Raffaele Viviani

A bankrupt aristocrat tries to keep up appearances while his situation worsens. To top it off the life savings given to him by a beggar to invest has been mistakenly claimed by the aristocrat's altruist society for their annual Feast of the Poor.

The story is taken from the drama "I Pescatori" (The Fishermen) by Raffaele Viviani, and is set in a fishing island off the coast of Naples (clearly identifiable with Ischia). Here lives Concetta, a widow with two children, who now lives with another man who however secretly lusts after his stepdaughter until when, on a stormy night...

This documentary is about the Italian small family circus, based on the old street theatre of the Commedia dell'Arte. Since World War II, they have diminished in number and today hardly exist anymore. They simply can't compete with modern times entertainment, symbolized by television. The film portrays and follows the Colombaioni family, six brothers and two sisters, their children and grand children. Most of them work in their own small circus(father, mother, children). Two of the brothers, Carlo and Alberto left the circus and now have a theatre show, based on their improvisation skills that they learned in the circus. The family is known by their collaboration with Frederico Fellini and Dario Fo. They appeared in many a Fellini movie -o.a. La Strada, Le Notti di Cabiria and I Clown.