Stranded and displaced: Italian detectives and their search for a sense of place

A common element among stories and characters in Italian crime drama is a fracture between the place where the detectives live and investigate and the place from which they come or that they aspire to return to. From the very origins of the genre, the narrative topos of the forced transfer for disciplinary or personal reasons represents a frequent antecedent to the presentation of the protagonist and a key element in the evolution of the plot. An historical overview of Italian crime drama allows for identification of recurring themes in the contrasting dynamics between Italy’s North and South, centre and periphery, thus analysing the relationship with the territory through the perpetuation of stereotypes that can trigger ironic or, in contrast, dramatic implications. Contemporary crime drama expands the possible locations to marginal spaces where the detectives’ inability or impossibility to merge with the location emphasizes their alienation and sense of misplacement.