Carlo Salsa

June 1982, Sicily. While Italians dream of winning the World Cup, two adolescents dream of living their love story without fear. Gianni, 17, is bullied because of his homosexuality but his life changes when he meets by accident Nino, 16, a captivating and innocent boy. The profound friendship they develop will without embarrassment turn into love, as they start working together for Nino’s father, shooting fireworks. When their bond is discovered by their families, the consequences are as violent as the times and mores are conservative. The two teenagers are separated by force but ready to challenge everything and everyone, convinced their love can defeat death.

Benno and Allegra: he's over fifty, English, and drinks like a fish; she's twenty years younger, a travel blogger with lots of imagination. They both live off their lies and have no intention of stopping now. Next-door neighbors who had never met until the day he wound up on the wrong landing, and nothing would ever be the same. Sheer chance leads this odd couple on a flight towards lost or forgotten places, where their mutual support makes for self-discovery.

Agnese and Stefano are profoundly different. She is only seventeen, lives with her mother – a harsh and devoted woman – is a regular church-goer and is about to take a vow of chastity to last until marriage. He is twenty-five, has a violent temper and a difficult past behind. He works as a warden in a car park that borders a Roma camp. Their unexpected meeting engenders a true sentiment, made of little stolen moments and mutual help.

Agnese and Stefano are profoundly different. She is only seventeen, lives with her mother – a harsh and devoted woman – is a regular church-goer and is about to take a vow of chastity to last until marriage. He is twenty-five, has a violent temper and a difficult past behind. He works as a warden in a car park that borders a Roma camp. Their unexpected meeting engenders a true sentiment, made of little stolen moments and mutual help.

Arianna is nineteen, but she's still waiting to get her first period. As the summer begins, her parents decide to renew their acquaintance with their country house on Lake Bolsena, where Arianna lived until she was three, and has never been back. As the family settle in for the summer, long-repressed memories start to re-emerge, and Arianna decides to stay on after her parents return to the city.

Distinguished Italian poet Antonia Pozzi (1912–1938) was among those women who were at odds with the times in which they lived. Her poems record her inability to adapt to social norms and her desire to live fully, and in poetry she sought an escape from reality and from her own complex soul and emotional life.

Veronica, after a long trial and two years in prison for the alleged murder of her mother and her lover, is found innocent. She is only twenty years old, but it is difficult to look ahead...