Geppetto the carpenter carves the object of his hidden desires out of a log: a puppet that will keep him company and will be like a son to him. He will call him Pinocchio. Imagine his surprise when he discovers that the puppet moves, as if by magic, and is gifted with a life on its own.
Gabriele returns home in southern Italy to bid farewell to his father Ernesto, a former stationmaster in a small town not far from Bari. The old man reawakens in Gabriele memories of his childhood, of his loving mother, his uncle, his friends... but also of his father's rage and bitterness over his failure in achieving his artistic ambitions: Ernesto was convinced he was destined to be a famous painter, and was willing to sacrifice everything for this belief, even his own dignity – and this made his son swear that he wouldn't turn out like him. Only now, many years later, through chance and circumstances, Gabriele begins to understand Ernesto and to see what sort of person his father really was.
Massimo is forty-two years old, but has been attending eighth grade for thirty-two years, in short he is a teenager in all respects. In reality, Massimo has always refused, on an unconscious level, to grow up and become part of society. Amedeo and Lucia, Massimo's eighty-year-old parents, obviously worried, go to a doctor who explains to them that their son suffers from Peter Pan Syndrome. Only a big shock can bring him back to normal.
Four stories intertwine during summer at Saint-Tropez: a couple tries to recapture their spark; a girl falls for a male stripper she met at a night club; a famous pianist tries to prevent his ex-wife from re-marrying; an unsuspecting suicidal man gives a gorgeous female Mafia hitman a run for her money.
Four episodes set on the beaches of Rimini: a womanizer pretends to be homosexual in order to gain the favors of a beautiful woman who ignores him. A mature beachgoer suffers from indigestion. A businessman unknowingly finances his wife's infidelities. Two wives from the south are forced to exchange partners.
Police commissioner Lo Gatto is in charge of the local Italian police station within Vatican State. During an investigation, following the murder of a Vatican priest, he decides to question the Pope! For this reason Lo Gatto is sent to a Sicilian remote island Favignana. There is very little for the commissioner to do on the quiet island, so Lo Gatto decides to investigate the vanishing of a tourist which quickly becomes a very complicated affair.
The film is a parody of Disney's Fantasia, though possibly more of a challenge to Fantasia than parody status would imply. In the context of this film, "Allegro non Troppo" means Not So Fast!, an interjection meaning "slow down" or "think before you act" and refers to the film's pessimistic view of Western progress (as opposed to the optimism of Disney's original).