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Main Characters
Elena "Lenù" Greco
Played by: Margherita Mazzucco (teenager/young adult), Elisa Del Genio (child)
The narrator. A quiet, well-behaved girl from a poor neighborhood, and academic overachiever.
- Allegedly Dateless: She's shy, has a I Am Not Pretty syndrome in her teenage years, while also envying Lila for being the biggest Dude Magnet in the neighborhood, except that she's a Dude Magnet too, in her own way. She had relationships with Gino, Antonio, Franco, Pietro, and Nino, along with other characters who comment on how attractive she is, even if she thinks otherwise.
- Always Someone Better: To Lila. Despite her inferiority complex, she ends up being much more successful than Lila ever was. Lila hersef admits it when she tells Elena "You are my brilliant friend". Interestingly enough, Elena sees Lila as someone Always Someone Better than her.
- Beautiful All Along: As an adolescent, she has quite a bit of angst over not being as attractive as her childhood friend Lila. Once she moves away to college, gets better clothes and loses the acne, however, everyone in Naples and elsewhere seems to agree she's very pretty. Remarkably subverted, however, in that rather than the narrative dwelling on how her looks have improved, she seems to simply stop being so concerned about her appearance, except when she's trying to impress Nino, her long-term crush.
- Covert Pervert: When she has her first book published after getting her degree, her neighbors find out that a few pages include the description of a sex scene. This creates a bit of scandal in-universe, because nobody was expecting that from a demure good girl like her.
- Daddy's Girl: Downplayed. Due to her rocky relationship with her strict mother, she has a better relationship with her father who is always the more supporting of the two parents. In the first book, she even says she's her father's favorite, but it's subverted in the last book, where she admits that she was never close to him.
- Extreme Doormat: She is very submissive, especially in her friendship with Lila, even when the latter is being a bad friend.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The only responsible one of the Greco siblings. She's serious and studious, while her three siblings are Book Dumb underachievers.
- Go-Getter Girl: She works very hard to get almost always top grades, and eventually succeeds in becoming a college graduate and successful writer.
- I Am Not Pretty: Everyone thinks she is a very pretty girl… except herself. When she was a teenager she considered herself ugly due to glasses and acne, though she eventually loses the latter, turning into a Bespectacled Cutie.
- I Can Change My Beloved: In the third book, she already knows about Nino's womanizing habits, including two children he abandoned. By the end of the book, she starts a relationship with him, as she believes she's the one who will turn him into a Lady Killer In Love. As we find out in the last book, she's wrong. Nino got even worse.
- Lady And A Scholar: Very polite, and very dedicated to academic achievements.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: She is a demure, dutiful, and well-mannered blonde (Light). Lila is a naughty, rebellious, and impulsive brunette (Dark). Ironically, Elena has more boyfriends and sexual experience than Lila (both at young and adult age), while Lila only dated three guys in her entire life, while also rejecting sexual contact for a long time (sadly, one of her three love interests was a rapist).
- Loved by All: In the first two books, she's a people pleaser who is usually liked by everyone she meets (unlike Lila, who can go from being a Magnetic Hero to being Hated by All depending on her mood). Even the Solara brothers think she is a nice girl. Averted in Book 3 and 4, where she gets more in trouble with people, and is disliked by several characters, despite her successful career.
- Love Martyr: Despite the lying, the betrayals and the cheating, Elena stays madly in love with Nino throughout the books. She eventually, after many years, one child and four books, leaves him for good.
- Meaningful Name: Her surname means Greek. Her first name is a reference to Helen of Troy (Helen is indeed "Elena" in the Italian translation of The Iliad). This fits Elena's classical studies in high school, where ancient Greek literature is a very important subject.
- Morality Pet: To all her friends and neighbors. Most people are Lower Class Louts who are cruel to each other, but everyone likes sweet and smart "Lenù" and nobody says anything bad about her... except for Lila, who is cruel to her at times.
- Most Writers Are Writers: She pursues a career as an author after graduating.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Her family and close friends from the neighborhood call her Lenù, which is short for Lenuccia/Elenuccia, a common nickname for Elena in Naples.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: She is pretty and smart, and everyone knows that. But Lila is a Head-Turning Beauty who used to be a Child Prodigy, and Elena feels inferior to her.
- Rags to Riches: Her biggest childhood dream is leaving the squalor of her run-down neighborhood. She achieves it both through her marriage with Pietro and her career as an author.
- Secretly Selfish: She seems an angel compared to Lila, because of her meek passivity. Despite this, she often dates guys she doesn't even like (Gino, Antonio, most guys except Nino) only because Lila is dating someone at the moment, and she doesn't want to be inferior to her. Not to mention that:
- She willingly has sex with Nino's creepy father out of frustration, because Lila and Nino were having Their First Time with each other. The same night.
- She marries Pietro mainly because he is a smart, respectable guy from a prestigious family rather than real love for him. Then she cheats on Pietro several times, mainly with Nino.
- The Stoic: Especially in the TV series, she is always composed and hardly ever changes facial expression.
- Teacher's Pet:
- To her elementary school teacher Miss Oliviero. While Lila used to be Miss Oliviero's favorite student, after Lila's parents don't allow her to attend middle school, the teacher starts to hate Lila and decides to support only Elena. During the years of Elena's middle and high school, Elena often goes to visit Miss Oliviero for encouragement.
- To her high school teacher Mrs. Galiani, who is a big supporter of Elena's school achievements, lends her books, and invites her to her house. This ends after Nino breaks up with Mrs. Galiani's daughter Nadia, and Nadia tells her mother that Elena is the reason for their break-up.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In the first two books, as a teenager, she's mostly a nice and polite Shrinking Violet. As an adult woman in the books 3 and 4, she's much less nice. While Pietro isn't a great husband to her in the third book, Elena can often be unnecessarily harsh to him, and this without even mentioning her secret affair with Nino, with her husband Pietro and their children in the same house.
- White Sheep: Her parents drop out after primary school, and all her siblings are Book Dumb and never accomplished anything in academics. Elena herself is a straight-A student, graduates with honors at university, marries a Gentleman and a Scholar from an extremely rich family, and ends up becoming a successful writer and leaving her infamous neighborhood of Lower Class Louts.
Raffaella "Lila" Cerullo
Played by: Gaia Girace (teenager/young adult), Ludovica Nasti (child)
The other main character and Elena's best friend from the same neighborhood. A gifted girl with prodigious intellect and a fiery, rebellious personality.
- Adaptation Name Change: Or "nickname" change. Her name is Raffaella Cerullo in both books and TV series. However, in the books, it's only Elena (her best friend and narrator) who calls her Lila, while everyone else calls her Lina. In the TV series, she's referred to as Lila by everyone, probably in order not to create confusion, since that's the name the readers remember.
- Always Someone Better: To Elena, who feels inferior to Lila for the latter's Child Prodigy skills (that overshadowed even Elena's intelligence when they were children), assertive personality, charisma, and popularity with boys. There is also Mutual Envy, because Elena had a chance to continue her studies, while Lila never did.
- Anti-Hero: Her actions and reactions are often the exact opposite of what a standard heroine would do.
- Auntie Pennybags: Whenever she becomes rich (which happens thanks to Stefano, later with the help of the Solaras, and later again thanks to her own talent), she uses her money to help her family, friends, and the poorest people in the neighborhood. It's one of her biggest redeeming qualities.
- Big Brother Worship: When she was younger, she absolutely adored her older brother Rino, until the latter Took a Level in Jerkass. While her admiration for him faded away over time, she still loves him enough to name her son after him.
- Born Unlucky: Even if she's a Jerkass, her entire life is a tragedy and she's put through hell in all the books, including a horrible Downer Ending in the last one. What happens to her is too tragic to be considered Laser-Guided Karma. It's obviously Played for Drama.
- Brainy Brunette: A dark-haired girl, and even people who hate her find her frighteningly intelligent.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Even as a child, she is described as the meanest kid in the class. She grows into a hot-headed Bratty Teenage Daughter as a teenager.
- Broken Ace: The smartest, most talented, and most attractive girl in the neighborhood. Abused by her family, forced to abandon her studies after primary school, forced into a marriage as a teenager, beaten up by her husband…
- Broken Bird: She tries to be tough and strong, but all her traumatic life experiences leave her jaded, angry, and disturbed.
- Child Prodigy: Despite being born in a family of Lower Class Louts, she learned to read and write before even starting school, can do complicated math equations in her head, equally excels at drawing and all the other subjects, and was able to write her own book, and this just in primary school. After her family forced her to drop out of school, she still remained an autodidact (at least, for a while) who learned Latin and Greek by herself.
- Dude Magnet: Stefano, Pasquale, Enzo, Marcello, Michele, Nino, just to name some of the guys who fell in love with her. In short, all the heterosexual guys in the neighborhood except Antonio. Keep in mind that Lila never leaves her neighborhood and rarely meets other people.
- Fag Hag: Her closeness to Alfonso in later books, as she's the one who helped him to come out.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She's the responsible in comparison to Rino. She's an Insufferable Genius who can be hard-working when it's needed, while Rino is an Insufferable Imbecile and a moocher. Downplayed, as Lila's disobedience and attitude often cause problems in her family.
- Freudian Excuse: She's not a nice person most of the time, but grew up in a poor and abusive household that didn't even allow her to attend middle school. Elena is not exactly privileged, but definitely has a more supportive family than Lila.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: When she's annoyed or someone makes her angry, which is very often, she lashes out at people, even the ones who are trying to please her in every way.
- Informed Attractiveness: Most guys in the neighborhood are head over heels for her and would kill to date her, and Elena considers herself ugly compared to Lila. That said, both actresses are very pretty, so it's hard to tell. It helps that Elena is very shy and insecure, and often hangs out with her highly educated schoolmates, making her more distant from the neighborhood's mentality.
- Insufferable Genius: She is very smart, but so stubborn and selfish that it's quite hard to tolerate her much of the time.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Lila is a naughty, rebellious, and impulsive brunette (Dark). Her friend Elena is a demure, dutiful, and well-mannered blonde (Light). Ironically, Elena has more boyfriends and sexual experience than Lila (both at young and adult age), while Lila only dated three guys in her entire life, while also rejecting sexual contact for a long time (sadly, one of her three love interests was a rapist).
- Manipulative Bitch: Especially towards Elena, but in general she knows how to use emotional manipulation to mess with people or get what she wants.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: She's usually called Lila (pronounced "lee-lah") or Lina. Her real name Raffaella is hardly ever used.
- Out of Focus: In the third book. While she has her own storyline in the first half of the book, most of the plot focuses on Elena's life in another city, with Lila being mentioned only via occasional phone calls, to the point that even Elena admits that Lila is not a big part of her life anymore. However, Lila becomes prominent again in the fourth book.
- Rags to Riches: She achieves it (and then loses it) several times through the books, at first through marriage with rich boy Stefano and later with her talent with her informatics company and Enzo's help.
- Renaissance Man: Since she was a child, she was exceptionally skilled at math, writing, and drawing. Later, she learns Latin and Ancient Greek by herself when she's still a teenager. Later, she becomes a talented shoe designer, and then a successful saleswoman in a shoe shop. In later books, she learns electronics, which allows her to start her own informatics company along with Enzo.
- She's All Grown Up: As soon as she becomes a teenager, she turns into the Head-Turning Beauty lusted after by many boys.
- Shipper on Deck: For Elena and Pietro in the third book, as she thinks Pietro is extremely nice and smart (ironically, Pietro has a negative opinion about her). At the end of the third book, she calls Elena an idiot for leaving Pietro for a Jerkass like Nino.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She admits that she has always wanted a guy that makes her feel safe, in order to find stability: at first the rich and seemingly respectable Stefano (while her father wanted her to marry the even richer but Obviously Evil Marcello), then the intelligent Nino, and finally the kind and loyal Enzo. She was wrong about the first two, only Enzo treated her well.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: An unfortunate aspect of her Dude Magnet status is that even criminals like Marcello Solara and his brother Michele end up having a Villainous Crush on her.
- Spirited Young Lady: A smart, outspoken, and confident girl living in the patriarchal society of Naples in the post-war era, who rebels against what her father and older brother want her to do.
- Token Evil Teammate: In her group of friends from her neighborhood (Elena, Carmela, Pasquale, Antonio, Enzo), she's the most constantly malicious and unpleasant.
- Tsundere: As rude and mean as Lila can be, she also has her sweet moments, mainly towards Elena.
- Ungrateful Bitch: She occasionally treats Elena like dirt even when Elena is trying to help her.
- With Friends Like These...: She always has moments of being a bad friend, but she's at her worst in the second book. See the spiteful way she treats Elena after the infamous party at Ms. Galiani's house, and especially when she starts an affair with Nino, while knowing that Elena is in love with him.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: She's never allowed to be happy for a long time. In the last book, she has finally found a good job, a man who loves her, and is respected in her neighborhood... until the sudden and shocking disappearance of her beloved 4-year-old daughter Tina. Inevitably, this makes her fall into extreme Despair Event Horizon, becoming extremely angry and depressed, and losing her job, her man, and everything else.
Other Characters
Greco Family
Vittorio Greco
Played by: Luca Gallone
Elena's father.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While he's a Doting Parent, at least once he gives a Corporal Punishment to his daughter after a fight with his wife. It's one of the few times he gets angry.
- The Conscience: To his wife Immacolata. He's the one who convinces her to let their daughter continue her studies.
- Henpecked Husband: A laidback, meek man married to a controlling and domineering wife.
- Nice Guy: A well-meaning and friendly man who is supportive of his daughter's academic achievements, and is very proud of her.
- Parents as People: He's a Nice Guy most of the time, but he's still part of a patriarchal society. When Elena skips school as a kid, he doesn't know how to punish her, and his wife accuses him of "not being manly enough to give Elena a Corporal Punishment". As a result, he gets extremely angry and beats up little Elena. Aside from that moment, he's mostly sympathetic to his daughter.
Immacolata Greco
Played by: Anna Rita Vitolo
Elena's mother.
- Abusive Parents: Extremely strict and verbally abusive to Elena, ever since the latter was a child. Elena remembers hating her mother during her childhood.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: She and Elena have a rocky and unstable relationship, but they love each other. They both admit it after spending time together in the last book.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: When she's sick in the last book, she makes peace with her daughter, admitting she has always cared about her. She dies shortly after that.
- Housewife: Like most Italian mothers in the post-war era, she doesn't have a job and her main occupation is helping her husband with the house and the children. She thinks it's normal for all women, so she doesn't approve of Elena's studies.
- My Beloved Smother: She has the role of the controlling parent, in contrast to her laidback husband.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: She has prejudices and bigoted beliefs, since she was raised this way.
- Shipper on Deck: In later books, she supports her daughter with Pietro, and she despises Nino. When Elena leaves Pietro for Nino, she has a nervous breakdown.
- Tough Love: She has always been more strict towards Elena than to her other children, because Elena is actually the one she loves the most, as she admits in the last book.
Peppe and Gianni Greco
Elena's two younger brothers.
- Book Dumb: Pretty much the only thing we know about them is that they are horrible students, to make Elena's academic achievements look even more impressive.
- Flat Character: They are just there, possibly to show a traditional family with many children, but they are both irrelevant to the story.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: They are the Foolish underachievers, while their sister Elena is a responsible Go-Getter Girl.
Elisa Greco
Played by: Francesca Montuori (Season 3), Sara Mauriello/Cristina Fraticola/Gaia Buongiovanni (as a child, Seasons 1-2)
Elena's youngest sister.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: To her sister's shock, she ends up dating and later living with Marcello Solara, a member of a Camorra family.
- Ascended Extra: Originally an irrelevant younger sibling barely mentioned in the first two books, she becomes an actual character in the third and fourth books.
- The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest child in Elena's family, and teased by her brothers when was a little girl.
- Rags to Riches: Her family is poor, but in later books Elisa moves in with the rich and powerful Marcello Solara.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In the last book, she becomes cold to her sister Elena, and by the end, they don't even talk anymore.
Cerullo Family
Fernando Cerullo
Played by: Antonio Buonanno
Lila's father who is a shoemaker.
- Abusive Parents: Physically and verbally abusive to both Lila and Rino. He throws Lila out of the window and breaks her arm when she is still a child.
- Jerkass: Just an ignorant, bigoted, short-tempered, and violent man, and a quite horrible father.
- Out of Focus: Has a pivotal role in the first book, but is Demoted to Extra in the three sequels.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He's an antagonist in the first book, and very sexist as well.
- Shipper with an Agenda: He really wants his daughter Lila to marry Marcello, simply because the latter is rich and powerful, and he thinks it would benefit his family and his business. He later supports Lila's relationship with Stefano, who is quite rich too.
Nunzia Cerullo
Played by: Valentina Acca
Lila's mother.
- Ascended Extra: Downplayed, as she's always a minor character, but in the second book she interacts a lot with Elena and Lila during the vacation in Ischia, and we see more of her personality. Elena even notices she's more talkative than usual.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While she's usually submissive, there are moments where she raises her voice and gets angry.
- Extreme Doormat: Mostly quiet and passive, and lets her husband take all the family decisions.
- Housewife: She's a housewife like Elena's mother and all the adult women in the neighborhood.
- Mama Bear: When she sees Stefano beating up Lila in Ischia, she gets so furious that she starts yelling and defending her daughter.
- Stepford Smiler: Normally plays the role of the nice wife and mother, but the vacation in Ischia reveals that she has hidden frustrations.
Rino Cerullo
Played by: Gennaro De Stefano, Tommaso Rusciano (child)
Lila's older brother.
- Big Brother Bully: Just like their father, he can be abusive (both physically and verbally) to Lila, and it's mentioned he beat her up quite a few times.
- Big Brother Instinct: He and Lila don't always get along, but he's still protective of her.
- Butt-Monkey: Nobody respects him, and he's considered a loser by everyone, including his father, the Solaras, his brother-in-law Stefano, and even his eventual wife. While his sister Lila still loves him (even naming her son after him), she also sees him as as a Disappointing Older Sibling.
- Cool Big Bro: In the beginning, he was the only one in Lila's family who was truly supportive of her, in contrast to their abusive father and Extreme Doormat mother. Downplayed after he Took a Level in Jerkass, though Lila still cares for him.
- Disappointing Older Sibling: When Lila becomes a teenager, she realizes that her Cool Big Bro is just as bad and violent as the other men in the neighborhood.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish. His sister Lila is an Insufferable Genius who can be hard-working when it's needed, while Rino is an Insufferable Imbecile and a moocher.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Shares the same explosive temper of his father and his sister, often to the point of being violent.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Introduced as a good character with a positive relationship with his sister, but he becomes increasingly brutish, unreliable, and violent as the story goes on.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: As a preteen, he's seen defending Lila from his father and trying to convince him to let Lila go to middle school. As he grows up, his greed, the interactions with the Solaras, and other things messed him up, unfortunately.
Carracci Family
Stefano Carracci
Played by: Giovanni Amura, Kristijan Di Giacomo (child)
Local rich boy and later Lila's husband.
- Beneath the Mask: In the first book, he appears to be a nice and respectable young man (even if he used to be a bully as a kid) and the better option of Lila's potential suitors. Only after marrying Lila, his violent temper is revealed.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Lila often makes him dangerously angry. It doesn't help that Lila is quite stubborn and hot-tempered herself, rather than the submissive wife he wants her to be.
- Hypocrite: Acts like a Crazy Jealous Guy towards Lila. While he has point since Lila cheated on him, it's later revealed that he cheated on her too.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Lila is far from being a good wife, as she's constantly getting angry, provoking him, and insulting him. This doesn't justify Stefano's violence, especially by modern standards, but many characters in-universe seem to think that Stefano is right and she deserves it.
- After getting pregnant and having a baby, Lila insists that her son Gennarino isn't Stefano's child but Nino's. Stefano never believes the child isn't his, no matter how many times Lila says otherwise. In the third book, Lila notices the child's growing resemblance to Stefano and finally admits that he's indeed Stefano's child.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: When he was a kid, he violently attacked Lila, just because she won a school competition against Stefano's younger brother.
- Mood-Swinger: He can abruptly go from a calm and friendly guy to a scary and Ax-Crazy domestic abuser.
- Obliviously Evil: He thinks there's nothing wrong with his violent reactions, and that sometimes it's necessary. He loves Lila but in an unhealthy way, and after getting married, he sees her as something that belongs to him, due to the misogynistic society of that period. Simply because he brings home money and makes Lila live in a nice apartment, he thinks that she should be always grateful and submissive to him. She's not and this drives him crazy to the point of violence.
- Pet the Dog: While he's one of the main antagonists in the second book, he does have some decent moments. And like everyone else, he respects Elena, and apologizes to her after Lila's meanest moment in the car scene.
- Riches to Rags: In the third book, after the end of his marriage, it's revealed that he lost all his money.
- Would Hit a Girl: To his wife Lila, frequently beating her up, and he has also raped her more than once. He's nicer to his mistress Ada, though he beats her up after she reveals to Lila their secret relationship.
- Would Hurt a Child: During a violent fight, he pushes Rino down the stairs... and then he tries to do the same thing to Rino's little child, but Lila stops him.
Pinuccia Carracci
Played by: Federica Sollazzo, Giuliana Tramontano (child)
Stefano's sister, and later Rino's wife.
- Freak Out: While she's pregnant with Rino's baby, she falls in love with another guy in Ischia. This causes her to have a nervous breakdown, realizing that marrying Rino was a mistake, made worse by her pregnancy.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: She despises her brother's wife Lila, and is usually hostile to her, partially due to jealousy.
- Pet the Dog: As bitchy as she is, she likes and respects Elena, like everyone else.
- Spoiled Brat: She's richer than most people in the neighborhood, and is not a nice person.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: She's initially mean only to her rivals like Lila and Gigliola, and seems to love Rino. But after the vacation in Ischia (when she's pregnant with Rino's child and has a crush on another guy), she becomes shrill, hysterical, and she starts to hate her husband Rino, later also becoming hateful to their baby.
Alfonso Carracci
Played by: Fabrizio Cottone, Valerio Laviano Saggese (child)
Stefano's somewhat shy younger brother and Elena's classmate in high school.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Alfonso is respectful, smart, and responsible, unlike his brutish and uneducated brother Stefano and his bratty sister Pinuccia.
- Gay Best Friend: His odd friendship with Lila in later books, after he comes out as gay.
- I Just Want to Be You: In later books, he models himself on Lila, even keeping the same haircut. Why? Because he's in love with Michele, who only has eyes for Lila.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: In later books he lets his hair grow, trying to look like Lila, and becomes more feminine-looking. According to Elena, he's even prettier than Lila.
- Nice Guy: A very polite guy, and he lacks the Lower-Class Lout traits of all the other men in the neighborhood.
- Out of the Closet, Into the Fire: In the last book, he starts a toxic relationship with the main villain Michele, and is later beaten to death and killed, possibly by Michele himself. Nobody in his family attends his funeral, and only Elena, Lila, and Enzo were there.
- Prone to Tears: As a child, he cries after being beaten by Lila in a school competition. It also happens once in high school, when he cries in front of the entire class, due to being unable to answer the teacher's question.
- Token Good Teammate: The only nice person in his family, and one of the few innocent people in the neighborhood.
- The Unfavorite: He's an outsider in his family especially after he reveals his homosexuality. He admits that he has always been this, ever since he used to play with dolls as a kid.
Don Achille Carracci
Played by: Antonio Pennarella
Local mobster and father of Stefano, Pinuccia, and Alfonso. A terrifying figure from Elena and Lila's childhood.
- The Dreaded: The children of the neighborhood are warned not even to talk to him. In the eyes of the young Elena and Lila, he was like the Big Bad of a fairytale.
- Offstage Villainy: Pasquale blames his father's downfall on Don Achille, who apparently stole the tools and the workshop of the carpenter Peluso.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He only appears at the beginning of the first book, but he left a lot of impact. His connections with the fascists, how the Solaras start to take control of the neighborhood after his death, his conflict with Pasquale's family, his influence on Stefano's personality are all important parts of the story.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He's killed in one of the early chapters, when Elena and Lila are still children.
Sarratore Family
Nino Sarratore
Played by: Francesco Serpico (teenager/young adult), Alessandro Nardi (child)
Elena's First Love and main Love Interest throughout the books. He used to live in her same neighborhood during their childhood, until Nino's family moves away. He dated both Lila and Elena.
- Adaptational Hairstyle Change: In the books, it's mentioned several times that he has long hair, especially in the second and third book. He never has long hair in the TV series.
- Aloof Big Brother: To his younger siblings, especially Marisa. They are not very close, and Marisa thinks her brother is a boring, stuck-up boy who only thinks about studying.
- Ascended Extra: Initially a minor character, but gets a much bigger role as the story goes on.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: On the surface, he's a progressive, intellectual guy who respects women, unlike the misogynistic "brutes" of that time period (such as Stefano, the Solaras, or Lila's father and brother). In reality, he's a Social Climber, a liar, and a serial seducer who manipulates all the lovestruck women around him.
- Book Smart: The only thing he has in common with both Elena and Lila. While Nino and Elena are both highly educated overachievers at school, it's revealed during the holiday in Ischia that Nino is attracted to Lila because he still remembers her as the Child Prodigy from primary school, even if she dropped out after that.
- The Casanova: He easily gets women due to his apparent charm, but he has no problem using them, cheating on them, and then leaving them. This also includes abandoning the children he had with his ex-girlfriends.
- Chick Magnet: Many girls fall in love with him, like Elena, Lila (in the second book), Nadia, Silvia, and Eleonora, and they all end up disappointed. He's even more of a ladies man in later books...
- Childhood Friend Romance: A dysfunctional example. Elena has loved him since she was a child, while Nino has always liked Lila since primary school. He enventually had romantic relationships with both of them, though neither of them ended up well.
- Commuting on a Bus: In all the books, he has the habit of being temporarily Put on a Bus, disappearing for a while, and then coming back in Elena's life.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: He's the male lead and main Love Interest, and a smart, handsome, and charming Chick Magnet loved by the main heroine since childhood. You would expect him to be a heroic character, but Nino is a Narcissist who only loves himself.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Seemingly the responsible, being studious and cultured, while his sister Marisa is a laidback, Book Dumb girl. When it comes to relationships though, he's anything but responsible.
- Handsome Lech: Unlike his father who is more of a Kavorka Man, Nino is conventionally attractive, and ultimately just a shameless womanizer who doesn't care about women's feelings.
- Hypocrite: He describes his father as a hypocrite for pretending to be a Nice Guy but secretly cheating on his mom at the same time. As he gets older, Nino becomes more and more similar to his father.
- Insufferable Genius: He's intellectual, reads a lot, and is stated to be one of the smartest students in his high school along with Elena. Several of the other characters find him stuck-up, including his own family.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Never trust Nino. At the end of the third book, Elena believes that he's genuinely in love with her, after Nino leaves his wife to start a relationship with her. In the fourth book, it turns out he was lying the whole time, he has never left his wife, and he also starts to cheat on Elena with multiple other women.
- Karma Houdini: After all of the lies, the betrayals, the cheating, and his cowardly exits, nothing truly bad ever happens to Nino (aside from receiving a brutal No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Antonio in the second book), and he ends up having a successful political career. One of the very few characters who achieves an happy ending.
- Manipulative Bastard: He can be charming, and he knows how to manipulate women to satisfy his own needs. His future political career actually makes sense, in that he fits the nature of his character.
- Mirror Character: Nino despises his father for taking advantage of a vulnerable woman and repeatedly cheating on his mother with multiple women. Fast forward a couple of decades and his own conduct is scarcely better.
- Really Gets Around: Exaggerated in the last book. Despite having a serious relationship with Elena, being still married to Eleonora, and having children with both of them, it's revealed that he was having sexual relationships with many other different women at the same time, including Elena's neighbor and their middle-aged cleaning lady.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Described this way in the books (very tall, dark-haired, and considered good-looking by Elena and other women), and his actor Francesco Serpico lives up to the description.
- Tritagonist: Of the series as a whole, despite being also an antagonist. He the third most important character after Elena and Lila, and has a pivotal role in all the books (except maybe the first).
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Elena has loved him since childhood, because he was apparently cuter and nicer than the other kids. Then he grows up to be a somewhat moody teenager, and then a shallow, narcissistic adult like his father. And despite this, Elena never stops loving him until the second half of the last book.
Marisa Sarratore
Played by: Miriam D'Angelo, Cristina Magnotti (child)
Nino's younger sister.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: To Nino, slightly. She's a fun-loving teenager, and Nino doesn't really want to look after her.
- Book Dumb: Downplayed. She manages to go to high school, so she has a better education than most characters, but is a horrible student who hates books, unlike her brother Nino.
- Daddy's Girl: Unlike Nino, Marisa adores her father. Sadly, it's Horrible Judge of Character given what kind of person her father is.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The foolish as a laidback, Book Dumb girl. Her brother Nino is studious and cultured.
- Incompatible Orientation: She is in love with Alfonso, who is rumored to be gay. And he is.
- Last Het Romance: She has a long-term relationship with Alfonso, when he's still in the closet, ignoring the rumors about him.
- Nice Girl: Mostly as a teenager. She's friendly and nice to Elena, and stands up for her boyfriend Alfonso when he gets bullied by Gino at a wedding.
Donato Sarratore
Played by: Emanuele Valenti
Nino's father. A railroad worker, poet, and journalist.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He appears to be an extremely friendly, generous, and likable man. At the same time, he cheats on his wife all the time, and even sexually assaults the 15-year-old Elena.
- Kavorka Man: Donato is by no means a handsome man, but with his facade of a gallant and cultured gentleman, he manages to seduce many women.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: He's good at choosing poetic and nice-sounding words, but everything he says or writes is all form and no substance.
- Like Father, Like Son: As much as Nino hates him, he turns out to be very similar to his father: a manipulative womanizer behind a Gentleman and a Scholar facade.
- Loved by All: Aside from his son Nino (who hates him), everyone loves Donato and thinks he's a great person after interacting with him, including Lila. He's anything but, as Elena soon realizes.
- Pet the Dog: He's very nice to his children, though it may be just an act to keep his Nice Guy reputation.
Peluso Family
Pasquale Peluso
Played by: Eduardo Scarpetta, Francesco Catena (child)
A construction worker and self-proclaimed Communist who is an old friend of Elena and Lila. He also has a crush on the latter.
- Alliterative Name: Pasquale Peluso.
- Better as Friends: He falls in love with Lila, but she only loves him like a brother.
- Cool Big Bro: To his younger sister Carmela, who is quite fond of him. They mostly seem to have a positive relationship.
- Dogged Nice Guy: As a teenager, he becomes very close to Lila, explaining her many details about his political ideals and frequently hanging out with her. Much to his dismay, he never gets out of the friend zone.
- Hypocrite:
- After being rejected by Lila, he's so angry that at least once he calls Lila a whore and a Gold Digger for accepting Stefano's marriage proposal. But when the Solara brothers start to spread the same rumors about her, he decides to defend her honor along with his friends.
- In Book 3, he treats Pietro with contempt because the latter grew up as a privileged rich boy. But he has no problem dating Nadia, who grew up as a privileged rich girl.
- Like Brother and Sister: Both Elena and Lila love him like a brother. Even after he gets involved in many crimes in later books, the girls remain supportive of him.
- Not Good with Rejection: In the first book, he becomes very moody when Lila rejects him, but later he gets over it.
- Opposites Attract: He's a very poor construction worker with no education, but his girfriend in later books is the rich and privileged Nadia, who comes from a family of intellectuals. The only thing they have in common is ther political opinion, and they end up as an Outlaw Couple. Nadia manages to avoid jail because of her family connection, while Pasquale doesn't.
- Smarter Than You Look: He only speaks dialect and probably didn't even finish elementary school, but he knows a lot about the things he's passionate about, like politics and even some history. At the end of the last book, while spending many years in prison, he finally finds the motivation to study, until getting a degree in astrophysics.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: He was always opinionated with his Communist ideas, but in later books his extreme activism turns him into a deranged criminal who is later arrested. Also, in the third book, he becomes extremely rude to Elena for no reason, even if Elena is one of his close friends since childhood.
Carmela "Carmen" Peluso
Played by: Francesca Pezzella, Francesca Bellamoli (child)
Pasquale's sister, and an old friend of Elena and Lila.
- Girl Next Door: An average sweet and simple girl, for the most part. She has her Jerkass Ball moments, though.
- In-Series Nickname: While she's introduced as Carmela, she's often called "Carmen" and even Elena at some point starts to refer to her as Carmen in her narration.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Downplayed. When she was younger she found the Solaras attractive and had superficial crushes on boys. However, she's the only girl in the saga who only ends up dating decent guys (Enzo and her eventual husband) and manages to avoid the The Masochism Tango of all the other girls.
Cappuccio Family
Antonio Cappuccio
Played by: Christian Giroso, Domenico Cuomo (child)
A mechanic and old friend from the poorest family in the neighborhood. He dates Elena for a period.
- Amicable Exes: In the last book, he's on friendly terms with his ex-girlfriend Elena, and is even willing to help her on occasion.
- Big Brother Instinct: Towards his sister Ada, to the point that he even confronts the dangerous Solara brothers when they hurt Ada. He gets beaten up for it.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: When dating Elena, he's obsessively jealous because he thinks she's more interested in Nino Sarratore, who is more her intellectual equal. He's not wrong.
- Face–Heel Turn: After he starts working for the Solaras, the Big Bad Duumvirate. He gets better.
- Hypocrite: Since he was desperate at the idea of leaving for military service, his girlfriend Elena asks the Solaras' help, as they have the power and connections. Antonio gets angry and breaks up with her, because he hates the Solaras and doesn't want their help. Except that he ends up working for the Solaras not much time later.
- Insecure Love Interest: During his relationship with Elena. He considers himself ignorant and useless compared to academic overachiever Elena.
Ada Cappuccio
Played by: Ulrike Migliaresi, Lucia Manfuso (child)
Antonio's sister, and Melina's daughter.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: The Solara brothers are bullies, and it's very implied they raped her, but she still hangs out with them. She later starts a secret relationship with Stefano, a troubled married man.
- Damsel in Distress: In the first book, she's an easy target for the Solara brothers, who forcefully drag her into their car, seemingly for sexual reasons.
- Flat Character: While we know some facts about her family, she doesn't have any notable personality, although she gets a bit more focus in the second book.
Melina Cappuccio
Played by: Pina Di Gennaro
A crazy widow, and mother of Antonio and Ada. She had an affair with Donato Sarratore.
- All of the Other Reindeer: All the neighbors see her as the resident lunatic and think that Donato did nothing wrong. In her fights with Lidia, everyone roots for Lidia.
- Cloudcuckoolander: A dramatic example, as she's a poor and desperate woman who is clearly insane.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: In the third book, she points out Gennaro's resemblance to Stefano, and also to Stefano's other daughter Maria. This makes Lila realize that Gennaro is truly Stefano's son, and not Nino's.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Her love for Donato makes her even crazier. When Donato leaves, she freaks out in front of all her neighbors.
- The Rival: To Donato's wife Lidia. They get into brutal fights over Donato.
Scanno Family
Enzo Scanno
Played by: Giovanni Buselli, Vincenzo Vaccaro (child)
The fruit seller's son who always had a soft spot for Lila.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the books, he's short, unkempt, and not very attractive, and the narration uses unflattering words to describe his appearance. On the show, his actor Giovanni Buselli is not very tall (about as tall as Lila) but is a fairly good-looking Pretty Boy.
- Ascended Extra: Goes from a minor character in the first two books to Lila's main Love Interest in the third and fouth books.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Quiet and calm most of the time, but he's not above fighting (even physically) anyone who dares to disrepect Lila. He becomes quicker to anger after losing his little daughter Tina in the last book, which is understandable.
- Cannot Spit It Out: He has liked Lila since childhood, but he only confesses his feelings to her near the end of the second book. By his own admission, he has never found the courage before, because he thought she was too smart and beautiful for him.
- Childhood Friend Romance: He and Lila weren't exactly friends as children, but Enzo was the only kid who liked her, along with Elena (and apparently Nino, but it's revealed later). They have a long-term relationship as adults, living together for many years.
- Good Parents: He's an excellent and loving father to Tina in the last book. Tina's disappearance was traumatic for both him and Lila
- Hidden Depths: Even as a kid, where he's mostly seen as a rebellious jerk who was Held Back in School several times, he showed signs of some of his later characteristics, like his intelligence (despite his bad grades, he was Good with Numbers) and his genuine respect for Lila.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy:
- When Lila decides to leave Stefano, Enzo helps her to raise her son without asking anything in return, even if Lila doesn't want a relationship... at least for a while.
- In last book, after their daughter's disappearance, his relationship with Lila slowly dies. Before leaving, he asks Lila's friend Elena to take care of her.
- Nice Guy: A decent and caring man who genuinely loves Lila. Lila even describes him as the most generous person she knows.
- Platonic Co-Parenting: For a while, he and Lila live together and raise Lila's son, without being romantically involved... until they start a real relationship.
- The Quiet One: He's described as a person of very few words, even when he's around his closest friends.
- Reformed Bully: As a kid, he was the rebellious leader of a Gang of Bullies who liked to throw rocks at his classmates. He grows up to be one of the kindest and most selfless characters in the saga.
- Smarter Than You Look: He was the worst student in elementary school, but even back in the day, he was the only one able to compete with Lila in a math competition, despite being a slacker. As an adult, he gets his GED, and then he and Lila learn electronics and start their own computer company, which was successful for a long time.
Solara Family
Marcello Solara
Played by: Elvis Esposito, Pietro Vuolo (child)
A local powerful thug along with his brother Michele. Has an unrequited crush on Lila in the first book. He's the eventual husband of Elena's sister Elisa.
- Affably Evil: He's a ruthless criminal like his brother, but he's the nicer of the two. His interest on Lila seems more sensitive and genuine, courting her in a seemingly polite way. In later books, he becomes a reasonably decent husband to Elisa (in contrast to his brother being a cruel husband to Gigliola).
- Chick Magnet: All the girls in the neighborhood find him attractive... except for Lila, of course.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He seems shocked when his brother punches Lila in the face in the last book.
- Hopeless Suitor: In the first book, he relentlessly pursues Lila, determined to marry her. However, Lila despises him and his family, and harshly rejects him.
- Siblings in Crime: With Michele. They are young members of a Camorra family.
- Villainous Crush: On Lila in the first book, trying to use his money and power to get in good with Lila's family, even if Lila herself told him many times that she's not interested. After Lila accepts to marry another man, Marcello and his brother start slut-shaming her and spreading fake rumors about her.
Michele Solara
Played by: Alessio Gallo, Adriano Tammaro (child)
A local powerful thug along with his brother Marcello. He ends up marrying Gigliola, although in later books he develops an unhealthy obsession with Lila.
- Ascended Extra: In the first book, he's in the shadow of his brother Marcello. He becomes a prominent villain in all the other books.
- The Casanova: He brags about sleeping with hundreds of women, even in front of his wife.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Being the younger brother, he acts more like a muscle and enforcer to Marcello in the first book. However, in later books, he becomes the biggest threat in the neighborhood (with his brother being more Out of Focus), because he's more evil, more violent, and more ambitious than Marcello.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Has a Sanity Slippage after they kill his mother.
- Jerkass: He's the more aggressive and violent of the two brothers.
- Retargeted Lust: Michele lusts after Lila. She never reciprocates. He then starts an homosexual relationship with Alfonso, who models himself after Lila. It doesn't end well.
- Siblings in Crime: With Marcello. They are young members of a Camorra family.
- Villainous Crush: He's one of the main villains and is extremely attracted to Lila, one of the two heroines. Needlessly to say, she hates him.
Spagnuolo Family
Gigliola Spagnuolo
Played by: Rosaria Langellotto, Alice D'Antonio (child)
Daughter of a pastry maker and eventually wife of Michele Solara.
- Alpha Bitch: At least, the equivalent of one in a poor Neapolitan neighborhood of the post-war era. She's described as very pretty, with bitchy and gossipy tendencies, and shallow enough to date young gangster Michele Solara just to have money and power in the future.
- Broken Bird: Later books reveal how much she's suffering in her unhappy marriage with Michele.
- Formerly Fit: She's thin and beautiful, until becoming obese and depressed after being abandoned by her husband Michele in her adult years.
- Green-Eyed Monster: She strongly dislikes Lila, often insulting her behind her back, mainly due to jealousy.
- Trophy Wife: She becomes this to Michele, an abusive, womanizing criminal who doesn't care about her and openly tells her to her face. She's aware of it.
Galiani Family
Professor Galiani
Played by: Anna Redi (Season 1), Clotilde Sabatino (Seasons 2-3)
Elena's high school teacher.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: How she treats Elena after they meet again when Elena is older in the third book. She pretends to be polite but clearly has a strong resentment towards her, and is passive-aggressive. She also inexplicably starts to gush over Lila, while barely paying attention to Elena, instead of being proud of the latter for her successful career.
- Cool Teacher: Elena's favorite teacher in high school, and the biggest fan of Elena's intelligence and academic achievements. Nino also seems to respect her. Subverted after Nino and Nadia's break-up.
- Stern Teacher: According to Alfonso, she's too strict as a teacher, but Nino disagrees and finds her "strict but fair".
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Originally a Cool Teacher who constantly praises and supports Elena. But after Nino leaves Mrs. Galiani's daughter Nadia, the teacher blames it on Elena, ignoring that Nino actually left Nadia for Lila. She becomes very cold to Elena afterwards.
Nadia Galiani
Played by: Giorgia Gargano
Mrs. Galiani's daughter who dated Nino (Book 2) and Pasquale (Book 3).
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In the second book, she comes off as an extremely sweet Nice Girl who adores Elena. And then in the third book, she calls Elena a bitch and tells her that she has always hated her, because her mother couldn't stop gushing over her favorite student Elena Greco.
- Good Girl Gone Bad: In the second book, she's a sweet and smart girl with no flaws at all. After all her horrible behavior in the third book, her mother and her brother end up being ashamed of her.
- Opposites Attract: She's a rich, privileged, well-educated girl, but in later books, she ends up dating Paquale, a very poor construction worker with no education. The only thing they have in common is ther political opinion, and they end up as an Outlaw Couple. Nadia manages to avoid jail because of her family connection, while Pasquale doesn't.
- Spoiled Sweet: A privileged rich girl who lives in a beautiful house, and is shown to be innocent, naive, and super-sweet to everyone. Completely subverted after she Took a Level in Jerkass in Book 3.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In the third book, she turns into a reckless Jerkass who hates everyone and engages in criminal acts with Pasquale.
Armando Galiani
Played by: Giovanni Cannata
Mrs. Galiani's son and Nadia's brother.
- Deadpan Snarker: He's a bit more cynical and sardonic than his sweet and naive sister. Elena notices Armando's sarcasm when she meets both siblings for the first time at Mrs. Galiani's party.
- The Generic Guy: We don't learn much about him. We only know he becomes a doctor and shares the communist beliefs with the rest of his family (and with Pasquale in book 3).
Airota Family
Pietro Airota
Played by: Matteo Cecchi
A rich student at Elena's university and eventually her husband.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In the third book, he's sexist, judgemental, hates his mother and his sister, doesn't want his wife Elena to have her own opinions, and belittles the feminist ideals of all the women in his family. All these unpleasant aspects of his personality are removed in the TV series.
- Broken Ace: A rich, smart, and successful scholar who becomes a university professor at a young age. But he has no friends, he's disliked by his family, by his co-workers, by his students, and even his wife Elena has no real love for him, and she ends up leaving him for another guy. By the end of the third book, he deals with his wife cheating on him and his marriage being ruined.
- Excellent Judge of Character: Played straight with his opinion of Lila, inverted with his opinion of Nino.
- After talking to Lila for just one evening, he tells Elena that Lila is smart and attractive, but also a wicked person and a toxic friend, which is true. However, he also speculates that Lila may have a secret relationship with criminal Camorrist Michele Solara, which is not true at all. Michele has a one-sided Villainous Crush on her.
- He genuinely likes Nino and thinks he's a good friend. Nino ends up humiliating Pietro repeatedly, before starting an affair with Pietro's wife.
- Extreme Doormat: At times. When his "friend" Nino is a guest at Elena and Pietro's house for a few weeks, Nino slowly starts to belittle, humiliate, and insult Pietro (initially in a "playful" way, then in an outright hostile way), and all in front of Pietro's wife and children. Instead of kicking Nino out of his house, Pietro doesn't even answer him, and his only reaction is going to his room to stay alone.
- Foil: To Nino. Both are intellectual and academically successful professors who are romantically involved with Elena. But while Nino is sly, confident, and charismatic, Pietro is a boring and nebbish guy.
- Gentleman and a Scholar: Downplayed. He's cultured, well-read, and generally calm and polite. But, as Elena finds out when being married to him, he's not as nice as he seems.
- Iconic Sequel Character: Introduced near the end of the second book, but is one of the most important characters in the series. He's also the Tritagonist of the third book.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: Ironically, all his family members are respected academics and also socially active. Pietro is just as brilliant as the rest of his family, but is considered a boring guy with no friends.
- Nepotism: While he's smart and hard-working, he gets his job as university professor at such a young age mostly because of his powerful family connections. It's the reason why he's disliked by his co-workers.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He is a neglectful and sometimes disrespectful husband to Elena in the third book. After their divorce in the fourth book, he becomes very nice to Elena (he even forgives her for cheating on him and leaving him), and does his best to be a good father to his daughters.
- Workaholic: He usually spends his time working, letting Elena do all the housework and take care of their children.
- Would Hit a Girl: Downplayed, but he slaps Elena in the face in one scene. However, he's far from being a brutal and violent guy like Lila's husband Stefano.
Mariarosa Airota
Played by: Giulia Mazzarino
Pietro's older sister.
- Best Friends-in-Law: She and Elena become very good friends and Mariarosa remains a supportive friend to Elena even after Elena and Pietro's separation.
- Big Sister Bully: According to Pietro, she has always been horrible to him, but it's not confirmed if it's true or not.
- Lady Swearsalot: Mariarosa wasn't like this at first, but she becomes more vulgar later on, along with her friends. According to Elena, she has become even more foul-mouthed than Lila.
- Sibling Rivalry: Pietro can't stand her and she doesn't seem to be fond of him either.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: With Pietro, the only thing they have in common is their academic intelligence. Mariarosa is a rebellious outspoken feminist and political activist with many friends, while Pietro is a more traditional "boring" guy with no social life.
- Straw Feminist: Downplayed. She's part of a full-blown feminist group along with her gal pals. But her feminist beliefs have a good influence on Elena, encouraging her to write her second book, and she's mostly a likable character.
Adele Airota
Played by: Daria Deflorian
Pietro's mother.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: At first sight, she's a classy and polite Cool Old Lady but the last book reveals her to be extremely petty after Elena and Pietro's separation.
- Brutal Honesty: While she supports Elena's writing talent, when she doesn't like one of Elena's books, she tells her to her face that the book has no potential.
- High-Powered Career Woman: A powerful and highly respected intellectual woman who has an important role in the Italian publishing industry.
- Parental Substitute: To Elena initially, being the biggest supporter of Elena's writing career, giving her advice, and using her connections to publish Elena's first book. Subverted in the last book: they start to hate each other, and Elena even tells her that her own mother is much better than her.
- Rich Bitch: In the last book, trying to use her power and connections to ruin Elena's career. She fails, though.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Towards her ex daughter-in-law Elena in the last book. While she's understandably angry at her (since Elena has cheated on and abandoned Adele's son Pietro), trying to ruin Elena's writing career is an extremely petty move.
Children (spoiler)
Gennaro/Rino
Played by: Salvatore Tortora
Lila's first child, born from her marriage with Stefano. Lila initially believes that Nino is his real father, but she's proven wrong later.
- Ascended Extra: A minor character in the second and third book, but becomes a more important character in the fourth book.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Downplayed. As kids, he and Dede are Vitriolic Best Buds, Dede falls in love with him, while Dede's little sister Elsa is just a baby. When they grow up, he ends up having a short and weird "romance" with... Elsa.
- Creepy Child: Shows these tendencies near the end of the third book, when he's about 10 years old and takes off his clothes in front of Dede, a little girl.
- Dumbass Teenage Son: He's portrayed as this in the fourth book, to the point that both Dede and Elsa are smarter and more mature than him, despite being notably younger.
- Future Loser: In the second and third book, he's stated to be a smart Adorably Precocious Child. As he grows up, he lets himself go and becomes an unintelligent and useless deadbeat, and even his mother Lila admits he has no future. As an adult, when he calls Elena to tell her about Lila's disappearance, Elena describes him as a waste of space.
- Kavorka Man: He grows up to be an ugly, overweight, and unintelligent loser, but Elena's two older daughters Dede and Elsa are madly in love with him as teenagers, despite being both much smarter than him. Neither Elena nor Lila can understand why.
- One-Steve Limit: He's initially called Gennaro, because the nickname Rino is already used for Lila's brother. After the death of Lila's brother, everyone starts to call Gennaro "Rino".
- Took a Level in Dumbass: When he's a kid, he gets good grades at school. He loses all his intelligence as he grows up.
- The Unfavorite: In the fourth book, he becomes this compared to his adorable, smart, and perfect little sister Tina. After Tina's disappearance, Lila and Enzo are stuck with Rino as their only child, and he has constant fights with both of them.
Dede
Played by: Sofia Luchetti
Elena and Pietro's first daughter.
- Ascended Extra: Along with her sister Elsa, she is introduced in the third book but has a much bigger role in the fourth book after becoming a teenager.
- Book Smart: She's just as responsible and academically smart as her parents. Although her mother is still worried about Dede's lack of ambition about her future career initially, but Dede gets better after getting over her love for Gennarino.
- Broken Pedestal: At the beginning of the fourth book, she adores Lila and even sees her as a second mother figure. As she grows up, she ends up hating her and even calls her a shitty mother because of Tina's disappearance.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: As a teenager, she can be very rude and disrespectful, especially to her younger sister Elsa and to her mother's friend Lila.
- The Cutie: In the TV series, as a little girl, she's the typical smart but innocent Adorably Precocious Child who provides comic relief with her cuteness.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Her real name is Adele. She was initially nicknamed "Ade" by Elena, until her husband Pietro reminds her what Ade means (it's the Italian name of the god "Hades").
- Sibling Rivalry: With Elsa. They often argue and exchange mean insults. Later, they have a crush on the same guy.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: She goes to an innocent child in the third book (with the third season of TV series making her The Cutie) to a very rude teenager in the fourth book.
- What Does She See in Him?: She has been in love with Lila's son Gennarino since she was a child. Her mother hates this fact, because Dede is a smart girl with a bright future, while Gennarino is an unattractive, dumb loser. After getting her high school diploma and being rejected by him, Dede goes to live in the USA to start a new life.
Elsa
Played by: Sophia Protino
Elena and Pietro's second daughter.
- Ascended Extra: Along with her sister Dede, she is introduced in the third book but has a much bigger role in the fourth book after becoming a teenager.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Like Dede, she can be very rude and disrespectful as a teenager, often exchanging mean insults with Dede herself.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: According to her mother, Elsa is much less responsible than Dede and often gets bad grades in the first half of the school year, without even caring... She starts to study only in the last few months of every school year, which always finishes with Elsa getting among the best results in her class in the final report card.
- Broken Pedestal: Like Dede, she goes from adoring Lila to hating her over the course of the last book. Unlike Dede, Elsa says some respectful words about Lila before leaving for good, and she doesn't hate her anymore.
- Named After Somebody Famous: She's named after Italian novelist Elsa Morante.
- Odd Name Out: Out of Elena's daughters, she's the only one not named after one of her grandmothers, and the only one who doesn't go by a nickname.
- Sibling Rivalry: With Dede. They often argue and exchange mean insults. Later, they have a crush on the same guy.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Like Dede, she becomes more and more brattier and meaner as a teenager.
- What Does She See in Him?: It's later revealed that she has a crush on the dumb and ugly deadbeat Gennarino, who was considered the "true love" also by her sister Dede. After Dede leaves, Elsa even dates him for a while, much to her mother's dismay. Their relationship doesn't last long, and Elsa ends up moving to the USA too, like Dede before her.
Imma
Elena's third daughter, born from her relationship with Nino.
- Always Second Best: To Tina, Lila's daughter (and later Missing Child). According to Elena, Tina was always one step ahead of Imma, despite that they were little girls of the same age.
- Children Are Innocent: Imma idolizes her father Nino, and while she doesn't see him very often, she's always very happy to meet him. She's too young to realize that her father is not a good person.
- Dead Guy Junior: She's named after her late grandmother Immacolata, Elena's mother.
- Nice Girl: She's much nicer than her older sisters, which is ironic since she's the daughter of Nino.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: She's never called Immacolata, only "Imma".
- Overshadowed by Awesome: During her first years of her life, Imma was apparently overshadowed by Lila's super-smart and super-cute daughter Tina, who is described as the perfect child in every way. This could be Elena being an Unreliable Narrator with her usual inferiority complex (she always sees herself as inferior to Lila, so she also sees her daughter as inferior to Lila's daughter).
Tina
Lila's second child, born from her relationship with Enzo.
- Adorably Precocious Child: Tina is described as very smart for her age, but also sweet and adorable.
- Always Someone Better: Than Elena's daughter Imma, apparently. According to Elena, Tina is always one step ahead of Imma, despite that they are little girls of the same age.
- Daddy's Girl: Enzo is a very loving father to her. Later, he's also destroyed by her disappearance.
- Missing Child: Tina's mysterious and tragic disappearance is what ultimately breaks Lila's psyche and her relationship with Enzo. Tina was just a little girl when she disappeared.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Her real name is Nunzia, like Lila's mother. Tina is short for "Annunziatina".
- Small Role, Big Impact: Tina disappears quite soon from the story, but her disappearance ends up destroying Lila's entire life.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Elena and Lila's daughters Imma and Tina were born in the same period, and it seems that they are becoming important characters in the last book, mirroring their mothers. But Tina disappears soon without a trace. The story goes on, but nobody has ever found out what happened to her.
