Casta Diva lands five from Discovery

Recently launched Italian prodco Casta Diva Entertainment has bagged five series commissions from Discovery, including a dating format set in the 19th century and a pastry cooking show fronted by California chef Damiano Carrara.

Massimo Righini (left) and Fabio Nesi

Developed by seven-month-old Casta Diva, Back in Time – A Fairytale Love is a dating show in which the contestants wear 19th century period costumes in order to look for their soulmates without the help of apps, websites, mobile phones or other technology.

The show is in production and will air on unscripted streamer Discovery+, part of recently merged US content giant Warner Bros Discovery, and the Real Time cable and satellite channel.

Also for Discovery+ is new show Tarabaralla, a cooking series centring on US-based Italian chef Damiano Carrara, in which celebs and influencers try to create recipes for Instagram. The move comes after Carrara’s appearances on various Food Network series such as Bakers vs Fakers and Winner Cake All.

Another Casta Diva commission dedicated to cooking is C’è Ciccia, in which chef and butcher Luca Terni tries to discover the most typical dishes of the Tuscan tradition. It will air on Discovery-owned Food Network from September. Also airing from September on the Motor Trend channel, auto-themed series Fare Detailing with Marcello Mereu offers motor enthusiasts the secrets of car care.

A Casta Diva representative told C21 that outside the Italian market, Discovery has the first option to produce these formats locally, after which Casta Diva will distribute the international rights.

“We are very satisfied with the results achieved over just seven months of activity,” said Massimo Righini, chief creative officer of Casta Diva Entertainment, regarding the five series being produced for Discovery’s channels in Italy.

“In addition to these, we are working on the production of three documentaries and the scripted line has already started; we are about to create our first biopic of a great character from Italian history,” he added. “We are also working to produce five scripted projects in Italy, two of which are musicals.”

The commissions come soon after Casta Diva Entertainment was unveiled in January, as part of Fabio Nesi’s film production company Casta Diva Group and with former Banijay executive Righini as its chief creative officer.

The new venture will focus on unscripted genres including dating, factual and documentary. It aims to create new original formats in addition to finding the best existing ones, which will be presented to Italian and foreign broadcasters and to international OTT services.