Movie Art heist series "La linea della palma" leads from Palermo to Ticino
The fast-paced Swiss television series "La linea della palma" focuses on the theft of a Caravaggio painting in Palermo in 1969.
Image: Keystone
Italian actress Gaia Messerklinger is convincing as investigative journalist Anna, who begins a delicate investigation into the death of her father.
Image: Keystone
The fast-paced Swiss television series "La linea della palma" focuses on the theft of a Caravaggio painting in Palermo in 1969.
Image: Keystone
Italian actress Gaia Messerklinger is convincing as investigative journalist Anna, who begins a delicate investigation into the death of her father.
Image: Keystone
There is a lack of knowledge about the Mafia in Switzerland, says Maria Roselli, co-screenwriter of "La linea della palma". The TV series follows a journalist as she investigates an art heist in Sicily that seems to be intertwined with her father's story.
22.01.2026, 10:01
SDA
"Mafia", says Maria Roselli, "is not Al Pacino from 'Godfather'". Organized crime today has completely different faces, often pulling the strings in quite normal-looking businesses. And in Switzerland, this is still all too often not recognized. "The Swiss have not been able to develop antibodies against the mafia," the investigative journalist and mafia expert said in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency.
For once, Maria Roselli was able to use her imagination when working on the screenplay - but only to a limited extent: "The series largely sticks to the facts of the Italian police regarding the theft of the Caravaggio painting in Palermo in 1969."
In fact, the opening scene of the first episode of the six-part series revolves around the robbery itself. Seemingly effortlessly, men break into the church of San Lorenzo, remove the canvas from its wooden frame and flee through the streets of Palermo at night in a car.
A view of a different Ticino
"The theft of the 'Natività' actually happened like this," says Roselli. Together with her co-authors Mattia Lento and head writer Thomas Ritter, she wanted to write a crime thriller "that is entertaining but not abstruse". The film was directed by Fulvio Bernasconi from Ticino.
The series, produced by Hugofilm in collaboration with RSI and Arte, focuses on investigative journalist Anna. Investigations into the early death of her father lead her to the famous art theft and it becomes increasingly clear that her family's history is closely interwoven with the disappearance of the Caravaggio painting and that well-known personalities in Lugano had a hand in it.
Unlike in many other Swiss film or series productions, viewers of "La linea della palma" are constantly taken by surprise. The story is grippingly told and for once Ticino is not shown in kitschy vacation colors, but as a place with abysses: There is a troubled Lake Lugano under gray clouds that soon reveals a dead body. And there are taciturn bank managers and art collectors who sip glasses of champagne and don't like critical questions.
Most of the actors are from Italy, with the exception of Esther Gemsch, who was awarded the Solothurn Film Festival jury prize for her portrayal of Duchessa. The jury wrote that the Bernese actress "portrays a profound and complex character" - praise that can be applied to the other actors.
Lead actress Gaia Messerklinger, in particular, portrays an Anna whose turmoil between professional ethos and personal pain is very realistic. Anna's memories of a beautiful childhood contrast more and more with the puzzle pieces of her research.
Switzerland as a hub for looted art
To accompany the series, Roselli and Olmo Cerri have edited their earlier research into a five-part podcast. "Il furto del Caravaggio" - "The theft of Caravaggio" - gives journalists, politicians and art experts a chance to have their say. The art dealer is "an addict", they say, for example. Like a drug addict, he constantly needs new art and may even cross borders to do so.
Gallery owners in Ticino often bought looted art, says Roselli. Until 21 years ago, the statute of limitations for art theft was five years. After this period had expired, a work of art suddenly turned up, the offense was time-barred and the artwork was "washed clean", as the journalist says. Since 2005, cultural assets illegally imported into Switzerland can be reclaimed up to 30 years later. This makes the illegal art trade more difficult.
The series title "La linea della palma" is based on a quote by Leonardo Sciascia. The Sicilian writer is said to have been the first to deal with the Mafia in literature in his book "Il giorno della civetta" ("The Day of the Owl"), published in 1961.
At the beginning and end of the series, it says: "Due to global warming, the growth limit of palm trees is shifting northwards - and the line of the Mafia is also shifting northwards year after year. In a few years, we will see palm trees growing in places where they do not yet exist."
