In Ripley, Inspector Pietro Ravini of the Rome Police, played by Maurizio Lombardi, gets involved in a cat-and-mouse game with Tom Ripley.
Pietro Ravini is a no-nonsense inspector whose attitude does not make him a likable figure to many.
Ravini does his job well; he investigates his cases thoroughly and prefers precision. It is his attention to detail that makes Tom worry about getting caught.
Suspecting Tom
Although Tom made it look like Freddie was killed in a robbery, Ravini refuses to accept that simple explanation without investigating first.
It does not take him long to uncover Freddie’s identity, despite Tom having stolen his passport. Once he finds Freddie’s hotel, Ravini also discovers that Freddie visited Tom.
Ravini questions Tom, whom he believes to be Richard, and Tom cooperates with him, leaving Ravini with no reason to doubt him.
However, Ravini senses that something is not right with the case, and his suspicions are confirmed when the boat that Tom and Richard used in San Remo is found.
The boat has bloodstains on it, and since Tom and Richard rode it, there has been no sign of Tom.
Richard was the last person to see both Tom and Freddie before one disappeared and the other died.
Unaware that Tom killed Richard and assumed his identity, Ravini begins to suspect that Richard might have killed Tom.
He now realizes that the man he knows as Richard Greenleaf has not been entirely honest with him.
The investigation goes awry
Despite suspecting that Richard has been lying, Ravini has no way to prove it, so he continues his investigation. A suspect comes forward, but he is not much help.
However, the suspect’s testimony somewhat confirms Ravini’s doubts, prompting him to visit Marge, who informs him that she met Tom in Rome.
When Ravini finds no trace of Tom in Rome, not even at the hotel where Marge claimed he stayed, he starts to suspect that she is also lying.
Ravini then asks Richard to return to Rome from his vacation for further questioning. Instead of returning, Richard disappears.
On top of that, he leads everyone to believe he went to Tunisia but never reached there and that he was depressed when he left.
After ending Richard’s story, Tom moves to Venice and resumes living under his true identity. He makes it known to the police that Richard did not kill him.
When Ravini visits Tom, he fails to recognize him due to Tom’s disguise. Tom successfully plants the idea in Ravini’s mind that something might have happened to Richard.
He also leads Ravini to believe that Richard and Freddie were romantically involved. Ravini then concludes that Richard killed Freddie and then took his own life.
Despite being thorough in his investigation, Ravini fails to uncover Tom’s lies, and the case is closed. Later, Ravini receives a book from Marge with a picture of Richard.
It is only then that he realizes that the man he believed was Richard was actually Tom. Along with this revelation comes the realization that Tom outsmarted him.