Biasutti and Perbellini have the same name, Fausto, and they both hate life in the big city. They meet by chance during a trip for amateur photographers, become friends and begin to cultivate together the dream of going to live in the countryside, keeping with the fruit of their efforts. When Biasutti inherits his grandmother’s old house in Valvana, in the hills of the north east, the dream can finally become reality: the welcome in the village, however, proves less warm than expected.
In Rome it hasn’t rained for three years and the lack of water is overturning rules and habits. Through the city dying of thirst and prohibitions moves a chorus of people, young and old, marginalised and successful, victims and profiteers. Their lives are linked in a single design, while each seeks his or her deliverance.
Cora is a 19-year-old woman who has recently returned home for a gap year. Her father is the mayor of Bucco, a town whose livelihood depends on the tourism of Christians who believe in the apparitions of the Virgin Mary. While busy organizing the celebration of the Virgin of Bucco, an annual event that attracts numerous pilgrims, Cora notices a mysterious man whose presence will slowly rupture the tranquility of the town and her nascent adulthood.
Alberto, post office manager of a small town in Brianza, under pressure of his wife Sylvia, is willing to do anything to get the transfer to Milan. Even pretending to be disabled to climb in the ranking. But the trick does not work and as punishment, he is transferred in a small town in Campania, which to an inhabitant of the north is equivalent to a nightmare ...
Leftist radical-turned-terrorist Giorgio—who fled to Latin America in the '70s to escape justice—decides to surrender after hearing about the fall of the Berlin Wall. Determined to lead a comfortable, bourgeois life in his native Italy, he cuts a deal with a shady police chief, getting his sentence reduced in exchange for ratting out former comrades. Once released, Giorgio obsessively pursues his dream of becoming a "respectable" citizen, even if the way is paved with larceny, pimping, drug-dealing, rape, heist, and murder...
Loose adaptation of Italy's national epic, Alessandro Manzoni's “The Betrothed”. In war-torn 17th century Italy, shady feudal lord Don Rodrigo eyes young and beautiful Lucia, who loves—and is reciprocated by—commoner Renzo. The two lovers plan to marry in secret, but Rodrigo discovers it and they are forced to flee their village, becoming separated and each facing many dangers, including the Plague.