Serena, Milena and Flavia tell us about how they spend their days on the beautiful beach of Maratea. The girls and their friends come to this popular beach on hot summer days as well as on winter days, just to get together and see one another.

Ezio Lottieri, a lover of music and especially the Rolling Stones, always carries his harmonica with him. In this video he tells about his experience at the Dedalo Festival 2009, where he met the well-known artists Davide Ravera and Patrizia Ferrarini. Ezio performed various songs with these two artists at the Festival in Caltabellotta.

Ezio recalls that Davide, a well-known artist, asked him to join him in playing a song at a festival. Davide had written the piece and it's called "Road to Hell." Obviously Ezio accepted.

Angela is a thirty-four year old Sicilian woman who talks about her unusual job. She’s a street artist who performs as a clown and as a fire dancer. For a hobby she collects vintage clothing.

Valeria Parrella talks about her relationship with Naples and her way of writing about it, based on direct observation and listening to people, far from the usual stereotypes. Her writing stems from an "intermediate" point of view, close to everyday reality.

Valeria Parrella talks about her intense and contradictory bond with Naples and the neighborhood she lives in. The full-time innovative Donna Assunta school overlooks the sea, but faces Nisida, the juvenile detention center. Naples, she says, is not a city you can just live in and ignore, and has become for her an inexhaustible source of literary inspiration.

Author Valeria Parrella talks about the connection between her novel Almarina and various locations within Naples: Nisida (a volcanic islet that houses a juvenile detention center) and Bagnoli (a seaside neighborhood of Naples). What emerges is the portrait of an intense and contradictory city, marked by working-class identity, the sea, and the reality of juvenile prison.

Sandra now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in North Carolina. She is still working and loves it. She and Marika discuss some Italian expressions about the value of work and about how their friendship has lasted all these years.

Valeria Parrella recounts her deep and complex bond with Naples, a city that is all about language, identity, and memory. Through Almarina, a Naples that is 'wonderful and terrible' emerges, but also a place of freedom, growth, and hope.

The story of Sandra continues, a restaurateur in Miami, chosen to cook at a White House event for Barack Obama. Between initial disbelief and rigorous security checks, the experience becomes a source of great pride for her. The story also highlights the value of friendship and the importance of reinventing oneself in life.

The documentary follows journalist Annalena Benini on a journey through Italy discovering writers in the places that shaped them. The first stop is Naples, told through Valeria Parrella: an intense and complex city, where landscape, memory and daily life intertwine with literature and the identity of authors.

The story of Sandra continues, a Tuscan chef who emigrated to the United States, who established herself in Miami with authentic Tuscan cuisine. Thanks to her continuous ties with Italy, she keeps her roots alive, even cooking for Barack Obama.

During an important evening at the Washington, D.C. restaurant where Sandra was the dining room manager, the usual chef didn't show, and Sandra found herself having to manage the kitchen as well. She had no experience there, and so it was somewhat of a disaster. The episode pushed her to learn, however: Thanks to the help of an expert cook, she began an apprenticeship, acquired skills, and started building a career bringing Italian cuisine to the United States.

Sandra tells about her initial difficulties in the United States and how, realizing she wouldn't get very far without knowing English, she learned it on her own. Starting from a humble job in the restaurant industry, she quickly grew professionally.

Sandra tells about her immigration experience to the United States in 1979. At first, without knowing English well and without technology, she faces many difficulties in daily life and in finding work. Starting from a simple job as a coat check attendant in a restaurant, she slowly begins a new life that would later lead her to become a chef.