The nineteen twenties ushered in sound in cinema. Italy's L.U.C.E. [L'Unione Cinematografica Educativa or Educational Film Union] was founded in 1924 and generated the fascist regime's cinematic propaganda.

Soon after the introduction of talkies, dubbing came about in the thirties. Dubbing was extremely popular in Italy and remains so today.

Schools in fascist Italy banned the study of dialects and moved to using standardized textbooks. The fascist hymn “Viva Adua nostra” refers to a battle won by the Kingdom of Italy in 1896 near Adwa, Ethiopia.

This segment opens with a sort of poem, demonstrating how kids growing up in fascist Italy were expected to behave. Minority groups had a pretty hard time, too.

Mussolini inveighs against the middle class, saying that it is the enemy of fascism. Much of the footage in this segment features EUR, the Rome district that was built in the 30s and 40s.

The segment looks at the Royal Academy of Italy's dictionary of Italian, which was filled with quotes from Mussolini. By the end of World War II, the dictionary had gotten to the letter “C.”

After the war came TV. It changed everything, and provided a new way to unify the Italian language and teach people reading and writing.

The narrator goes over the vanishingly small number of expressions coined during Mussolini's time that are still in use today. The song that gives the series its name is provided in full.

This song is one side of a phone call made to someone after meeting her at a party. But is there anyone on the other end?

As you can see from the video, Max Gazzè seems to be singing to a mannequin. The song is from the album Maximilian, and was published in 2016.

Massimiliano is a musician, and together with his friend Stefano, and the mascot Cuba, he's trying to introduce the group to record labels. In addition to talking about his dream, he talks about Garbatella, the neighborhood where he was born, and which he wants never to leave.

Maurizio is a young student from the province of Pescara, going to school (university) in Rome. He tells us a little bit about himself, and his life in Rome. This is an excellent opportunity to compare how Italian treats tenses with respect to English, especially the English present perfect, and present continuous.

Massimo Ranieri has never stopped being popular in Italy. Here he sings a song about a man who thought he had found love, but then lost it.

Nineteen-year-old Martina tells us about herself. Her dreams have changed over the years, and she now has some concrete, long-term, and clearcut goals.

Marino shows us how to make "maccaronara" or "spaghetti alla chitarra" (guitar spaghetti), from scratch. This special kind of pasta is from Avellino, near Naples.