Imma Tataranni

Main character: Sostituto Procuratore Immacolata (Imma) Tataranni
Country of origin: Italy
Main location: Matera (Basilicata)

Creator: Mariolina Venezia
Born in: Matera, Basilicata, Italy
Born on: 1961
Nationality: Italian

Literary series started in: 2009, Come piante tra i sassi. Imma Tataranni e la storia sepolta (Eng. transl.: Like plants among the stones. Imma Tataranni and the buried history)
Original language: Italian
Publisher: Einaudi (Turin, Italy)
Number of books (original editions): 4
Latest title published in: 2019, Via del Riscatto. Imma Tataranni e le incognite del futuro (Eng. transl.: Via del Riscatto. Imma Tataranni and the unknowns of the future)
Translations: No

Television series title: Imma Tataranni – Sostituto Procuratore
Television series started in: 2019
Producer: RAI, Italy
Number of seasons: 1
Latest season broadcast: 2019
Transnational distribution: No

Case study rationale: 

Imma Tataranni is the main character of a book series written by Mariolina Venezia, started in 2009 and up to this moment composed by four novels (the last one, Via del Riscatto. Imma Tataranni e le incognite del futuro was released in 2019). The book series has been recently (2019) adapted for television by RAI Fiction, with the actress Vanessa Scalera in the main role and Mariolina Venezia as one of the screenwriters. Imma Tataranni is an upright and pragmatic public prosecutor working in Matera, the largest town in the Basilicata region, in the South of Italy. The role of Matera as narrative setting is pivotal for Imma Tataranni’s characterization. Indeed, with its particular landscape, its  history of economic affliction and its unique balance of tradition and innovation, Matera is the perfect backdrop for the investigations of a woman who has to fight the Ecomafia’s pretensions on her territory as well as a number of misogynist  stereotypes. In both the books and the TV series Imma is portrayed as a multifaceted, multidimensional character: a tough, determined and resourceful prosecutor, who confronts her personal and familiar issues along with the cultural conflicts and contradictions related to the traditions of Southern Italy with irony and matter-of-factness.

Online research resources

Watch

Officina letteraria: conversation with Mariolina Venezia on her fourth book, Via del riscatto [in Italian]:

Videoessay created by the students of the University of Bologna as part of a DETECt workshop dedicated to videoessays and crime fiction [in italian]:

Videoessay created by the students of the University of Bologna as part of a DETECt workshop dedicated to videoessays and crime fiction [in italian]:

 Explore

• Map showing the spread of Mediterranean Noir in Europe in the Atlas section on DETECt Portal

Browse

• Imma Tataranni’s page on FilmTV

Listen

• Mariolina Venezia speaks about the ancient town of Matera in her novel “Via del Riscatto” (podcast)

 Read

• Azzilonna, Angelo. “La «rivoluzione» femminile regionale nei gialli di Mariolina Venezia”. Ed. Milagro Clavijo Martín, Yolanda Romano Martín, Escritoras y personajes femeninos en la literatura. Retos y pluralidad. Granada: Interlingua, 2018. 1-8.
• Azzilonna, Angelo. “Las mujeres en la novela negra de Mariolina Venezia: logos, topos y ethnos”. Ed. Sara Velázquez García, Mattia Bianchi, Personajes femeninos en tránsito: reescrituras de mitos y diásporas : un acercamiento interdisciplinar. Madrid: Visor Libros, 2018. 243-262.
• Bonitatibus, Eva. “Mariolina Venezia, la García Márquez italiana”, Mondo Basilicata 11-12 (2007): 133-135.
• Guerini, Andréia, Rivello, Stella. “Reseña de Mille anni che sto qui de Venezia, Mariolina”, Revista Estudos Feministas 19.2 (mayo-agosto, 2011): 618-619.

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DETECt Repository: More Imma Tataranni research resources