Luca Zingaretti is a fantastic actor as are many of the cast alongside him. The show seems mostly realistic and paints a typical picture of the Italian character, although I have never actually been to Sicily! I am quite familiar with Naples and the Campania region however and it seems to be similar to Sicily in terms of the people although not the terrain obviously.
Despite the recent loss of Camilleri it is hoped that there are still some episodes from his books left to put on to the screen. Dr Pasquano will also be sorely missed from the series too!