October 2026 edition. Viewing listings reviewed on October 14, 2026, using public provider pages and US/Italy streaming guides. These are recommendations for this month, not a list of October premieres. Playback was not tested from signed-in accounts; some underlying listings were last updated in September or early October.
A good Italian watchlist should help you choose an evening, not leave you scrolling through another enormous catalog. This month’s selection moves from mysteries in Turin to a diamond robbery, from Sicilian family politics to friendship in the Alps. There is also a film that turns the Tuscan countryside into something stranger than a postcard.
The five Italian productions below offer different pleasures. Choose a mystery when you want momentum, a heist when you want a more playful crime story, or one of the films when you have time to settle into its atmosphere. An additional international series earns a place for its striking Italian settings.
For more stories about present-day relationships and identity, explore our contemporary Italian TV series guide.
Spoiler guidance: This article discusses opening premises and tone. It does not reveal endings, culprits or major twists. Avoid later-season trailers and detailed episode summaries if you prefer to discover the stories as they unfold.
Affiliate disclosure: Italia Mia may earn a commission from qualifying Amazon purchases and purchases through our NordVPN link, at no additional cost to you.
This Month’s Watchlist at a Glance
| Title | Choose it for | US viewing listings | Italy viewing listings |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Law According to Lidia Poët | A lively period mystery | Netflix | Netflix |
| Everybody Loves Diamonds | A heist with comic complications | Prime Video subscription | Prime Video subscription |
| The Leopard, the 2025 series | Family, ambition and Sicilian grandeur | Netflix | Netflix |
| The Eight Mountains | A patient, moving friendship drama | Criterion Channel; Amazon paid rental/purchase | Prime Video or Netflix; Amazon digital purchase |
| La Chimera | An unusual, dreamlike film night | Amazon paid rental/purchase; Kanopy through participating institutions | RaiPlay; MUBI; Amazon paid rental/purchase |
| Bonus: Ripley | Suspense and beautifully photographed Italy | Netflix | Netflix |
The two countries have separate catalogs. Amazon rentals and purchases are separate from a Prime subscription unless the particular listing says otherwise. Before paying, check the edition, audio, subtitles and current price.
The Law According to Lidia Poët: Start Here for a Mystery
Italian title: La legge di Lidia Poët
Format: Series
Matilda De Angelis plays a woman determined to practice law in nineteenth-century Turin, despite the barriers placed in her way. Investigations give the story its weekly momentum, while professional exclusion and personal relationships provide its continuing tension.
Why watch it: This is an inviting choice if you enjoy period settings but want a protagonist who keeps the story moving. Lidia’s intelligence and impatience make the legal obstacles feel immediate. The pleasure lies in watching her ask questions other people would prefer to leave unanswered.
Treat the series as dramatized entertainment inspired by a real woman, rather than a documentary account of her cases. Its mysteries and romantic complications are part of that entertainment.
Spoiler and viewing notes: Begin with season one. Later-season descriptions can disclose relationship changes and earlier outcomes. Expect murder investigations, sexual content and adult themes.
Where to watch: Netflix in the United States and Italy. Open the official Netflix title page and check the seasons available in your account.
Everybody Loves Diamonds: For a More Playful Crime Night
Format: Series
An Italian crew attempts an audacious theft at Antwerp’s diamond center. Kim Rossi Stuart leads a story in which the attraction of an apparently brilliant plan competes with the complications of the people carrying it out.
Why watch it: Pick this when you want crime entertainment with a comic edge. A heist gives everyone a clear objective, but personalities, misplaced confidence and competing interests make getting there entertaining.
The international setting also offers a change from Italian crime stories rooted in one city or police department. Its Italian identity comes through the characters and performances, rather than a tour of familiar monuments.
Spoiler and viewing notes: Avoid researching the real robbery before watching if you want to preserve the suspense. Expect adult language, criminal behavior and relationship complications.
Where to watch: Prime Video subscription listings in both countries. Find Everybody Loves Diamonds on Amazon.com or Amazon.it. These links open searches; select the series and confirm its inclusion in your local plan.
The Leopard: Sicily, Desire and the Business of Staying Powerful
Italian title: Il Gattopardo
Format: The 2025 series
An aristocratic Sicilian family faces the changes accompanying Italian unification. Political upheaval enters the household through ambition, marriage and decisions about who deserves a place in its future.
Why watch it: Choose this for an absorbing family drama with an expansive setting. The clothes and interiors attract the eye, but the central question is more uncomfortable: how do people preserve their position when the world that supported it begins to change?
Kim Rossi Stuart’s Don Fabrizio anchors the family story. Watch how private attachments and public calculations overlap. A social encounter can carry as much consequence as a political declaration.
Spoiler and viewing notes: This recommendation is for the series, not Luchino Visconti’s 1963 film. No romantic outcomes are revealed here. Expect adult relationships and class conflict.
Where to watch: The Leopard on Netflix, with subscription listings in the United States and Italy.
The Eight Mountains: Give This One an Unhurried Evening
Italian title: Le otto montagne
Format: Film
Pietro and Bruno’s friendship unfolds over years against an Alpine landscape. The mountains are a shared point of reference, but the two men do not necessarily want the same life.
Why watch it: This is the month’s choice for viewers who want emotional space rather than constant plot acceleration. Its interest lies in how friendship survives distance, differing ambitions and the difficulty of explaining yourself to someone who has known you for years.
The scenery is compelling, yet the relationship gives it weight. A place can represent freedom to one person and attachment to another. That difference makes the film especially rewarding for anyone who has wondered whether leaving home and staying home are equally difficult choices.
Spoiler and viewing notes: Allow a long, uninterrupted evening. Expect grief and emotionally difficult material. Avoid plot summaries that cover the later years.
Where to watch: US listings show Criterion Channel and paid Amazon rental or purchase. Italian listings include Prime Video and Netflix, plus Amazon digital purchase. Find the film on Amazon.com or Le otto montagne on Amazon.it. Confirm subtitles before paying.
La Chimera: Tuscany With a Strange, Restless Soul
Format: Film
Alice Rohrwacher’s film follows Arthur, played by Josh O’Connor, among tomb robbers searching for buried Etruscan objects in 1980s Tuscany. His own longing gives the search a different meaning.
Why watch it: Choose La Chimera when you want a film that feels unpredictable. Everyday encounters, humor and a sense of something beyond the visible world occupy the same space.
It also gives Italy’s ancient past an unusually immediate presence. The objects beneath the ground become entangled with money, desire and ownership. You do not need archaeological knowledge to follow that tension.
Spoiler and viewing notes: Go in knowing little more than the premise. Expect themes of loss and illegal excavation. Its dreamlike passages reward attention rather than an attempt to explain every image immediately.
Where to watch: US listings show paid Amazon rental/purchase and Kanopy access through participating libraries or institutions. In Italy, listings include RaiPlay and MUBI, plus paid Amazon options. Visit La Chimera on RaiPlay, or search Amazon.com and Amazon.it. RaiPlay playback is subject to territorial rights.
Bonus: Ripley, for Italy Seen Through a Thriller
Format: International series set largely in Italy
Ripley is an American production, included here for its Italian locations and atmosphere. Andrew Scott plays Tom Ripley in a story built around deception, observation and dangerous ambition.
Why watch it: The black-and-white photography makes familiar Italian settings feel watchful and unsettling. Choose it for measured suspense and visual detail; staircases, rooms and streets become part of the tension.
Spoiler and viewing notes: Expect violence and disturbing scenes. Avoid episode recaps and comparisons that reveal how other adaptations end.
Where to watch: Ripley on Netflix, listed in both the United States and Italy.
Watching Italian TV From the USA With NordVPN
US readers exploring Italian broadcaster websites may encounter programs restricted to connections from Italy. RaiPlay, for example, makes only part of its catalog available abroad.
NordVPN offers Italian servers through Italia Mia’s affiliate link. Connecting to an Italian server gives your device an Italian IP address and may enable access to some location-restricted Italian TV content from the USA.
To try it, install the official NordVPN app on the device you use for viewing, sign in, select Italy, then open the broadcaster’s official website or app. A broadcaster account may still be required.
Access is not guaranteed: services can detect or block VPNs, and their viewing conditions still apply. A VPN does not supply a streaming subscription or unlock paid programs. Check those conditions before purchasing specifically for television access.
The US Netflix and Prime Video options above can be watched through their local services without changing countries. NordVPN is most relevant here when exploring Italian broadcaster content, including the Italian RaiPlay listing for La Chimera.
Choose One Title Before You Open the App
Start with Lidia Poët for a mystery, Everybody Loves Diamonds for a heist, or The Leopard for family drama. Save The Eight Mountains for an evening when you can give it time. Pick La Chimera when you want something less predictable, and Ripley when atmosphere matters as much as suspense.
If watching also helps you practice the language, our Italian TV series for learning Italian suggests ways to use subtitles and short replays without turning every evening into homework.
External Sources
- Netflix: The Law According to Lidia Poët
- Netflix: The Leopard
- Netflix: Ripley
- JustWatch: Everybody Loves Diamonds — US and Italy
- JustWatch: The Eight Mountains — US and Italy
- JustWatch: La Chimera — US and Italy
- RaiPlay: La Chimera
- RaiPlay: overseas access information
- NordVPN: Italian servers
