The dramatic and luminous parable of judge Rosario Livatino is preparing to land on the small screen thanks to a new and highly anticipated television series entitled Livatino. The judge and his assassinswhose first official images were revealed through a trailer that promises great emotions visible at this link. Directed for the first time in a Rai fiction by the famous Michele Placido, the project represents a choral and rigorous story of a crucial season for southern Italy.
Livatino’s intuition: the confiscation of assets from mafiosi
In the 1980s, the province of Agrigento became the scene of a bloody conflict between the State and the Stidda, a criminal organization born in the depths of poverty that attempted to undermine the power of Cosa Nostra through a ruthless mafia war. Against this complex background, Rosario Livatino moved with inflexible moral rigor, a magistrate capable of targeting the illicit assets and economic interests of the clans, effectively inaugurating the investigative methods of what would become the Sicilian Tangentopoli and using with formidable intuition the pioneering instrument of the confiscation of assets from mafiosi.
The face of Giuseppe De Domenico to tell the story of a hero of justice and faith
The actor Giuseppe De Domenico plays the magistrate in the miniseries co-produced by Rai Fiction, Goldenart Production and Rai Com, alongside an exceptional cast that includes Leonardo Maltese, Nino Frassica, Michela De Rossi, Ninni Bruschetta and Brenno Placido. The production benefited from the contribution of the Ministry of Culture (General Directorate of Cinema and Audiovisual) and the Sicilian Region (Department of Tourism, Sport and Entertainment – Sicilia Film Commission). The narrative has its roots in the biography of a man deeply linked to Catholic Action and guided by the spiritual motto Sub tutela Deior under the protection of God, imprinted on all his personal notes.
The killing on 21 September 1990 and the proclamation as blessed
His rigorous investigative activity culminated in the Agrigento maxi-trial of 1987, but the price paid for his incorruptibility was very high: on 21 September 1990, a fire commando composed of Stidda hitmen intercepted his small car along the state road 640, shooting him dead with pistol shots as he went to court without an escort.
That tragic ambush broke the life of a state servant whom Pope John Paul II defined as “martyr of justice and indirectly of faith”, leading him to become the first magistrate in the history of the Church to be proclaimed blessed in 2021. Filmed in the authentic places of his existence between Canicattì, Agrigento and Rome, the series aims to turn the spotlight back on a figure of extraordinary moral integrity, whose memory continues to point the way to a country free from all forms of corruption.
