FRANCESCO

Francesco, nicknamed ‚O Vesuvio because of the inner strength he struggles to control, is the protagonist of the series. Born and raised in the Vele of Scampia, he is part of a family affiliated with the camorra. He lives with his mother Anna and brother Nicola, known to all as the Ninja, the figure toward whom he has mixed feelings of love, fear, and respect. Francesco has an impulsive nature that he expresses physically and that allows him to never fall down. The girls like this attitude, especially Chantal, the sister of boss Tony Hollywood. At first Francesco seems to get caught up in Chantal’s attentions, because in addition to being beautiful she enjoys a certain reputation, but then he finds that this does not interest him all that much. It is only with his best friends Pasquale and Armando, his neighbourhood buddies, that he occasionally manages to take off his tough guy mask to show his own fragility and doubts toward the future. Indeed, meeting ‚O Maé Maddaloni, the philosophy of judo, and the warrior Ginevra will make him question the system within which he grew up, where destiny is something that cannot be changed. Thanks to sports and Maddaloni, Francesco will discover self-confidence by turning out to be a true champion in judo.

Destiny: to follow in his father’s and brother’s footsteps, get ahead in the Camorra and manage to establish himself in a position of power.

Drive: to prove to his brother and mother that he is all grown up.

GINEVRA

Ginevra is the rising star of Maddaloni’s gym. She is beautiful. Blond hair and blue eyes, she is a princess with the soul of a warrior. Her biting irony sometimes runs the risk of not being understood, and she is able to laugh and downplay everything but her mother. Ginevra blames her for breaking up the family by leaving her father, with whom she has a very good relationship, however. The young girl lives in the city’s wealthy neighbourhood, where she attends the classical high school with good grades. Ginevra is the outsider who takes us through the streets of Scampia and allows us to learn about the logic of the camorra from a point of view outside the system. She is always willing to extend a hand to those who need help but cannot stand arrogance and bullying. That is why at first she has an adversarial relationship with Francesco, but it is she who teaches him that destiny can be changed. Her being a determined and independent girl makes her seem like a role model in the eyes of Vincenza, who immediately becomes her friend. And for Raffaele, however, she is an inspirational muse for writing song lyrics.

Destiny: Ginevra is resigned to having to go without her mother’s love.

Drive: to become an Olympic judo champion. Although she’s in denial the truth is that she wants to get her mother’s attention.

MADDALONI

Maddaloni is ‚O Maé, the judo master. A fighter on the tatami and in life. Putative father of all the boys who in his gym seek an alternative to the road that seems inexorably marked out for them. Father and coach of champions. He has chosen to devote his life to sports. He introduces his students to the path of yielding: it is not by force that results are achieved, but by commitment and dedication. He hopes to raise an heir who can continue his battle in the future. Whoever takes his place will be a boy who has suffered as he has. Because only those who have suffered can want the good of others. ‚O Maé teaches Francesco how to manage anger and master his baser instincts. But it is not an easy task. In fact, several times Maddaloni finds himself forced to clash with Francesco, even to the point of kicking him out of the gym. But when Armando dies, the master is the only one who can lift Francesco up. He becomes his mentor and leads the boy to win the regional title.

Destiny: to be The Master, to help youths who want to change.

Drive: to show that through sacrifice, discipline, rules, judo… redemption is possible.

NICOLA

Nicola, known to all as the Ninja because of his agility, is the son of the Falco and brother of Francesco. Since his father is a fugitive, he carries on the family with an important role in the system: he is the leader of the sentinels. He is Tony Hollywood’s designated successor, and his henchman is Gigi ‚O Squalo who is loyal to him despite treating him badly. The Ninja is focused on himself and the goals he wants to achieve in life: fame, money, power. For him, this is what defines a man and grants him respect. He owns his own gym and swimming pool, where he never misses a chance to work out. He knows he instils awe, and he absolutely loves the feeling of omnipotence that comes with it. The boy is a tough guy and is convinced that tough love is the only way to go. Giving in is not contemplated. Losing is impossible. This is what he tries to teach Francesco. On the surface, he denies himself any traits of humanity, but the truth is that he is afraid of failing and, above all, of disappointing his father’s expectations.

Destiny: to become worthy of being Falco’s heir.

Drive: to accomplish the career that his father had to interrupt because in hiding. Nicola doesn’t ask questions about his future or his destiny, he only worries about not having any downtime in his ascent to success.

ARMANDO

Armando is the inseparable friend of Francesco and Pasquale with whom he grew up, he is the only one of the three who has a dream and will become „BIG“ only by virtue of his strengths, skills, innate talent, and commitment. When he plays soccer, he is a true champion. He dreams of becoming the new Maradona, and of seeing the flamingos return to Scampia. He has a little sister whom he cares for, and he is grateful to his parents for their support and trust in him, which is also why he works hard at school to secure promotion, year after year. Hooked by a prominent prosecutor, it looks like Armando’s dream is coming true when he passes an audition to join the Naples Allievi. But fate has something different in store for him. He gets injured and makes the mistake of taking the moped. The consequences to be paid for this choice will come at too high a price. During his funeral, all the boys in the neighbourhood, both those in the gym and those inside the system, will become one soul. All united in grief and all wearing Maradona shirts in honour of their friend.

Destiny: to become a soccer champion.

Drive: to repay his parents for the efforts they made to help him make his dream come true and guarantee himself and them a better future.

PASQUALE

Pasquale is a deeply insecure, quick-witted boy, always in a good mood and full of life. Born and raised in Scampia, he is a very good writer, expressing his creativity by painting the walls of the city with spray cans. But this is not his only manual skill: he is also very skilled at mugging, which allows him to bring money home: money that his father burns, playing it on slot machines. Although friends try to make him understand the importance of having a dream, he cannot visualize it. For now he is content to live by reflection the dreams of Francesco and Armando, whose fate seems already sealed: the former will become a great camorrista, the latter a great soccer player. He really does not like school. In fact, like Francesco, obligation compels him to go, but he does not attend assiduously. Pasquale is Francesco’s „partner in crime,“ and in fact teases him a bit about ending up as part of the Maddaloni clan, but then accepts him and, indeed, ends up cheering for him during competitions.

Destiny: he doesn’t think about his future, about what he is destined to. He doesn’t believe you have to have a dream at all costs.

Drive: to survive. He is very practical: he knows he has to bring home the bacon and patch up the messes his father creates.

GIOVANNI

Born John, known as Omero because of his low vision. He lost his sight at age 12 after a blow he received during a fight he got into defending a friend. For all he has been through, he is wiser than boys his age. ‚O Maé accepted the challenge by helping the boy get back on his feet. Thanks to him, Omero discovered that judo is a combat art suitable for the visually impaired because it focuses on enhancing the perception of one’s body in space and the tactile aspect The gym is the place where he does not feel disabled. He is secretly in love with Vincenza, although he does not know how to express it, and he is the first of the students to recognize Francesco’s humanity and fabric; to intercept a talent, you don’t need eyes, you just need to „see beyond appearances.“ Over the course of the season, the friendship between the two will grow: Omero will help Francesco to enhance his talent. Francesco will help Omero surrender to love and declare himself to Vincenza.

Destiny: to live without love because of his disease, which entails limitations, and he wishes neither to be a limit nor a burden on anyone.

Drive: to become a Judo champion and conquer Vincenza’s love.

VINCENZA

Vincenza has green eyes and a scugnizza face, and like Francesco she lives in the Vele. She is frustrated because she knows she has no chance for affirmation, economic independence and thought. Her destiny is to marry, have children and live as a function of men, carrying on the tradition of the women in her family. To escape she locks herself in the gym, a place where males and females are equal and respect each other, her happy oasis waiting to take flight. Judo gives her the strength to endure. Her need for escape is also why she initially rejects Omero’s love. She confides in Ginevra with respect to this, while in Francesco she finds a valuable friend: they understand each other because they grew up in the same neighbourhood.

Destiny: to stay in Scampia forever. To get married, have children, and live in function of men, to pass down the tradition of her family’s women.

Drive: to dodge the cage, escape her destiny, and finally leave Scampia.

RAFFAELE

Raffaele on the surface looks like a boy kissed by luck. He is handsome, intelligent, attends high school with excellent grades, plus he is predisposed to judo. Compared to many of his peers, he is privileged because he has an assured future: he will inherit the family pharmacy. But he dreams of a very different life: he wants to be a „conscious“ singer, the subgenre of hip hop that focuses on social issues, to give voice to those fighting the Camorra. Inside the home, however, he struggles to express himself because he suffers judgment from his father and mother. He is infatuated with Ginevra and does little to hide it, but Francesco spoils his plans. On a moral level Raffaele resents Francesco because the Ninja demands lace from his father. On a sentimental level he has to vie for Ginevra’s attention, and on a sporting level Raffaele has to accept the fact that Francesco is stronger than him in judo. Measuring himself against Francesco forces Raffaele to grow up, to put aside pride and disagreements and then to approach him as a friend. In fact, Francesco will recognize that he has the courage to try to change his own destiny.

Destiny: to inherit the family pharmacy and study to become a pharmacist.

Drive: to try and give free reign to his artistic side and become a singer.

Chantal

Chantal would like to be a girl like any other but she cannot; she is the sister of boss Tony Hollywood. On the surface, she does not seem to suffer from this condition; on the contrary, she is perfectly cast in the role of the most spoiled little girl in the world. She is used to having everything she wants and knows perfectly well what power is and how it affects the people around her. Yet all this is a double-edged sword. Imprisoned in the role of the princess of camorra, Chantal soon realizes that she would like to be taken in as she is, for how she feels and thinks, and not just because she is the boss’s sister. She spends a lot of time on social media and when a video posted on her profile goes viral getting hundreds of likes for the first time she feels appreciated and starts thinking about becoming an influencer. She could have all the boys in the neighbourhood but she runs after the one guy who doesn’t get much of a kick out of her, Francis. And when it looks like something good might happen between the two, Ginevra swoops into her life. To get revenge, she snitches and goes and spills the beans to the Ninja that Francesco is hanging out at Maddaloni’s gym and then gets engaged to Gigi ‚O Squalo, because pride is the most important thing.

Destiny: to be a Camorra woman, a worthy sister of Tony Hollywood.

Drive: to be loved and accepted for who she is, not for her name.

Gigi

Luigi known as Gigi ‘O Squalo, because of his elongated face and, above all, because he is unscrupulous. Born and raised in Scampia without a father to protect him, he began to stand out in the neighborhood because of his stubborn ambition to be part of the system.

He dropped out of school and now his purpose is to convince the Ninja to give him increasingly important tasks. He has two obedient henchmen who follow him everywhere and is the competitor of Francesco, compared to whom he has more “hunger” and urgency to get to be someone in the system. Because of his arrogance, he often does his own “thing,” and that is why the Ninja does not trust him all the way. But ‘O Squalo tries in every way to win him over by even turning him against his brother, and it is with great gusto that he enacts retaliation against Maddaloni’s gym.

Finally he becomes engaged to Chantal who, yes, is the boss’s sister, but also the most beautiful of all.

Destiny: to be a camorrista, but since he’s not anyone’s son, to get ahead he has to work harder than those belonging to a criminal family.

Drive: to always be a step ahead of his rival, Francesco. Goal to be reached by any means.

TONY HOLLYWOOD

Tony is the young and feared boss of Scampia. Chantal’s brother known and respected by all. For the Ninja he is the one not to betray, the absolute boss to be loyal to. At the end of the first season Tony comes out of the jail to return home and take revenge. In fact, his main goal is to regain the power of the square (left momentarily in the Ninja’s hands) and to serve vengeance on Maddaloni. In fact, the latter, having failed to save him, years earlier denounced him, landing him in jail. The two are linked by a mysterious glass marble.

Destiny: to be the boss of Scampia.

Drive: to get out of prison and get the revenge on Maddaloni.

ENZO

Athletic physique and friendly face, he is a former student of Maddaloni’s. He has qualified several times for national and European championships, thanks to O’ Mae. Although he grew up with Maddaloni, Enzo has the opposite character: always in a good mood, an inveterate optimist and easy-going. He has not been competing for some time because of a knee injury that broke off his competitive career, but he is not indifferent when he finds out that Maddaloni is in a coma due to an ambush. Enzo owes so much to the master and feels the need to help his boys until the master recovers. The students, bewildered and in difficulty, enthusiastically accept his proposal and discover a well-prepared coach in him. Always at the forefront in facing difficulties, he would quickly earn the esteem and trust of the boys and would end up becoming a sort of elder brother.

Coming back into contact with judo, Enzo was not only going to help the Maddaloni clan, but also himself. He misses that world, he just finds it hard to admit it. And when the master, having come out of the coma and being back in perfect shape, would offer to join him as a coach, he would not hesitate  to accept.

Destiny: former student of Maddaloni and new leader of the Clan.

Aurora

The niece of Titta, the caretaker of the Scampia school. She is a shy and distrustful girl in the midst of an adolescent crisis. She has a bad relationship with her body:despite being beautiful, she hides in baggy trousers and a sweatshirt. She is angry at the world and in conflict with her adoptive parents, who went to get her in Brazil when she was just a few months old. Aurora grew up in Scampia in the care of her new family and her grandmother Titta, who dotes on her. But the more Aurora grows, the more grow the questions that have always tormented her: “Who are my real parents? Do I have any brothers or sisters? Why was I abandoned?”

Questions that she has always kept inside and to which she still cannot give an answer. This frustration over time has turned into anger, which the girl poured out on her family and friends. While her family stood by her, her friends gradually pushed her away. Left alone and convinced that she was not worthy of love, Aurora has taken refuge in the world of manga comics. She reads a lot, and goes out very little. Titta, worried about her, decides to try to help her niece, taking her to Maddaloni’s gym. It would be precisely on the tatami and thanks to Francesco’s support that Aurora would learn to accept her body, gain confidence and trust others. Trust is the first step towards love: the girl would experience it for the first time with Pasquale. But she has not yet come to terms with the past. Aurora wants to know her roots and, now, knows that to do so she must search for her real parents. And who knows whether Pasquale will be the one to accompany her on this
adventure…

Destiny: Titta’s niece and a new member of the Maddaloni Clan.

Elena

A classic Mediterranean beauty. She is a provocative and ambitious girl called by Tony to manage the new club in Scampia, The Square.

The boss noticed her in prison, during talks between her and her brother, and has come to appreciate her assertiveness and resourcefulness. Elena is beautiful, there is no question about that, and she is also friendly, but she is certainly not one to be pushed around. She worked for years in bars and pubs, before arriving at The Square and she knows exactly how put an annoying customer or an overly intrusive admirer in their place. Perhaps that is why she instils a little fear in men, who are in awe of her smile. Perhaps that is why she notices those who stand up to her. Someone like Ninja, who seems to have a special intimacy with her.

Every time they meet there is something electric between them, which would end up turning into a beautiful and overwhelming feeling when they discover they are more alike than they think. Both are wounded, both are seeking recognition.

Who she is: Bartender at The Square, works for Tony