Silvana De Santis

Formal portraits, bookends in this 80-year saga, enclose the central story, which opens with the baptism of Carlo, a baby in his grandfather's lap, and ends with Carlo as a grandfather with a baby in his arms. And never once do we get out of the house, whose rooms provide structure. Comfort or passion? Carlo can't really decide until it's too late.

A train travels across Italy toward Rome. Onboard is a professor who daydreams a conversation with a love that never was; a family of Albanian refugees who switch trains and steal a ticket; three brash Scottish soccer fans en route to a match; and a complaining widow travelling to a memorial service for her late husband who's accompanied by a community-service volunteer who's assisting her. Interactions among these Europeans turn on class and nationalism, courtesy and decorum, and opportunities for kindness.

Dive into the Eternal City – see Rome like you’ve never seen it before. Storefront robberies, bizarre murders, career dreamers, and cameos from Italy's foremost directors and actors feature in this star-studded omnibus tale about life and love.

Dashing through the streets of Venice, slipping from the clutches of the law, darting across Europe in search of new challenges, Giacomo Casanova races through life with irrepressible energy. Violinist, writer, soldier, spy, gambler, adventurer - it is as a lover that he unbridles the full force of his energy. A charmer and seducer, he, too, is charmed by the beauty of women, seduced by their passion, intrigued by their mystery.

The story of Maria Montessori the most famous pedagogue of the world. She spent all her life to make her "metodo" (method) accepted in the archaic Italian school system, while the rest of the world immediately understand the importance of her theories. She was the first Italian Doctor, a famous feminist, a scientist. Her private life was hit by having an illegitimate son and by the Fascism that didn't want to accept completely her theories.

In 1939 Vicenza, a young petty thief befriends the local priest. Based on the novel by Goffredo Parise.

Waiting for the train that will take him away, a man goes back over moments of his small-town upbringing: the relationship with his family, his involvement in the protests of 1968 and a childhood friend died too soon.