The Italian headquarters will house the 30-strong team working on marketing, publicity, and productions

Last October, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced that they would open an office in Italy. Now, it is official. At the moment, the Italian team of the streaming giant is based in Amsterdam. However, the streaming giant is already looking for the perfect location in the Eternal City. Rome, in this way, increases the strength of its role of capital of cinema and audiovisuals on measure. The new headquarters will have offices for marketing, publicity and production executives. And the move will be completed within the next 12 months.

“Since the launch of the service in Italy, in 2015, we have been welcomed with enthusiasm by many Italian subscribers and have had the good fortune of working with a wide range of talents, some well-established while others emerging,” Netflix VP of international originals Kelly Luegenbiehl told Variety in a statement. She added that opening a Rome office is the next logical step. It _“will allow us to strengthen our many creative partnerships and work on a growing offer of movies and series made in Ital_y.” Thus, Netflix chose Rome for its deep-rooted creative, professional, and productive community linked to the audiovisual industry. The location they are looking for must be in an area well connected with the city center. Moreover, the building has to be representative, but also functional.

The strategic move is in line with the announcement made by Netflix last year to invest €200 million in Italian original productions through 2021.

Netflix Italian originals currently include “Suburra” and “Baby”, both set in the Roman area. Next week, they will be unveiling witchcraft series “Luna Nera,” the third original from the country. Other originals in various stages include “Curon” a supernatural drama set a village submerged by water in the province of Bolzano; “Summertime” a contemporary romance based on a novel by popular local teen literature author Federico Moccia; “Zero,” a show combining a superhero narrative with the lives of first-generation African immigrants in Italy; and “Fedelta,” a relationships drama series based on a local bestseller by author Marco Missiroli.