Lola Braccini

As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life.

Piccolo Hotel (aka Small Hotel) uses the titular establishment to weave together a vast tapestry of subplots, a la Grand Hotel. The guests include a domineering mother (Lola Braccini), her petulant daughter (Bianca Doria) and the daughter's gigolo boyfriend (Guido Notari). Also on hand is a worldly vamp (Laura Nucci) who also falls for the boyfriend, and the chronic-gambler son (Andrea Checchi) of the hotel's self-sacrificing landlady (Emma Grammatica). Though the film is set in Budapest, the characters are more Mediterranean than mittel-European. Piccolo Hotel was one of the entries in the Vienna Biennial Film Festival.

Film director Blasetti is looking for a little girl for his new movie. Along with other mothers, Maddelena takes her daughter to Cinecittà, hoping she’ll be selected and become a star. She is ready to sacrifice anything for little Maria.

The film presents the tale of Agnese Ascalone, daughter of prominent miner Vincenzo Ascalone, and takes place in a small town in Sicily. Agnese is seduced by her sister Matilde's fiancé, and has a tryst with him for which she confesses and tries to repent, only to be discovered by her mother and father.

Three episodes of varying pitch and quality. In the first a maid plans the elimination of her lover's wife with him, but she doesn't enjoy the fruits of victory. In the second (The patrol) a soldier of the Foreign Legion neglects his duties for running after a prostitute. The third segment has as its protagonist a general of the belle époque that goes on a date.

When "Tamara" throws herself from the window of their brothel, her colleagues are made to realise that a new law will close down the source of their livelihood. The girls must now find honest work.

Sabrina is a beautiful thief, one who happens to have seven moles on her thigh, forming the constellation Ursa Minor; this is the only clue German police have to solve a recent robbery. Teo is a photographer looking for a pair of beautiful legs to participate in a photo contest. When he secretly takes a photo of Sabrina's legs, including the telltale moles, Sabrina has to get it back at any cost, something which brings her into dangerous proximity with the smitten Teo. Romance and assorted hijinx ensue.

During the period between world wars, vaudeville sketches were popular before film showings.Gastone is one of the characters played by the famous Ettore Petrolini who figures in these sketches.