; greyer, more minimalist loft which offers a visual representation of the character’s emotionally wounded state.

Several Rome locations return to stand in for different places in London: La Nuvola Convention Center in the EUR neighbourhood reappears, cleverly framed by the directors to blend perfectly with the trading floor, shot in studio, and the exteriors of London. New locations include the Fendi headquarters at the Square Colosseum; the Corte di Cassazione, nicknamed the Palazzaccio; and the skyline with the Eurosky tower, Rome’s first skyscraper easily mistaken for that in London. Other areas of Rome camouflaged as the British capital are the porticoes of piazza della Repubblica, setting for Massimo’s encounter with Wu Zhi, NYL’s new Head of Trading (Li Jun Li), and the lake in Villa Borghese, the neoclassical outline of the Temple of Aesculapius behind him in the season finale.

Devils 2, meanwhile, opens in lockdown Milano during the coronavirus pandemic: an expensive black car drives through a deserted, ghostly piazza Duomo and parks at the entrance to galleria Vittorio Emanuele II: Dominic Morgan gets out, walks through the gallery and into a closed bar, its empty counters covered with plastic sheets: waiting for him is the man who is now his antagonist, Massimo Ruggero.

Just as Rome stood in for London, the surroundings of the Eternal City created the English countryside: lake Vico provided the background for a scene set in the southern county of Hampshire.