Pina Piovani

A number of different segments taken from 19th century Italian stories.

A taxi driver, with singing ambitions, finds an abandoned baby in his cab and begins to look for his mother. He doesn't find her but succeeds in finding two people who want to adopt the child.

A famous painting by Antonello da Messina, "the man with a gray glove", has been entrusted to an old restorer. When, subsequently, the painting is withdrawn from the restorer's studio and exposed, the art critic Drago discovers that it is not the original, but a copy.

A young man in love with a girl whose father--his employer--does not approve of him, disguises himself as a hunchback to get into the father's good graces.

Rocco and his brother Martino are two rich country-estate owners who descend upon the city in search of adventure.

During the fascist era, Adriana a beautiful young model, becomes a prostitute after a love affair gone wrong. She meets Mino, a partisan who falls in love with her and wants to redeem her.

The story is taken from the drama "I Pescatori" (The Fishermen) by Raffaele Viviani, and is set in a fishing island off the coast of Naples (clearly identifiable with Ischia). Here lives Concetta, a widow with two children, who now lives with another man who however secretly lusts after his stepdaughter until when, on a stormy night...

The castle of the counts of Ventimiglia is conquered by the spanish Van Gould, who kills the count and sends his three sons in the Antilles. The ship is attacked by pirates and the three brothers are liberated. They decide to join the pirates to have revenge on Van Gould, who has also moved to the Antilles on the command of the viceroy.

Luisa Galli moves to Rome in search of a respectable job, but instead just finds a job as a waitress for the lawyer Giorgi

A young boy, about to take his first communion, must wrestle with his familial loyalty and his conscience when there is a fire at their local cinema where his brother works and it is clear that he is involved in the theft of the projector. Determined to right the wrong done by his sibling, he attempts to make amends.

The servant girl Carmela arrives from her village to work in the house of the notary Don Domenico, a hypocritical and ambiguous man, who seduces her. The girl flees from the house and falls into the clutches of a shrew who flatters her with promises and wants to exploit her beauty. A young man, Salvatore, known as Il Nero, who works in the sulfur mines, rescues her from the vile house and forces the notary to make amends for his wrongdoing by marrying her. The girl goes through the various events as if in a daze. On her wedding day, she faints before entering the church and falls seriously ill. Before she dies, she reveals that the sulfur miner was her only love and that his lack of understanding caused her illness.

A middle-aged insurer, after spending a sleepless night because of a quarrel with his wife, goes to the pharmacy to buy a sleeping pill. By mistake, the doctor, instead of giving him a sedative, gives him poison. The man goes out of town to visit a client and, unaware that he is wanted by the police, is more than once about to swallow the pills; but every time an obstacle prevents him from fulfilling his purpose.

Tino Scotti plays a man who is tricked into trying to kill himself. When all his attempts fail, he is believed to be immortal.

Count Borraccilo lives in luxury but does not pay taxes and for this he is targeted by the tax agent Gaetano Pellecchia, who asks his friend Mario for help.

Anna, a woman with a troubled past, marries an honest worker at the SIMA mechanical workshop, who provides her with a decent life despite financial difficulties. Blackmailed by a man who knows about her past, Anna loses her mind and kills him. Sentenced to ten years in prison, she dies in childbirth while giving birth to a baby girl.

Melodrama of sexual cravings: The bored wife of a horse breeder is the object of attention by both a stud keeper and a half idiot stable hand.The young daughter of the household is later added to this mixture of passions.

An American composer moves to Italy and falls for a local country girl right before the start of World War II.

In Santa Cruz, in the second half of the eighteenth century. The Governor of the island, to ingratiate himself with the Viceroy, contrives to make assaulting the island from a mock pirate ship and, with a mock battle, defeat the aggressors and throw them back into the sea.

Episodic film with flashbacks about the lives of some sick and infirm people travelling on the same train, making a pilgrimage to the shine of Our Lady of Loreto.

Mandrin, the French army deserter, becomes the leader of a gang of smugglers in Piedmont. He is loved by the beautiful innkeeper Rosetta but draws attention to the Marquise de Montbricourt, favorite of the king, who comes from Versailles just to see him. She will saved his life and allow him to marry Rosetta.

Giorgio with some friends rehearses a show of Neapolitan songs financed thanks to an elderly artist. Having come to quarrel with the landlady, Giorgio rented a room with a good woman who lives with her beautiful daughter Maria. Love soon arises between the two.

Seduced by count Diego and then abandoned, Adriana finds a job at a large hairdresser shop, so she can lead a dignified life together with her daughter.

Amore e sangue (released in the U.S. as "City of Violence"), the 1951 Marino Girolami (billed as "John Wolff") West German/Italian romantic action adventure war thriller.

A Neapolitan tailor, Nennella (Leda Gys), in love with a painter, who has a slender woman named Paquita (Pina Piovani) as a lover, decides to become, in turn, a diva of variety. One evening, he is on stage with his rival, while the painter is in the proscenium box. To disfigure the enemy, Paquita does not hesitate to resort to unfair means and hires a large claque to be applauded and whistled by her rival. A great commotion arises, in which the two women and their supporters take part. Screams, scratches, bites, seats. In the turmoil, the painter is wounded and, transported to Nennella's dressing room, as soon as he comes to, he seals the pact of love with a kiss.

Esposito is a thief who cons tourists in Rome. Officer Bottoni manages to catch him and starts persecuting him. When Esposito manages to flee, Bottoni's superiors inform him that he'll lose his job if he can't catch Esposito.

Film version of the Verdi opera about lovers on the run after the accidental death of the girl's father.

The film follows men from all walks of life, seeking to give meaning to their lives and rediscover their inner peace during a retreat in the “House of Silence”. For three days, they meditate on their lives.

A film made up of four episodes: a jar repairer gets trapped in a vat because of his hunch; a young unmarried mother is forced to beg to buy herself a fan; Rosario Chiarchiaro appears before a law court for casting spells; the discomfort of an overtight jacket gives a wedding witness the strength to persuade the bridegroom's reluctant parents to bless his union.

During the Spanish occupation of Naples, the people led by Tommaso Aniello - known as "Masaniello" - plot against the Viceroy. The Viceroy's son, under another name, has a son from Masaniello's sister, but his father has already planned a marriage for him with a Spanish patrician against his wishes.