Mario Fortunato

During the Second World War, a series of personal storylines unfold across a small provincial town near Rome and in the great city of London. Stefano, a legal enthusiast employed at the courthouse, marries Nina as his second wife—a restless young woman who accepts a much older husband to please her family, but is in truth in love with Sergio. At the same time, Ally is an English pilot, homosexual, who is bound by a deep friendship to Edna, an eccentric English girl. Stefano and Sergio take part in the partisan resistance, to which Nina also makes a significant contribution as a courier. The young woman carries on a clandestine affair with Sergio, unbeknownst to Stefano, who is moreover having a liaison with a prostitute. The situation comes to a head when Ally’s plane crashes and he is hidden by Sergio: the two young men are caught showing affection to one another by Nina and Stefano, who realizes from the young woman's reaction that Sergio was her lover. Stefano returns home and sets it on fire, killing himself in the blaze. Nina realizes, too late, that she loves Stefano, while Edna comes to understand her deep bond with Ally, despite his homosexuality. The war is merely a backdrop that clarifies interpersonal relationships, which nonetheless remain grounded in the complexity and ambiguity of human emotions. As the author states: > life is nothing other than a great confusion. A disorder and a turmoil of things and feelings, which ultimately, however, is all that binds us to others and makes us love them .