Entering the world of Minerva – The School means plunging into a reality where discipline, rules, and tradition clash with the vulnerabilities and dreams of adolescence. The teen drama set in a Napoli military high school, which has recently arrived on Netflix and is already highly followed, tells the difficult transition from the age of dreams to the age of responsibilities, placing the focus on both young people and adults, each navigating a path of growth. We had the pleasure of interviewing Massimiliano Gallo, one of the adult leads in the role of commander Achille Giordano. The actor shared with us his experience working with the series’ young cast, which he described as professional and responsible, and offered his thoughts on the potential message the series could convey to new generations. Watch below our exclusive video interview.
Who is Achille Giordano, the Commander of Minerva – The School
The commander Achille Giordano is an authoritative and intelligent figure, but also deeply traditionalist and conservative. For Giordano, the school is almost a realm of which he knows and controls every mechanism. He firmly believes in the value of rules and traditions and regards discipline as a fundamental tool for shaping soldiers and solid, steady people. Yet the commander is not a figure free from contradictions: a control freak and adept at wielding power, he does not hesitate to bend those same rules when it serves him, revealing a manipulative side as well.
In our interview, we asked Massimiliano Gallo what it was like to work alongside a cast composed of so many young actors. The actor underscored the professionalism and sense of responsibility of the youths, describing a group capable of tackling the work with great seriousness. According to Gallo, even Minerva – The School can offer younger viewers a prompting reflection on the value of discipline. A message that intertwines with his view of today’s young people, often capable of demonstrating great responsibility and resilience despite the complexities of the world in which they live.
The Plot of Minerva – The School: A Military High School Where You Grow Up
At the heart of the series, directed by Ivan Silvestrini, are Salvo (Ciro Minopoli), a boy raised in a foster home who arrives at Minerva to uncover the truth about the fate of his best friend; Vincenzo (Biagio Venditti), determined to follow in his father’s footsteps in a military career; and Camilla (Margherita Buoncristiani), a spoiled Milanese girl who is sent by her father to the school with the aim of being “reformed.” Between dawn wake-up calls, flag-raising, bans on using cell phones and wearing civilian clothes, military drills and fencing lessons, the students are pushed to the limit. But Minerva – The School doesn’t merely tell the story of the students. The series also portrays the adults tasked with shaping them: officers and civilian teachers called to confront their own fragilities, their own mistakes, and their own conscience.
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