Lucio the cat is my favorite character, mysterious yet consistent. Ripley is described as "elusive" but he seems to be merely stumbling around during his Italian travelogue, always leaving an address so as to be easily found by Marge and the police. How "elusive" is that?
Being Italian I found Naples, Rome, and Palermo to look exactly the same, cobbled shady side streets, crumbling buildings, rotting staircases. Only Venice looks like Venice at last. The photography is gorgeous at times, I agree about that
However, I have doubts about the investigation. Inspector Ravini is supposed to look for a missing Tom Ripley and he doesn't even bother to check what this mystery man should look like. No article in the newspapers asking "Have you seen this man"? Also, his "interrogation" with Marge was way too hostile, just to suit the purpose of the narrative.
Maybe the point was to prove how stupid and misogynist Italians are, which I should resent but I don't, because the Italian cast is saved by the magnificent Lucio.