Italy Loves The Sopranos

May 24 -- New Jersey-based mobster Tony Soprano and his crew had a disappointing business visit to Italy last season — now the folks living in "the boot" get their first look at America's mob hit The Sopranos, and they love it.

HBO's ode to the goodfella life, The Sopranos, which just ended its third season on U.S. television, debuted in Italy this week to rave reviews and surprisingly good ratings.

Despite debuting at 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday on Italian television with little or no promotion, it still captured a quarter of the available audience, ABCNews reports.

A spokesman for Rome's Mideaset network says it will move the series to an earlier hour on Saturday night for the rest of the season, which is apparently considered a popular viewing evening in Italy.

As is the custom in Italy, the show is dubbed into the local language, meaning that those colorful Italian-Americanisms and New Jersey accents will be lost. According to The Associated Press, the older characters, such as Tony's Uncle Junior, speak in a Neapolitan dialect, while younger ones speak standard Italian sprinkled with Neapolitan expressions.

Since its debut on HBO in 1999, the show has been both hailed as a masterpiece and protested for stereotyping Italian-Americans.

ABCNEWS.com contributed to this story.