School is in session at Minerva Academy, and apparently the curriculum includes military tactics, forbidden romance, bisexual awakening—and whatever Simone Secce is doing in that shower scene.
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Netflix’s new Italian teen drama Minerva Academy takes place at a fictional military high school in Naples, where students deal with friendship, family expectations, rivalries, secrets and, naturally, feelings they’re not entirely prepared to understand.
At the center of the mystery is Salvo Fusco (Ciro Minopoli), who arrives at the academy determined to uncover the truth about his friend Francesco’s disappearance. His investigation brings him closer to Diego Giordano (Simone Secce), a student who has secrets of his own.
And Diego’s storyline is where things get particularly interesting.
watching the new italian netflix series that dropped today and i just know this man is about to become everyone’s new obsession bc DAMNNN
Simone Secce in Minerva Academy pic.twitter.com/0CqtwYjzx0
— ★ (@POPin4k) September 22, 2026
Diego’s bisexual awakening
When we first meet Diego, he’s dating Rachele. But after developing feelings for Camilla (Margherita Buoncristiani), a new recruit at Minerva, his seemingly straightforward romantic life becomes considerably more complicated.
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Then comes Francesco (Luigi Bruno)… Before his disappearance, Diego and Francesco share a kiss at a party. For Diego, the moment is unexpected: he has never experienced attraction toward another boy, and suddenly he’s forced to confront feelings he doesn’t quite know how to name.
What makes the storyline work is that Minerva Academy doesn’t treat attraction to a boy as proof that Diego’s feelings toward girls weren’t real. Instead, the series leaves room for the possibility that Diego could be bisexual or pansexual—and, importantly, doesn’t immediately demand that he define himself.
For queer viewers, that uncertainty can feel refreshingly familiar. Attraction doesn’t always arrive with a label attached. Sometimes you figure out what you’re feeling before you figure out what to call it.
And Diego’s feelings for Francesco may go beyond physical attraction. The series gives viewers reason to consider whether there was genuine romantic feeling there, adding another layer to a storyline that could otherwise have been reduced to a simple sexuality “twist.”
And then there’s Simone Secce
Now, we should probably discuss the other reason Diego has been getting attention online. Simone Secce. The man is ridiculously easy on the eyes.
Simone Secce in ‘Minerva Academy’
now streaming on Netflix pic.twitter.com/be8nEpJ1Zw
— Fan | Men Celeb Updates (@MenCelebUpdates) September 22, 2026
The shirtless, wet-haired scene currently making the rounds gives viewers a very different version of Diego—and appears to have sent a significant portion of the internet into a collective crisis.
The damp hair. The bare chest. The abs. Sir. This is a military school drama. We came for the mysterious disappearance. We stayed for the plot. Obviously.
But the appeal of Secce’s performance goes beyond the eye candy. Diego is caught between the expectations placed on him and feelings he never anticipated having, and Secce brings an appropriately unsettled quality to that conflict.
It’s especially fitting that his character’s story unfolds in an environment where masculinity, discipline and conformity are so heavily emphasized. Diego isn’t simply discovering that he can be attracted to another boy; he’s discovering that the version of himself he thought he understood may not be the whole story.
A queer storyline that leaves room for messiness
That’s ultimately what makes Diego’s arc in Minerva Academy stand out. He’s not a perfect queer character, nor does the series turn his sexuality into his entire personality. He’s confused, secretive and capable of making questionable decisions—basically, he’s a teenager.
Representation doesn’t have to mean perfection. Sometimes it means allowing a character to be complicated enough to feel like a real person. And Minerva Academy gives Diego that space.
The series arrives during Bisexual Visibility Month, making the timing particularly fitting, but the storyline works beyond that context. Rather than forcing Diego into a neat identity box, the show allows him to sit with uncertainty while dealing with everything else happening around him.
All eight episodes of Minerva Academy Season 1 are now streaming on Netflix. A second season has not yet been announced. For queer viewers, there’s plenty here to chew on.
For everyone else, there’s a mystery, forbidden romance, military-school drama—and, apparently, Simone Secce’s abs. A well-rounded education, really.
Source: Netflix