The creation of Inspector Montalbano

Summary

Witness History: The Creation of Inspector Montalbano

Podcast: Witness History
Host: Jen Dale (BBC World Service)
Air Date: June 5, 2026
Duration: ~9 minutes

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the origins and cultural impact of the Inspector Montalbano detective series, created by Sicilian author Andrea Camilleri. Through archive interviews and expert commentary, the podcast traces how Camilleri’s unconventional approach to crime fiction transformed perceptions of Sicily and catalyzed a wave of Italian noir.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Birth of Montalbano and Camilleri's Inspirations

• Camilleri’s Career Turn at 67
  While stuck on another novel, The Brew of Preston, Camilleri decided to start fresh, leading to the creation of The Shape of Water—the first Montalbano book. (00:49)
• Family Influence
  Camilleri credits his grandmother for nurturing his imagination:

  “She used to make up words and you had to figure out the meaning... she opened up mine."
  (Andrea Camilleri, 01:44)

• Media Background
  Drawing from theater and producing TV, Camilleri learned to structure complex, interwoven stories and was inspired by the process of adapting novels for television.

  “The theatre taught me a lot about dialogue, but it was my TV experience that taught me the art of writing a detective story.”
  (Andrea Camilleri, 02:13)

2. Breaking Detective Fiction Tradition

• Innovative Style
  Unlike traditional detective stories, Camilleri’s Montalbano series often leaves loose ends and moral ambiguities:

  “In truth, there are few cases that are resolved with definite certainty... Is it fair for me to declare this person guilty beyond reasonable doubt? ... So it’s difficult to reach an absolute truth now.”
  (Andrea Camilleri, 03:37)

• Early Experimentation
  Camilleri had previously experimented with unconventional detectives, such as a woman martial arts expert in 1960s Italy.

  “He was an innovator by nature...”
  (John Hooper, 03:03)

3. Portrayal of Sicily & The Mafia

• Mafia as Marginal, Not Central
  Camilleri resists glamorizing the Mafia, giving it only cursory mentions, and criticizes media that endow organized crime with nobility:

  “This is the risk that in some way the Mafia is glamorized, and I refuse to do that.”
  (Andrea Camilleri, 04:23)

• Critique of Italian Authority
  Through Montalbano, he champions integrity in policing and critiques political corruption:

  “Sometimes refusing to obey an order is a virtue, not a sin... Loyalty to your vocation and to those virtues that made you a policeman.”
  (Andrea Camilleri, 04:57)

4. The Sicilian Setting: Food, Landscape, and Life

• Vivid Sense of Place
  The novels evoke the beauty of Sicily—its coast, food, and lifestyle—offering an alternative to the island’s reputation for crime and poverty.
• Celebration of Food
  Food is central to Montalbano’s character and serves as a symbol of vitality:

  “It is absolutely deliberate, highlighting how he loves to eat. He loves life... Maybe eating subconsciously expresses the pleasure of feeling alive, a life force.”
  (Andrea Camilleri, 05:56)

  • Excerpt describing food: Caponata, wild asparagus, and wheat bread (05:36)

5. The Power of Language: Italian and Sicilian Dialect

• Use of Dialect
  Camilleri's strategic use of Sicilian dialect creates intimacy and warmth, while Italian denotes formality and authority:

  “The dialect is always confidential, intimate, a friendly atmosphere. ... Italian is used to make law, to suggest intimidation, power.”
  (Andrea Camilleri, 07:08)

6. Naming Montalbano and Literary Gratitude

• A Homage
  Inspired by Spanish novelist Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Camilleri named his inspector in gratitude:

  “I just called him the Commissioner. I gave them the name Montalbano in gratitude to Montalban.”
  (Andrea Camilleri, 06:42)

7. Cultural Impact and the "Montalbano Effect"

• Transformation of Sicily's Image
  The success of the books and TV series shifts perceptions, turning Sicily into a destination for lovers of food, beauty, and culture, dubbed the “Montalbano effect.”

  “All of that proved captivating.”
  (John Hooper, 08:16)

• Tourism Boost
  The allure of Montalbano’s lifestyle—seaside house, food, baroque towns—draws readers and viewers to Sicily.

8. A Legacy Beyond Commercial Success

• Late Fame, Lasting Influence
  Camilleri’s global impact came late in life, but reshaped crime fiction and inspired an entire literary movement:

  “My success came late, by which point many things seemed unimportant, so it didn’t change my life at all.”
  (Andrea Camilleri, 08:51)

• The Montalbano series sells over 25 million copies, is translated into 120 languages, and sparks a hit TV adaptation shown worldwide.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “She used to make up words... she opened up mine.” (Camilleri on his grandmother, 01:44)
• “Sometimes refusing to obey an order is a virtue, not a sin.” (Camilleri on police virtues, 04:57)
• “It is a sort of unconscious revenge of mortality, an affirmation of being alive in the face of continuous death.” (Camilleri on the importance of food, 05:56)
• “I gave them the name Montalbano in gratitude to Montalban.” (Camilleri, 06:42)
• “The dialect is always confidential, intimate... Italian is used to make law, to suggest intimidation, power.” (Camilleri, 07:08)
• “All of that proved captivating.” (Hooper on Montalbano's Sicily, 08:16)
• “My success came late, by which point many things seemed unimportant, so it didn’t change my life at all.” (Camilleri, 08:51)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:49 – Camilleri recalls starting the first Montalbano book
• 01:44 – Influence of Camilleri’s grandmother
• 02:13 – Lessons from theater and TV
• 03:37 – Camilleri on moral ambiguity in detective fiction
• 04:23 – Depicting the Mafia
• 04:57 – Critique of corrupt authority through Montalbano
• 05:36 – Vivid excerpt: Montalbano’s meal
• 06:42 – Naming Inspector Montalbano
• 07:08 – On the use of dialect and language
• 08:16 – John Hooper discusses the “Montalbano effect”
• 08:51 – Camilleri reflects on late-life fame

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Tone & Language

Warm, reflective, and slightly whimsical, mirroring Camilleri’s wit and the sensory charm of his literary world. The episode balances expert commentary with archival interview snippets, offering a personal and cultural perspective on one of Italy’s most beloved literary figures.

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Conclusion

This concise yet immersive episode captures how Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano changed not only Italian crime fiction but also global perceptions of Sicily—through moral complexity, culinary celebration, and the vibrant rhythms of dialect and landscape. The series’ worldwide success is testament to its unique blend of literary daring, Sicilian spirit, and human warmth.

Transcript

[Narrator]

Foreign.

[Jen Dale]

Hi, I'm Jen Dale and this is Witness History from the BBC World Service. If you're a regular listener, feel free to skip ahead a little bit, but if you're listening for the very first time, welcome. We're the podcast that takes you back to a moment in history by speaking to those who were there and using Amazing Archive. If that sounds like something you'd listen to, hit subscribe. Wherever you get your BBC podcasts and turn on your notifications so you never miss an episode, I'm using the BBC archives to take you back to the 1990s, when Italian author Andrea Camilleri's first Inspector Montalbano book was published. His novel challenged traditional detective fiction and began a series which transformed how people view Sicily.

[Andrea Camilleri]

She Yes, I know exactly when he arrived, the exact year 1994. I was stuck on a novel called the Brew of Preston and then decided the best solution was to put it aside and write something else.

[Jen Dale]

That something else is the Shape of Water, based in the fictional Sicilian town of Vigata. It's early on in 1994 and Sicilian born. Camilleri is 67, a pensioner whose white haired, balding, with glasses and a raspy voice, often seen with a cigarette in hand. He's recently taken up writing again, doing it at night in a small room surrounded by books. He's not had much commercial success, but he loves storytelling, speaking in the 2014 documentary Montalbano and Me by Rye Fiction a few years before his death, he credits his grandmother with teaching him the art

[Andrea Camilleri]

Krama Elvira is someone to whom I owe a lot. She used to make up words and you had to figure out the meaning of what she was saying. She had such a great imagination, she opened up mine.

[Jen Dale]

It's also reported the author's father, when he was on his deathbed, urged Camilleri to write his stories down. And Camilleri certainly learned useful techniques from the many years he spent in his previous career in film and television. As he told the BBC in 2012,

[Andrea Camilleri]

the theatre taught me a lot about dialogue, but it was my TV experience that taught me the art of writing a detective story. I was a producer for Italian television of 30 episodes of Inspector McRe and worked closely with a screenwriter. This writer used to buy five copies of the same novel. And you know, in a novel there's a storyline A that starts and stops, then storyline B that starts and stops, then C. Then my co writer toured the pages and put them all in order. He reconstructed the novel to suit tv. I took careful notes of what he was doing in 1960 and learnt the art of writing the mystery novel.

[Jen Dale]

And Camilleri certainly wasn't afraid to take chances and defy conventions. According to John Hooper, Italian correspondent for the Economist, who spoke to the BBC after the author's death, he was an

[John Hooper]

innovator by nature, and one of the things that he did was to do a detective series, series involving a woman detective who was an expert in the martial arts. And this was in 1960s Italy, which was quite an adventurous thing to be doing.

[Jen Dale]

So why not be adventurous in retirement? Camilleri's the Shape of Water, featuring Inspector Montalbano, differs from traditional detective stories because loose ends aren't always tied up neatly.

[Andrea Camilleri]

In truth, there are few cases that are resolved, resolved with definite certainty. And in Italy there is no longer even the certainty of punishment. So at this point, the poor crime fiction writer begins to ask himself some questions. Do I really have to be the one to sow the torn fabric of society? Why is this up to me? Is it fair for me to declare this person guilty beyond reasonable doubt? Let's leave him with an alternative. So it's difficult to reach an absolute truth now.

[Jen Dale]

You can't have a crime thriller based in Sicily, the island off the south coast of Italy, without mentioning the Mafia. But again, Camilleri goes against previous traditions by refusing to put organized crime front and center in his work.

[Andrea Camilleri]

In most of the Montalbana novels, there is always a page or two where he meets a member of the Mafia. But it is marginal. Not that I'm trivializing the problem. Not mentioning it would be hypocritical. The problem exists and it is important. Fiction somehow gives them a noble character. Take, for example, the Godfather. Marlon Brando's incredible performance makes us forget there is someone ordering killings by the dozen. This is the risk that in some way the Mafia is glamorized, and I refuse to do that.

[Jen Dale]

And through Inspector Montalbano, he criticizes corruption.

[Andrea Camilleri]

The elements of a good policeman in Italy today are first, to be deaf to the political pressures. The second, sometimes refusing to obey an order is a virtue, not a sin. The third, loyalty to your vocation and to those virtues that made you a policeman. That's it.

[Jen Dale]

Camilleri paints vivid pictures of the Sicilian landscape and coastal, perhaps echoing his many happy childhood memories of splashing in the sea. But food also plays a large part in the Shape of Water and later novels, as this excerpt from one of the Inspector Montalbano books shows.

[Narrator]

In the fridge he find a bowl of caponata whose scent filled the soul and a Plate of little wild asparagus, the kind that are bitter as poison, dressed only in olive oil and salt. In the oven was a loaf of wheat bread. He laid the table on the veranda and enjoyed himself.

[Andrea Camilleri]

It is absolutely deliberate, highlighting how he loves to eat. He loves life. There is a beautiful saying, primum viveri de. In de. First you live, then you philosophize. For Montalbano, it could be first you leave, then you investigate. But his love for life is an instinct of his. I think it is a sort of unconscious revenge of mortality, an affirmation of being alive in the face of continuous death. Maybe eating subconsciously expresses the pleasure of feeling alive, a life force.

[Jen Dale]

Camilleri writes the Shape of Water. From start to finish, he has all the elements he needs. The crime, the exotic location. He's just missing the name of the lead character.

[Andrea Camilleri]

At that time I happened to read a novel by Vasquez Montalban called the Pianist, which gave me a clue to how to restructure the brewer of Preston to my police and commissioner, who until then had no name. I just called him the Commissioner. I gave them the name Montalbano in gratitude to Montalban.

[Jen Dale]

But it's also Camilleri's use of language that endears him to Italian readers. Because he uses Sicilian dialect.

[Andrea Camilleri]

Yes. In my writing it has a particular meaning because it comes from why we speak Sicilian dialect and the language we use. I studied quite a lot about when Sicilians used the dialect and when the Italian language, the dialect is always confidential, intimate, a friendly atmosphere. The use of Italian language creates an immediate officialness, a distance. Italian is used to make law, to suggest intimidation, power.

[Jen Dale]

The Shape of Water was published in Italy on March 10, 1994. Camilleri's style of writing, together with the mix of crime, luscious settings and tantalizing food, makes it a hit. It is widely credited with helping start a new wave of Italian noir and gains an even wider audience when it is translated into English in the early 2000s. Not only that, the novel and subsequent series change how people see Sicily. Instead of mobsters and poverty, there is a foodies paradise with beautiful landscapes. The so called Montalbano effect is even reported as boosting tourism on the island. Here's John Hooper from the Economist again.

[John Hooper]

It brought out the beauty of Sicily, the lifestyle that the detective had. He had a house that looked out onto the sea, enjoyed his food and operated in these beautiful towns with gorgeous baroque architecture. And all of that proved captivating.

[Jen Dale]

Camilleri continued to write Inspector Montalbano mysteries over the next 25 years, but he was nonchalant about their commercial success, as shown in that 2014 Rye fiction documentary.

[Andrea Camilleri]

My success came late, by which point many things seemed unimportant, so it didn't change my life at all, but it

[Jen Dale]

certainly changed the world of literary fiction. The Montalbano books have achieved worldwide sales of at least 25 million and have been translated into 120 languages, whilst the adapted TV series has been shown around the world. Andrea camilleri died in 2019, aged 93. Witness history was produced and presented by me, Jen Dale. If you've enjoyed this, check out some of our other episodes on authors including the writer who put Latinos centre stage about Cuban American Dunlores Prida and Helen Fielding, the creator of Bridget Jones. We like to know what you think, so please leave us a review. Tell your friends about what you've heard and don't forget to hit subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Thanks very much for listening and see you next time.

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