In our interview with director Marco Bellocchio and actor Fabrizio Gifuni, they talk about the real-life story behind the show Portobello.
Directed by Marco Bellocchio and distributed by HBO Max, Portobello is an upcoming miniseries that details one of Italy’s most staggering cases of miscarriage of justice in the tense political climate that the country lived in the 1980s. After the show’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival, we sat down with director Marco Bellocchio and main actor Fabrizio Gifuni to discuss the themes of the series and the real-life story that inspired it.
Portobello starts in 1983 when television host Enzo Tortora (Fabrizio Gifuni) is at the height of his career with the titular variety show, one of the most popular television programs in Italy in the 70s and 80s. But just as he is about to renew the contract with Italy’s public broadcaster Rai, Enzo is taken from his home and arrested as the police believe him to be a member of the Camorra, a criminal organisation in Campania, and involved in drug trafficking despite the lack of evidence against him.
Read the interview with Marco Bellocchio and Fabrizio Gifuni below.
Marco Bellocchio & Fabrizio Gifuni on the importance of telling this story.
What do you hope the audience takes away from Portobello after watching the first two episodes?
Marco Bellocchio: I have realised that new generations often know nothing about the past, even if we are always talking about the need to remember it nowadays. On one hand, I am comforted by the fact that young people in the audience have seen the first two episodes of Portobello and were surprised by the story. They became engaged and were very involved in it. On the other hand, the generation of people who are now between 50 and 70 years old will remember this drama very well, like I do, as I was quite grown up when it happened [and remember it well].
Looking at your respective filmographies, you both explored historical events in Italy in the past. What made you interested in the Enzo Tortora case portrayed in Portobello, and why did you want to address it now?
M. B.: To be honest, I never really set out to make a moral or political commentary. That does become part of it, but I always start with something that interests me [when I make a new movie or series]. There are many fascinating elements in Enzo Tortora’s case. Fabrizio has talked about it too before, and he always mentions Kafka’s “The Trial”, which has similar themes to Portobello.
The fact that someone can be woken up in the middle of the night and dragged away from his home is appalling. I think Fabrizio does a really good job at portraying how shocked and surprised Tortora was when he was faced with something completely unexpected, and his reputation was destroyed. These themes make the show expand beyond Italy, because they are universal and international.
Fabrizio Gifurni: Compared to the time when Portobello is set, nowadays it’s much easier to destroy someone’s reputation through the internet, social media, and artificial intelligence, which is becoming a huge problem. But that is essentially what they did with Tortora at the time.
Marco Bellocchio & Fabrizio Gifuni on the real story behind Portobello
What was the historical significance of a show like Portobello at the time of its run?
Marco Bellocchio: At the time, many young people were watching the show. It had 28 million viewers, which was a huge number, back then, when television was much more watched [than it is today]. A lot of people remember what happened and who Enzo Tortora was because they watched him being arrested and carried away that morning.
The show portrays Italy in the 80s very well. What does Portobello tell us about what television in Italy looked like at the time?
M. B.: Portobello really was a prototype of similar shows that became particularly famous after its run. This is one of the merits of Enzo Tortora, and the other author of this show. They managed to identify a new type of TV program to meet the needs of Italians at the time.
In the 80s, Italians were slowly and progressively moving away from political involvement and engagement. They were more attracted to game shows and other aspects of life. It is also important to remember that Portobello aired during the same time as Aldo Moro was kidnapped and later killed. I don’t think Enzo Tortora stopped broadcasting the show, but he did work on another show to talk about terrorism. Both his show and his arrest intertwine with important historical events that took place in Italy at the time.
Fabrizio Gifuni: At the time, we only had Rai, the public broadcaster in Italy, and it was their responsibility to produce and air very popular shows, like Portobello itself. It was also their duty to provide public service and, therefore, produce important cultural shows and programs about politics. This is no longer the case today, with the development of commercial television and the existence of different platforms and multiple channels. I think that, nowadays, everything has flattened and the quality has lowered, even at Rai, because of this competition. There are smaller cultural challenges, but it is no longer the case with the public broadcaster. I think, at the time, these shows could have certainly meant a lot to people and were an important space dedicated to specific topics.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Portobello had its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 1, 2025. The series is now being screened at TIFF and will have its U.K. premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on October 11.
The first Italian original production for HBO Max, Portobello will debut in 2026 on HBO Max where it’s available globally, including in upcoming launch markets Italy and the U.K., excluding France and Germany.
Header credits: Official poster for Portobello (HBO) / Marco Bellocchio and Fabrizio Gifuni at the Venice Film Festival Photocall for the series (Jacopo Salvi, La Biennale di Venezia – ASAC)
