Cristina Pellegrino

A 'period' piece set in the hot summer of 2011, in the midst of the Berlusconi era. The life of a quiet corner market is shaken when the mayor decides to close it down. The only political organization people can turn to is the local section of the Democratic Party, which is separated from the market by a concrete wall, built to allow the construction of the subway.

Bianca is 23 years old, and it already feels like too much. She has left her parents' home and is supposed to attend university, but she never goes. She has a few specific obsessions: the passing of time, cocaine, and Angelica. Since they started living together, everything seems to move faster, spiraling downwards. Even their friendship stumbles into addiction and becomes confused with love. Bianca keeps a notebook, jotting down notes for her books. Still, she wishes she could write everything in it: that youth is painful and already slipping away, that friendship breaks your heart, and that we constantly lose everything — and yet, maybe, in the end — between the night streets of Rome, the boys of Naples, and the tree that stands silently, visible through the window — nothing will be truly lost.

Sara and Nicola are married and in love. Their lives seem to be perfect: they have an angelic six-year-old daughter, thriving careers and a stable marriage. The birth of their second child, which disrupts the family balance, leads to tragicomic scenarios.

In a small suburb on the outskirts of Rome, the cheerful heat of summer camouflages a stifling atmosphere of alienation. From a distance, the families seem normal, but it’s an illusion: in the houses, courtyards and gardens, silence shrouds the subtle sadism of the fathers, the passivity of the mothers and the guilty indifference of adults. But it’s the desperation and repressed rage of the children that will explode and cut through this grotesque façade, with devastating consequences for the entire community.

35-year-old Alice has a husband and a son. Her life seems a beautiful dream, but it soon turns out to be a nightmare. Her husband dies in a car accident and her lawyer tells her that she is on her uppers. The only way she has to earn money in a short time is by resorting to the oldest job in history.

Antonio (Enrico Salimbeni) may not have been the most energetic waiter in the most popular restaurant in this unfashionable Adriatic tourist town, but that is no reason for his boss not to pay him. When he takes the wages that he is owed out of the till, not only does the owner throw him out, but he has him beaten up, to boot. Enzo (Mario Adorf), the owner of a restaurant so far off the beaten track it is widely known as Abissinia rather than being called by its true name, takes him in. The leisurely pace of everything that is done at the restaurant leaves Antonio with plenty of time to put together the story of its owner and the love of his life, and how he, too, fell from culinary glory to his present obscurity.

The story of a family living in the middle of a valley. The father, mother, and son are uneducated, distrustful, and on edge. They hurl accusations at each other, argue, pray, and hate one another. Yet a truce is needed because an unexpected guest is arriving who could change their future. Everything is perfect, but the truce won’t last.

An exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Mattia Torre’s plays adapted for television, under the artistic direction and direction of Paolo Sorrentino.