The news of the arrival of the serial transposition of the tetralogy of Elena Ferrante's brilliant friend had immediately made the world tour.

Many people had guessed that this joint operation between RAI and HBO could become a major piece of contemporary seriality.

There would be, on the one hand, the creative freedom and the means of HBO, on the other hand, the wisdom and the regionality (in a positive sense) that RAI and the technical and authorial Italian entourage could ensure.

All this starting from a series of novels that for many people represents one of the cornerstones of the literature of the new millennium.

Perhaps it was precisely in Italy that it was not possible to give the right weight and relevance to this news, making it pass as something not exceptional and not different from other productions.

A few weeks after the airing and the conclusion of the first eight episodes of the series, the most enthusiastic will be able to rejoice, the most skeptical will lock themselves in a dark closet for the rest of their critical days, the most indifferent will recover the series and squint their eyes.

The brilliant friend is a masterpiece.

An abused word, often used to attract readers or spectators but which is the only one capable of encapsulating the range that this series has been able to offer to a worldwide audience.

The story of Lenù and Lila has been told in the most realistic, detailed, emancipated, original and faithful way possible.

Whether you have read the books or not, this series will tear your heart out as well as many smiles.

A novel of formation of the real ones, never shouted and never really narrated with explanations and easy to find.

A fabulous overall cast made up of many little known actors from the theater or the street but who have been able to give each three-dimensionality and truth to their character.

The streets of the district have become our streets.

The broken dreams of young Lila have become our upsets.

The adult life in the features of a monster with gentle manners broke the adolescence of the young Lila and horrified each one of us.

The backwardness of so many carpenter fathers, torturers, shopkeepers or Checchesians have been the mirror of our small or large difficulties in emancipating ourselves.

The narrow and picturesque society of the district reflected our limitations and peculiarities.

The impetus towards the future of the young protagonists has swollen our chests at every close-up on their faces.

The mischief of young Lila has thrilled us.

The tenderness and innocence of the young Lenù made us appreciate the elegance of the naive beauty of a real woman in a child's body.

The customs and habits of an old Naples made us laugh and dream but also cry and disgust.

The dust of the district ended up in our mouths leaving us a bitterness that we will never wash away again.

The sand of the blue sea of Ischia seduced us and abandoned us in that nocturnal violence between friendly walls.

The vintage cars flaunted as a symbol of power made us long for humility.

The fireworks, always higher and higher and crackling on a New Year's Eve night, made us long for silence.

A Neapolitan marriage between timeless songs, food consumed without stopping, chattering smiles and jumping around made us understand what the plebs are like.

The teachings of a teacher by vocation and not by profession made us appreciate the small and big figures of our life.

The slaps of fear and ignorance of mothers and fathers born without education have made us rise up with our heads held high towards our goals.

The dialogues about nothing turned into poetry.

Priceless poems belittled in waste paper.

Warm colours experienced with coldness.

Cold looks melted in the wind.

2 girls turned into girls

2 girls born women

2 brilliant friends supporting each other to make room for themselves in a grammatical life, written and marked by the place and time in which they lived the first groan.

They leave us with an atrocious look, marked by the umpteenth disappointment, an accomplice and bitter but unison and harbinger of new adventures, new paths to travel together until time and death will not separate them.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)