Learn Italian: Non ci perdonano mai. - They never forgive us.

In Italian, direct object pronouns like ci (us) are placed immediately before the conjugated verb. So instead of "forgive us", the sentence is structured like "us (they) forgive".

Why is non placed before ci instead of right next to the verb?

The negative word non must go at the very beginning of the verb block. Because the pronoun ci is firmly attached to the front of the verb perdonano, non has to stand in front of both of them.

Is this the same ci we see in ci sono (there are)?

It is the exact same word, but it has a different job here! In ci sono, it means "there", but when used as an object pronoun right before an action verb like perdonano, ci means "us".

Why do we need both non and mai to say "never"?

Italian uses a two-part framing structure to express "never". You put non before the entire verb block and mai right after it. You can think of it literally as "They do not forgive us ever".