# The Law According to Lidia Poet
**The Law According to Lidia Poet** (Italian: *La legge di Lidia Poët*) is an Italian period crime drama streaming on Netflix in which [Lidia Poët](https://www.edgepedia.org/lidia-poet), a suspended lawyer in 1880s Turin, investigates murders while fighting for the right of women to practice law. It is inspired by the true story of Italy's first woman admitted to the bar, though it is presented as fiction inspired by a true story rather than a biopic.[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/lidia-poet-true-story-facts) • [2](https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-affairs/blogs/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-and-the-real-lidia-poet) The series premiered on February 15, 2023, ran for three seasons and 18 episodes, and concluded with its final season on April 15, 2026.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_law_according_to_lidia_poet) • [4](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-how-italys-beloved-legal-show-left-a-mark-on-the-country)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title / network | *La legge di Lidia Poët*, Netflix, in Italian[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_law_according_to_lidia_poet) |
| Run | Season 1 premiered February 15, 2023; season 2 dropped October 30, 2024; third and final season April 15, 2026; 18 episodes total[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_law_according_to_lidia_poet) • [5](https://www.tvtango.com/series/law_according_to_lidia_poet) • [4](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-how-italys-beloved-legal-show-left-a-mark-on-the-country) |
| Lead cast | Matilda De Angelis as Lidia Poët; Eduardo Scarpetta as journalist Jacopo Barberis; Pier Luigi Pasino as her brother Enrico; Sara Lazzaro as Teresa Barberis[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/lidia-poet-true-story-facts) |
| Historical basis | Inspired by Lidia Poët (1855–1949), the first woman admitted to legal practice in Italy, disbarred in 1883 and readmitted in 1920[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/lidia-poet-true-story-facts) • [2](https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-affairs/blogs/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-and-the-real-lidia-poet) |
| Setting | Late-19th-century Turin; season 3 opens in April 1887 in Rome and Turin[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/lidia-poet-true-story-facts) • [5](https://www.tvtango.com/series/law_according_to_lidia_poet) |
| Reception | Average Tomatometer 89% on Rotten Tomatoes, with season 1 at 100%; Top 10 in over 50 countries and #1 in Italy, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_law_according_to_lidia_poet) • [4](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-how-italys-beloved-legal-show-left-a-mark-on-the-country) |
| Production scale | 600+ cast and crew, 2,700 extras and daily hires, 110 filming locations, 48 shooting weeks across three seasons[4](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-how-italys-beloved-legal-show-left-a-mark-on-the-country) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and cast
Each episode follows a new mystery as Lidia, her establishment brother Enrico, and a circle of allies help the desperate and falsely accused within a rigid, patriarchal legal system.[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/lidia-poet-true-story-facts) [Matilda De Angelis](https://www.edgepedia.org/matilda-de-angelis) plays Lidia; Eduardo Scarpetta plays Jacopo Barberis, an edgy journalist and Poët ally; Pierluigi Pasino plays Enrico Poët, a lawyer; Sara Lazzaro plays Enrico's conservative wife Teresa; and Antonio Folletto plays Andrea, Lidia's lover.[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/lidia-poet-true-story-facts) Gianmarco Saurino joined as Fourneau in seasons 2 and 3.[5](https://www.tvtango.com/series/law_according_to_lidia_poet)
The final season centers on a single case: in April 1887, Enrico has entered Parliament and brought Lidia's law to committee, while Fourneau, now at the Court of Assizes, prosecutes Grazia Fontana, Lidia's best friend, accused of murdering her husband in a trial that turns on self-defense. Lidia must convince an all-male jury to acquit her.[6](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/81414644)
## The real Lidia Poët
Lidia Poët was born on 26 August 1855 in Traverse, a small hamlet near Pinerolo in Piedmont, into a Waldensian, a Protestant denomination, family; her father was the village mayor for more than thirty years.[2](https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-affairs/blogs/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-and-the-real-lidia-poet) After qualifying as a teacher of French, German, and English in 1874, she began a law degree at the University of Turin in 1878 with the support of her mother and her brother Giovanni Enrico, a lawyer, and graduated on 17 June 1881 with top marks and a dissertation arguing in favor of women's suffrage.[2](https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-affairs/blogs/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-and-the-real-lidia-poet)
Admitted to the bar two years after finishing her degree, she startled Turin's entirely male legal world; after just three months of legal practice she was struck off at the request of the monarchy's attorney general, who argued that a woman had no business being in a courtroom.[1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/lidia-poet-true-story-facts) On 14 November 1883, the Turin Appeal Court ruled that women could not work as lawyers; both Italian and international newspapers condemned the ruling, and her situation was covered in outlets such as the *Englishwoman's Review* and Chicago's *The Union Signal*.[2](https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-affairs/blogs/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-and-the-real-lidia-poet)
A research paper by Roberto Isibor of Bocconi University and Bojan Spaić of the [University of Belgrade](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-belgrade), published in the *Journal of Argumentation in Context*, analyzed the top court's reasoning: it argued that the masculine form of "avvocato" excluded women, that the legal profession was a public office from which women were barred, and that women by their "nature" were unsuited to legal practice. The authors read these as gender-biased arguments dressed as neutral interpretation.[7](https://www.unibocconi.it/en/news/curious-case-lidia-poet)
A law of 17 July 1919 removed barriers to women entering any profession, and Poët, at 65, was readmitted to the bar in 1920.[8](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17521483.2023.2236913) • [1](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/lidia-poet-true-story-facts) She died on 25 February 1949, after women's right to vote had been won.[2](https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-affairs/blogs/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-and-the-real-lidia-poet) Beyond the courtroom she was a lifelong campaigner: she helped organize the first Women's Congress in Rome in 1908, presented motions on women's legal custody of children and youth welfare, and in 1922 became president of the Pro Voto Committee in Turin.[8](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17521483.2023.2236913)
## Historical accuracy
The series does not claim to be a biopic; viewers are told only that it was inspired by a true story. Laura Rorato, a scholar of transnational television crime drama at [Lancaster University](https://www.edgepedia.org/lancaster-university), argues that placing the real woman's name in the title raises expectations of historical accuracy that the series does not meet: the protagonist behaves and speaks in ways she calls far too modern for a 19th-century young woman, and key historical events, such as the introduction of the new penal code for the [Kingdom of Italy](https://www.edgepedia.org/kingdom-of-italy), are lost among soap-like elements.[2](https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-affairs/blogs/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-and-the-real-lidia-poet) Poët's surviving relatives also criticized the portrayal; a descendant, Daniela Tozzi, said the real Lidia was religious and sober, did not swear or drink alcohol, and that the series omits her conferences and her work for women's rights, female prisoners, and abandoned children.[2](https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-affairs/blogs/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-and-the-real-lidia-poet) The deliberate modernization extends to a soundtrack described by one reviewer as full of modern rock riffs and dance beats.[2](https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-affairs/blogs/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-and-the-real-lidia-poet)
## Production and reception
The series was produced by Groenlandia, with Matteo Rovere among its producers, with support from the Film Commission Torino Piemonte and the city of Turin.[9](https://www.filmtv.it/serie-tv/222889/la-legge-di-lidia-poet/) Letizia Lamartire and Matteo Rovere directed.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_law_according_to_lidia_poet) Filming spanned 110 locations, primarily in Turin and Piedmont, 18 of which had never been used for a television production; the historic Turin prison Le Nuove served as the setting for interrogations in the first two seasons, and the final season reconstructed cells at Rome's Forte Bravetta complex. Artisans produced 90 period costumes and 100 bespoke jewelry pieces over 48 shooting weeks.[4](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-how-italys-beloved-legal-show-left-a-mark-on-the-country)
The show reached the Netflix Top 10 TV list in over 50 countries, reaching #1 in Italy, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine, and the first two seasons generated over 40 million views globally.[4](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-how-italys-beloved-legal-show-left-a-mark-on-the-country) Its average Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes is 89%, with season 1 at 100%.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_law_according_to_lidia_poet) After the first season, local travel agencies launched tours of real-life locations connected to Poët, and figure skater Lara Naki Gutmann used the show's soundtrack for her short program at the 2026 [Winter Olympic Games](https://www.edgepedia.org/winter-olympic-games), where she won a team bronze medal.[4](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-how-italys-beloved-legal-show-left-a-mark-on-the-country)
## References
1. [Is The Law According to Lidia Poët a True Story? Here's What You Need to Know, Netflix Tudum](https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/lidia-poet-true-story-facts)
2. [Laura Rorato (2023). 'The Law According to Lidia Poët' and the real Lidia Poët, Lancaster University](https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/global-affairs/blogs/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-and-the-real-lidia-poet)
3. [The Law According to Lidia Poët, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_law_according_to_lidia_poet)
4. ['The Law According to Lidia Poët': How Italy's Beloved Legal Show Left a Mark on the Country, About Netflix](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/the-law-according-to-lidia-poet-how-italys-beloved-legal-show-left-a-mark-on-the-country)
5. [The Law According to Lidia Poet, TV Tango](https://www.tvtango.com/series/law_according_to_lidia_poet)
6. [The Law According to Lidia Poët, Netflix Media Center](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/81414644)
7. [The Curious Case of Lidia Poët, Bocconi University](https://www.unibocconi.it/en/news/curious-case-lidia-poet)
8. [The untold story of the first Italian-Turinese female lawyer: Netflix's The Law According to Lidia Poet, Law and Humanities](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17521483.2023.2236913)
9. [La legge di Lidia Poët, FilmTV.it](https://www.filmtv.it/serie-tv/222889/la-legge-di-lidia-poet/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Drama and prestige series (individual series) › Historical and period drama*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license