Florence Insidia was just one of several companies and development teams born out of the blossoming Florence demo scene of the late 1990's, as Daniele Trambusti told us. Many projects started in this period, and Malleus was one of the most recent. Since a very big team wasn't easy to coordinate, each project has taken its own way. We got an office in Florence in March 1999, and by April we were operative. Italy isn't particularly well-known for game development, but according to Lorenzo Meciani this hasn't been too much of a problem for them.
Distances are nothing, nowadays.
The fact that I'm in Italy answering questions sent via e-mail from England is proving that. Of course we have to be competitive worldwide, but we have the same chances that any other company has. There are still some disadvantages, for example it is harder to find people to work with you, but even in Italy things are moving. There is a growing gaming industry, and new teams, software houses and publishers are entering the market. Malleus Like Insidia then, Malleus had its roots in the Florence demo scene as one of many part-time projects.