How accurate is The Monster of Florence? Exploring the facts vs. fiction in the Netflix miniseries 

The Monster of Florence is a Netflix true-crime drama, so we knew the kind of mess we were getting into. More so because the "monster" has haunted Italy for half a century! Directed by Stefano Sollima, The Monster of Florence reopens the case of "Il Mostro," aka one of Europe's mysterious serial killers.

The show has small-town secrets, botched investigations, and a lot of finger-pointing. But how much of what you see actually happened?

Let's separate the fiction from the cold, hard facts.

Actual events that happened in real life, as seen on The Monster of Florence

First of all, the series doesn't exaggerate the horror. If anything, the truth is much worse. From the late 1960s through the 1980s in and around Florence, young couples who were parked in cars were brutally murdered. The connection between the killings only clicked in 1982, when investigators found Winchester series H bullets at multiple crime scenes. The Monster of Florence shows that.

In the series, police stumble upon the pattern after the murders of Paolo Mainardi and Antonella Migliorini. That's spot-on too. According to The Guardian, investigators realized they were dealing with a serial killer at this point. Before that, they thought that the killings were random with no singular suspect.

Netflix also accurately captures the chaos that followed because there were several suspects, primarily men, who were connected to the Sardinia trail. Stefano Mele was the first suspect. He was imprisoned for the 1968 murders of Barbara Locci and her lover, Antonio Lo Bianco. But since the Florence murders continued while he was behind bars, it was clear that the real monster was roaming free.

And yes, Locci's murder was as complicated as the show suggests. She was dead in a car beside her lover while her six-year-old son slept in the back seat. The child ran for help as well.

Parts of The Monster of Florence were pure fiction

Sollima told TIME that he didn't wish to solve the crime as much as he wanted to explore the media circus it gave rise to.

And that's pretty much where some creative license rolled in. The series has dramatized blunders, added characters, and leaned on foggy nights. The show develops in a way that makes us suspect the justice system.

Though some argue The Monster of Florence has given a bit too much credit to the Sardinia trail. Former lead investigator Michele Giuttari told The Guardian that the connection between the 1968 and later murders wasn't proven. The show, however, presents that link as almost definitive. Because why confuse us with the details of the real case?

Another gray area was the depiction of Salvatore Vinci. Netflix dramatizes the death of his first wife and even implies he was connected to the Monster killings that official records never confirmed. Vinci was tried (and acquitted) for his wife's death, then disappeared. His vanishing act coinciding with the final 1985 murder makes for some good TV, but as of today, no one has been convicted for all eight double homicides.

The Monster of Florence doesn't claim to have all the answers because no one does. The gun was never found, and the killer was never caught.

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