‘ChiaroScuro’ Season 1 Review: Can a Painting Crack a Murder Case?

‘ChiaroScuro’ lands on Netflix today, November 11, 2026, as an eight episode Italian series from Lux Vide, directed by Jan Maria Michelini. It swaps the usual police station backdrop for the Roman art world and keeps the mood somewhere between murder mystery and comedy. The show is loosely adapted from Mirko Zilahy’s thriller novels published by Mondadori, and it made its debut at the Festa del Cinema di Roma before reaching streaming.

At its center is Cosmo Speranza, played by Pierpaolo Spollon, a top art advisor who can spot a fake from a genuine masterpiece through sheer attention to detail. He is sophisticated, unpredictable and allergic to rules, so he refuses to own a phone because being reachable feels like servitude. Fate pairs him with Angelo Tiberi, a Squadra Mobile inspector played by Andrea Lattanzi, who is practical, cautious and devoted to procedure.

The best thing about this series is how it treats art as evidence instead of decoration. In the opening case a stolen painting, Giaele e Sisara, attributed to Artemisia Gentileschi, is tied to a killing that echoes the violence on the canvas. When Cosmo studies a work, the show lets us drift into his head and watch his hunches assemble, which gives the investigations a visual identity that most crime television lacks.

The leads make that idea stick. Spollon plays Cosmo with a cheeky, slightly theatrical charm, while Lattanzi pulls the other way with a restrained, grounded Angelo whose stiffness is the perfect counterweight. Their bickering is funny without turning either man into a cartoon, and the warmth that creeps in feels earned rather than rushed.

Rome is the other quiet star. This is not a postcard version of the city, because ancient grandeur shares the frame with traffic, busy streets and ordinary neighborhoods. Michelini’s direction moves briskly and lets locations seep into the story instead of posing in front of it.

Where the series stumbles is in its structure. A case of the week sits beside a longer mystery, and that is a very familiar way to build a crime show. Early on the writing leans on conventional beats and the staging does not always match the ambition of the art world setting.

The longer thread involves a painting that depicts Cosmo’s childhood home turning up at a crime scene, which drags him back toward his father Rufo, a celebrated forger who died by suicide under unclear circumstances. Alessandro Preziosi gives that backstory weight, and I wanted more of it. Matilde Gioli as Leda, Cosmo’s half sister and a criminal defense lawyer, Romana Maggiora Vergano as the medical examiner Eleonora, and Aurora Giovinazzo as the art dealer Mia all start with promising setups. Yet they get less room to breathe than the two men at the center.

I came away entertained rather than blown away. ‘ChiaroScuro’ does not reinvent the genre, but its visual flair, its Roman texture and the chemistry between Spollon and Lattanzi make it an easy and often charming watch, even when the plotting plays it safe. I would happily follow this odd couple into another case, and I give the season 7 out of 10.

Do you think ‘ChiaroScuro’ makes the most of its art world setting, or does it play it too safe, so tell me in the comments whether you agree with my verdict?