Netflix movie The Love Scam (Mica è colpa mia is the Italian title), is set and filmed in the southern Italian city of Naples (Napoli). Directed by Umberto Carteni, the Italian-language film stars Antonio Folletto, Laura Adriani and Vincenzo Nemolato. Both the film and its locations are very enjoyable; I’d recommend The Love Scam to Italy-lovers, rom-com fans and those with a special interest in Naples.
Famed for its colour, chaos, culture, and crime, Naples is more than just a backdrop to the film’s story-telling. Naples is a character too – the story wouldn’t really happen, or be the same, without the unique characteristics of this vivid, fantastic town, the good and the bad. On this page you’ll find a short description and my opinion of the film, plus a longer description of The Love Scam film locations in Naples.
About the film The Love Scam
The Love Scam is about two penniless brothers in Naples, well-meaning single dad Vito, who we meet as he tries to find a better job to help him keep custody of his baby, and his cheerfully disreputable brother Antonello, who we first encounter as he flees from a pair of ‘customers’ he’s scammed.
Discovering that Antonello has been out-scammed and owes a €50,000 debt that will force the sale of their home – and risk the loss of custody of baby Napoleone – the brothers look desperately for a solution. At this point they encounter rich architect Marina. Marina is unhappy with her life working for her father’s firm – the same firm to which Antonello is now in debt. She compensates for her privilege by supporting charities. What if she could be tricked into donating to them? All it would take is Vito masquerading as a spectacles-wearing non-profit CEO called Carlo, and finding a way to soften grumpy Marina into giving a large sum to his ‘charity’.
Of course real feelings get in the way, adventures ensue, food plays a part, and all the comfortable ingredients of a romantic comedy are now in place. The film is a lot of fun and offers laughs, quirks, sympathetic characters, and of course some great shots of Naples in all its decrepit, splendid, sunny variety.
I enjoyed The Love Scam much more than I expected to at the beginning, and more than the English name suggested (the Italian title Mica è colpa mia translates as ‘It’s not my fault’). The story treads a nice balance between humour, romance, sympathy and social commentary. I’ve written a little more about my opinion further down the page.
Neapolitan dialect is used in the dialogue of The Love Scam, which gives the film extra charm and realism. Viewers keen on languages will find this interesting to listen to, along with the switches between dialect and standard Italian to differentiate between characters from different backgrounds and underline social divisions. As this is Netflix, you can choose from subtitles in standard Italian, English or other languages (a dubbed American soundtrack is also on offer, though after a brief listen I really wouldn’t recommend it).
Although it does depend on some stereotyping, the movie paints an affectionate picture of Naples which you’ll probably enjoy whether you’ve spent time there or not. And maybe it will tempt you into a trip.
Finding the locations
Although The Love Scam‘s Naples setting is key to the movie, the story itself is on a fairly intimate scale.The prime focus is on the characters and their lives. So we don’t get a sweeping ‘guidebook’ tour of the city, and many important scenes take place indoors: a home, an office, a restaurant. I thought the external locations were very well-chosen. The viewer can enjoy a few big views and picturesque spots, but also soak up the faded glory of crumbling palazzi and the gritty, run-down poor quarters that make up the heart of Naples just as much as its smart streets and shiny, arty underground stations.
Naturally after I watched the film and enjoyed spotting familiar places, I set myself to tracking down the less-familiar locations. I went as far as trawling my old Naples photos and Google Street View – I felt ridiculously proud when I located a particular, unremarkable doorway.
On this page I’ll share the main filming locations along with my photographs, and Street View links for the places I haven’t photographed. By definition this will include some brief reference to events in the film but I’ll try to avoid any spoilers that might affect your enjoyment if you haven’t seen the film yet (though I do recommend watching it first).
Naples is a city where contrasts live side-by-side; most strikingly the rich and the poor with very different lifestyles and chances. The plot begins with Vito, Antonello and their unemployed neighbours on the brink of losing their homes in a shabby apartment block ripe for demolition. Forces are at work to ensure the building is emptied of residents and condemned, in order to replace it with a swanky hotel as part of a gentrification project. So the differing faces of Naples are presented to the viewer from the beginning. The poverty of many Neapolitans is made plain, along with a go-getting outlook bordering on amorality, a need to take chances where they’re offered and the constant proximity of dodgy connections that fits in with the popular perception of Naples.
Netflix tend to be clever in choosing locations, not just for their charm or appropriateness, but also for their proximity to each other, and presumably efficiency for quick budget-friendly shoots. So most of the locations for The Love Scam are pretty close to each other and you could walk between them in a half-day tour while seeing Naples in all its variety.
The brothers’ home: Piazzetta San Giovanni in Porta (Quartiere San Lorenzo)
Vito and Antonello’s palazzo (in Italian this is any large building or apartment block, not necessarily something that would be described as a palace in English) is on a small square called Piazzetta San Giovanni in Porta, on a narrow lane called Via San Giovanni in Porta.
The square is in the heart of the historic centre, between the Duomo and the archaeological museum, in the ancient San Lorenzo district. Central, with a residential but dilapidated atmosphere, it looks very similar to its portrayal on film.
De Leonardi office: Piazza del Gesù Nuovo
The De Leonardi office, Marina’s workplace, is in Piazza del Gesù Nuovo. There are a number of shots where we see the square, and more which include the street heading downhill from the ‘office’, Calata Trinità Maggiore. This square is a very fine one, with a large 18th-century central monument topped with a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Several scenes involving the main characters take place on the street here, and it’s a significant location for the workings of the plot. If you want to track someone down, follow where they’re going or accost them on the street, where better to wait than outside their workplace?
Charity gala: Palazzo Reale
Antonello and Vito follow Marina to a swanky charity gala which is a world apart from the brothers’ Napoli. These scenes were filmed outside and inside the Palazzo Reale, Naples’s former royal palace. The building is open to the public and I highly recommend visiting, to see the lavish interiors and the stunning staircase. One of Napoli’s many strands of history is as capital city of a kingdom (the Kingdom of Naples, then the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies), and this is the best destination to appreciate that vanished majesty. Visit: https://palazzorealedinapoli.org/
Waterfront scenes
Heading out onto the seafront is a wonderful breath of fresh air when you’re in Naples. The city’s streets are narrow, and busy with often-scary traffic. Out on the the waterfront you have wide roads and expanses of sea along with big views including the volcano Vesuvius. Along the coast you can pause to get the best of the city, taking in its geography and history as an ancient port, a volcano-threatened city of grand hotels, fishing boats and forts.
Wider open roads and not being surrounded by residential homes probably also makes the waterfront convenient for filming purposes. So it’s not surprising that The Love Scam‘s locations include many scenes shot along the waterfront. Some of the scooter-riding locations and directions don’t make sense geographically, but do offer great city views. A particular panoramic stretch of Via Petrarca south-east at Posillipo (Marina and Vito on a scooter) features in just about every contemporary film and TV series I’ve ever seen filmed in Naples.
Filming locations along the waterfront include the Via Caracciolo area, heading east from the historic centre. A boat trip in the movie ends with alongside Rotonda Diaz, a seafront spot which is also the setting for another important scene later on. A low wall overlooking the sea here is where Vito spends time reflecting, and the brothers have a moment of bonding.
Yoga Center and parking bays: Via Mergellina
The exterior of the “Yoga Center” in The Love Scam is further out along the seafront, on Via Mergellina by Spiaggia Mergellina. The Yoga Center where Vito/Carlo has a planned encounter with Marina isn’t real; just a sign stuck in front of some bushes. However the brightly-illuminated food van by the waterfront is a fixture which you can see on Google Street View. It’s in front of this van that Antonello and Salvatore do some car-moving to further the plan, and it’s here that Marina subsequently has to accept a lift from ‘Carlo’.
Vito’s restaurant ‘Il Veliero’: Piazzetta Marinari
From the exterior scenes of the characters arriving at the restaurant where Vito works, we know the fictional Il Veliero is located by the fortress Castel dell’Ovo (seen in the background a few times in The Love Scam). At one point we see Vito pulling up by a sign for Zi Teresa (a real-life restaurant on the mainland opposite the fortress).
Castel dell’Ovo is on a small island joined by a causeway to the mainland. Il Veliero is located on the island outside the fortress walls. The doorway which masqueraded as the entrance to the restaurant in the film is in reality the Club Nautico della Vela at 12, Piazzetta Marinari. This is a sailing club, though it does also house a restaurant (separate entrance).
There’s a picturesque little cluster of restaurants here by the harbour. I enjoyed an outdoor lunch on the waterfront in warm March sunshine at ‘O Tabaccaro, but there’s a choice of places to eat and drink here – though there is no Il Veliero where you might taste Marina’s culinary experiments.
Night-time serenade: Largo Donnaregina
The three main characters of The Love Scam inhabit the same city, but two separate worlds. We see the characters encountering different aspects of their own hometown and this scene is fun while also underlining that divide. Marina has never seen a serenade before. The serenata is a local tradition for the night before the wedding, a serenade of the bride beneath her home. This fun scene, which includes a procession and music, was shot in Largo Donnaregina, with a news article from the time reporting how the area was closed to traffic for the October 2023 shoot.
Caravaggio scenes: Pio Monte della Misericordia
You can’t have a Neapolitan drama without including at least one of the city’s most prized sights. Beloved of tourists, art critics and locals, the Seven Acts of Mercy by Caravaggio at Pio Monte della Misericordia is probably the Naples’s most famous painting. In The Love Scam, the chapel and painting are key to aiding reflections and emotional growth for the characters. The part played by the painting in illustrating character development is very important to the film and its relationships.
Walking off the busy street to see this art is one of the great treats of Naples and you absolutely mustn’t miss the experience if you’re visiting the city. Visit: https://piomontedellamisericordia.it/
Other Love Scam locations
Marina’s apartment viewing, where she and ‘Carlo’ have an uncomfortable first meeting, is in Piazza dei Martiri. The locations I haven’t discovered include the courtyard outside Salvatore’s ‘garage’, and the courtyard where some drama involving scaffolding takes place. I assume two or three of the most frequently-featured interiors are specially-constructed film sets, though I am intrigued by the interior of the garage.
Brief review of The Love Scam (with possible spoilers)
One of the underlying themes of the film is that almost everyone in Naples, starting with the potential employers interviewing Vito in the first scene, is trying to take advantage of others and not averse to breaking the law. But even in this dog-eat-dog world you can find real feeling, essential decency, people coming together in mutual support, rich and poor united to overcome baddies, and emotional connections that can make everyone’s world a better place.
What can I say? I was doubtful during the first couple of scenes.I’m not at all Neapolitan about rule-breaking, plus I’m wary of the use of babies as blatant manipulation of audience’s feelings. I’ll add that you may have to ignore baby-on-scooter safety concerns. But I soon felt involved thanks to the acting, writing and directing, and ultimately I found the film sweet, heart-warming and romantic as well as funny.
Further watching
If you enjoyed the Neapolitan scenery in The Love Scam / Mica è colpa mia, I recommend the Rai TV series I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone (2017-2023, four series), if you can view it on streaming services (it’s on RaiPlay for those with access). Set in a police station staffed by difficult rejects with ‘interesting’ personal lives, it’s a little like an Italian police procedural version of Slow Horses. The storylines and locations for the series offer a really appealing and in-depth view of Naples, its architecture, its scenery and its social variety. As well as the classic historic sites, locations also show off the city’s contemporary buildings and striking Metro stations. You may recognise actors who also feature in The Love Scam, most notably Antonio Folletto who plays Vito in the movie and one of the main characters, a youthful, clownish police detective, in I bastardi di Pizzofalcone.
By the same director as Mica è colpa mia, Umberto Carteni, Italian comedy film Quasi Orfano is also available on Netflix in some geolocations at the time of writing (though not the UK). You need a high tolerance for regional stereotypes: in this film Italy’s north versus south divide is played for broad laughs, though with a heartwarming message of reconciliation.
Visiting Naples – and The Love Scam locations
Has the film inspired you to visit (or re-visit) Naples? Spending an hour and half steeped in the city’s colourful life and settings and hearing the Neapolitan dialect certainly made me feel it may be time for another trip. Looking through my photos of the sunny city and its vast variety while compiling this movie location guide has been very enticing.
Whether or not you go looking for The Love Scam locations, there is SO MUCH to do in Naples. In the space of a day you can move between ancient underground tunnels, art galleries, sunny waterfront plates of pasta, contemporary design, archaeological treasures, picturesque cloisters, castles, palaces, churches, artisan boutiques and an evening at the opera.
> Read my guide to visiting Naples
> Find accommodation in Naples (affiliate link)