“Prima di noi” promises to be one of the most anticipated Italian dramas of 2026, destined to leave its mark and excite. At the center is the Sartori family, but above all there is an entire country that changes, falls, gets back up and transforms over the course of sixty years of history, from 1917 to 1978. “Prima di noi”, produced by Wildside in collaboration with Rai Fiction and Rai Com, is inspired by the novel of the same name by Giorgio Fontana, winner of the Campiello Prize in 2014. The direction is entrusted to Daniele Luchetti (who directed the third season of (My Brilliant Friend”) and Valia Santella.
“Before us” is a choral fresco of Northern Italy, from rural Friuli to the Turin of the factories, passing through the two world wars, the economic boom, urbanisation, the years of lead and protests, up to globalisation.
The TV series immerses us in that – partly unexplored – past that we should rediscover, made up of charm and contradictions. And the locations chosen, from the mountain landscapes of Pordenone to the iconic places of Turin, are never a simple background or frame: they become an active part of the story, a mirror of the characters’ internal transformations.
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The plot of “Before us” and the cast
“Prima di Noi” intertwines history, identity and progress, telling the story of the North that comes to terms with the past and fearfully pushes towards the future in an unprecedented way. The events of the Sartori family, made up of three generations of builders and destroyers, eternal archetypes who seek their place in the world and try to redeem themselves, guide spectators through the folds of history. “Before us” therefore reveals how individual choices, sometimes even the most intimate ones, end up impacting the community.
The fiction starts from Maurizio (played by (Andrea Arcangeli), a soldier who deserts after the retreat from Caporetto during the First World War. Maurizio will choose to confide his secret, as heavy as a burden, only to his wife Nadia (Lindia Caridi), who represents the indestructible root on which the whole family rests. That escape will forever mark his existence and that of his descendants, in particular the lives of his children, Gabriele and Renzo, played by the actors Maurizio Lastrico and Matteo Martari.
Nadia, a young Friulian farmer, is the true emotional pivot of the series and her destiny is closely linked to that of the whole of Italy, overwhelmed by challenges and radical changes.
How many episodes does the series have?
The fiction “Prima di noi” is structured as if it were a single large story divided into 5 episodes of two episodes, for a total of 10. The first episode will be broadcast on Sunday 4 January, while the last is scheduled for Sunday 1 February. It will be available in live streaming and after broadcast also on Rai Play.
