Ritratti: Andrea Zanzotto

Marco Paolini interviews Luigi Meneghello about growing up under fascism, his involvement with the Italian resistance movement, his later self-exile, acclaimed literary work and its relationship with dialect.

At 19, David has his diploma (the first in his family), a job at a car wash, and little else. His family is broke and argues constantly. So, unannounced, David leaves Turin for his uncle's farm in Polesine. Here he learns many life lessons over the course of a summer while hanging out with Bosnian drug dealer Alem and Patrizia, an older woman who's an addict.

Nanni Moretti recounts in his diary three slice-of-life stories marked by a dry, ironic gaze: in the first, he rides his Vespa through a deserted, sun-drenched summertime Rome; in the second, he visits a reclusive friend on an island, who ropes him into an impromptu journey between islets in search of quiet; and in the last, he finds himself grappling with an unknown illness.

After learning that an old friend of theirs has been arrested in Morocco on drug charges, four former college buddies set out for Marrakech to bail him out.

Michele is an MP for the Italian Communist Party who loses his memory in a car crash, though hardly anyone around him seems to notice. During a crucial water polo match on the eve of election day, he gradually begins to remember his past life, revealing a man whose personal and political identity crisis mirrors that of Italian communism itself.

The arrival of an attractive young teacher in a small town in the Po valley disturbs the drowsy life of the place, leading eventually to a murder.

Otello Morsiani, a north-eastern-italian lawyer, takes the job of estimating land holdings on the Po Delta, which are intended to be expropriated to make way for a national park. The lawyer soon discovers that in that area, once target of methane extraction, the soil is now at risk to sink, due to hydrogeological disturbance: in the meanwhile, he also digs out a mystery tied to a death dating back twenty years before.

After being fired from his bull breeding job without proper compensation, Franco steals a world-class bull from his former employer and smuggles it to Hungary, planning to sell it for a large sum of money.

Bruno Bonomo was a famous producer of B-movies in the ‘70s. After a long hiatus, Bonomo offers a screenplay to RAI centered on the figure of Italy’s prime minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, a subject so controversial that even the public television broadcaster refuses to produce it

Two deadbeat friends see the opportunity of turning their fortune around after they come into possession of a precious stolen relic, the tongue of St. Anthony of Padua.

To avoid being sued, a film director reluctantly agrees to set up and direct the Good Friday celebrations in a small Tuscan town.

Czech immigrant Vesna arrives in Italy and is forced into casual prostitution by poverty. The encounter with a kind construction worker could help change her situation.

1848, Tuscan countryside. Edo and Lupo are two peasants running away after having robbed their boss. Chased by mercenaries, they'll meet bandits, damsels in distress, eccentric nobles, and revolutionaries along the way.

Plagued by financial problems, ne'er-do-well Guido ends up in jail after faking an armed robbery at his workplace. A year later, just a few days before his release, he's forced by two dangerous inmates to take part in their jailbreak. On the run, Guido sets out to find his partner Antonella, who helped him with the robbery and still has the money.

Dino craft practice tattoos, Bruna is a beautician; their studies are facing each other. They learn of a mysterious treasure hidden in a chair that belonged to a woman now dead.

Giovanni, a married man with a child, meets on a train Maria, a former lover.