Buckle up, history buffs: HBO just dropped the mother of all prestige-drama bombshells, greenlighting a sprawling eight-part limited series about Benito Mussolini’s rise and fall, and half of Italy is already screaming “basta!” before a single scene has been shot.
The untitled HBO Mussolini series, Italian fascism drama 2026, and HBO rewrites Italian history have detonated across Rome, Milan, and social media faster than a Roman candle on Ferragosto. Filming is slated to begin in spring 2026 in Lazio and northern Italy, with an all-Italian cast speaking period-accurate dialects (no Godfather accents allowed). The creative team? Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino (The Hand of God, The Young Pope) is attached to helm the first two episodes, while the showrunner is Stefano Sollima (Gomorrah, ZeroZeroZero), the man who made Naples look like the most dangerous place on Earth.
The logline is brutal in its simplicity: “The true story of how a failed socialist journalist, ex-convict, and schoolteacher seduced a broken nation, invented modern propaganda, and dragged Italy into the abyss of World War II, all while convincing millions he was their savior.”
Think The Crown meets Boardwalk Empire, but with black shirts, balcony speeches, and the March on Rome instead of tea at Buckingham Palace.
### Why Italy is losing its mind
– The series will open with the 1924 murder of socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti (Mussolini’s “original sin”) and flash back to Il Duce’s early days as a fiery anti-war socialist who flipped to ultra-nationalism when it suited his ambitions.
– It reportedly does not shy away from Mussolini’s private life: the dozens of mistresses (including 14-year-old girls), the syphilis that ravaged his brain in later years, and the bizarre cult of personality that made grown men cry when he plowed a field shirtless for propaganda cameras.
– A leaked casting call for “Clara Petacci, 19–23, beautiful, fearless, willing to do full nudity” has already sparked protests from women’s groups and the prime minister’s own brother (yes, really).
### The official reactions
– Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party called it “yet another attempt by American elites to smear Italian patriotism,” conveniently forgetting that the director, showrunner, and entire cast are Italian.
– Rome’s mayor promised to revoke filming permits if the series “offends the dignity of the nation.”
– Meanwhile, the president of the National Association of Italian Partisans (ANPI) praised HBO for “finally telling young people the truth their textbooks still sugarcoat.”
### HBO’s defense
An HBO spokesperson told Variety: “This is not an American series about Italy. It is an Italian story told by Italy’s greatest living filmmakers, made possible by HBO’s global platform. We trust Paolo Sorrentino and Stefano Sollima to treat this history with the complexity and honesty it demands.”
### The bigger picture for viewers
If you loved Chernobyl’s “this really happened” dread or Succession’s family-of-snakes energy, imagine that DNA injected into 1920s–1940s Italy: hyper-stylized violence, operatic betrayals, and a country sleepwalking into dictatorship while jazz plays in the background.
Filming locations already confirmed:
– Palazzo Braschi in Rome (Mussolini’s actual headquarters)
– Predappio (Il Duce’s birthplace, still a neo-fascist pilgrimage site)
– The shores of Lake Garda, where he spent his final days before being shot and strung up in Piazzale Loreto.
No release date yet, but whispers say late 2027, perfectly timed for the centennial of the March on Rome (October 1927).
Love it or hate it, one thing is clear: HBO didn’t just make a show about Italian history; it just lit a match under it.
Mark Smith
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