Lello Serao

Dispatched to a small Italian town to await further orders, assassin Jack embarks on a double life that may be more relaxing than is good for him.

Antonio, a policeman (carabiniere), has an order to take two children (Rosetta and her brother Luciano) from Milan to Sicily to an orphanage. Their mother has been arrested for forcing Rosetta (11 years old) to work as a prostitute. First the relation between Antonio and the children is tough, but it relaxes so they become temporary friends.

Pasquale Lojacono moves into a large flat with his wife Maria following a special agreement with the owner: in exchange for free accommodation, Pasquale must dispel rumours that the house is haunted by ghosts. The protagonist begins to receive regular sums of money from spirits who, according to him, are particularly generous and supportive towards him. As time goes by, however, it turns out that the source of his fortune is a ghost who, having become Maria's lover, wants to silence him and plan an escape with her. Added to this unusual love triangle are the doorman, his sister and the lover's family, each of whom, in their own way, exploits the rumours of ghosts for their own gain under the gaze of Professor Santanna, who observes and comments on the inexplicable events with Pasquale from the window of the flat opposite.

Back from the hospital where he has been treated after a heart attack, Lorenzo is on his way upstairs to his top-floor apartment in Naples when he meets Michela. The charming young woman, who has just moved to the facing apartment, has forgotten her keys and finds herself locked out. Cynical and grumpy, the retired lawyer who has been living estranged from the rest of the world, should normally leave her to her fate but he mellows under her spontaneous charm. He helps her, becomes friends not only with her but with her husband Fabio and their two children. For once, the self-declared misanthropist seems to be experiencing the long forgotten feeling of empathy.

November 2, 1975: Pier Paolo Pasolini is murdered in the outskirts of Rome. The suspect, a 17-year-old hustler, pleads to have acted in self-defense, citing Pasolini's notorious sexual habits as proof. However, many inconsistencies start to undermine his version, pointing to him not having acted alone or even being assaulted in the first place. Was Pasolini also killed for another reason?

Naples, 1959. Pure Mathematics professor Renato Caccioppoli, Bakunin's grandson, is a tortured soul. Recently discharged from the psychiatric hospital, left by his wife, and increasingly disillusioned with academia and the Communist Party, he lives his last days with painful detachment.

Luisa, a young volcanologist, is sent to a villa to install the technical instruments to survey Mount Vesuvius. Here she meets Mariano, a member of the camorra, that has just discovered that he has been betrayed he decided to break off completely from those he considered his friends. Luisa and Mariano have nothing in common except for a deep sense of the failure they are experiencing and which attracts them to each other. Between the young woman, exploited and disillusioned by an ambitious colleague, and the mature ex-criminal, the spark of friendship is kindled.