Cupertino, Italy, 1623: A simple-minded and clumsy young man joins a Franciscan order as a hired hand, overcoming his intellectual and social challenges with a pure heart and a simple faith. God performs a miracle through him, quite literally raising him to sainthood.
In this evocative, atmospheric biography, Roberto Rossellini brings to life philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal, who, amid religious persecution and ignorance, believed in a harmony between God and science.
During World War II, a plane full of RAF fighter crashes in the Ethiopian desert and they are met upon by an enemy Italian patrol that allows them to go free. But, when the Brits are given orders to attack the Italians, lots of problems ensue.
Two factory workers living in Northern Italy form a romantic connection. The woman, torn between the freedoms of the North and her traditional Sicilian values, slowly allows herself to love...
Stefano is a shy and sensitive teenager who has just completed his studies in Switzerland and is considering becoming a monk. But his father, a rich Milanese publisher, who had the ambition to see his son succeed him, refuses and takes him on a cruise with a young woman to take this idea out of his...
Tommaso Puzzilli is a boy who grew up in the suburb of Pietralata outside Rome. Not having a job, Tommaso and his friends are committing crimes to make money.
In 1943 Italy is crumbling. Salvo D'Acquisto, a Carabinieri officer is trying to maintain law and order. One tragic incident will unravel a chain of events leading to him having to stand between the Germans and people he swore to protect.
An island has been decimated by a volcanic eruption and the few survivors escape to a nearby island. Led by Rutolo, they know that their new home is equally susceptible to such a catastrophe via its own volcano, but they are unable to convince the current inhabitants of Island #2 to flee with them...
At the end of the nineteenth century, Italian anarchists, ten men, one woman, libertarian, collectivist emigrate to Brazil to start a leaderless community, without hierarchy, without a boss without police, but not without conflict nor passion.
A minimalist cinematic style is used in this film to tell the story of a young man who reacquaints himself with an old girlfriend after a chance meeting. He talks to a film director who wishes to make a feature about political change but is uninspired about the lack of real change in everyday life....