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

A film about twin bothers Jacob & Esau

The film covers a hundred years in the lives of the Ricordi family, the Milan publishing house of the title, and the various composers and other historic personalities, whose careers intersected with the growth of the Ricordi house. It beautifully draws the parallel between the great music of the composers, the historic and social upheavals of their times, as well as the "smaller stories" of the successive generations of Ricordi.

An ambitious mobster plans an elaborate diamond heist while seducing the daughter-in-law of a ruthless mob patriarch as a determined police commissioner closes in on all of them.

Evelyne, a judge's young wife, falls in love with Rémy while vacationing in Italy. Upon returning home, she must decide between telling her husband and continuing to see Rémy.

Just before the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, a party is held in the castle of the Stettin's Counts.

In the kingdom of Kindaor, traitor Sedesmondo kills his brother, the King of Kindaor, and becomes the tyrant of kingdom. He abandons the prince Arminio to beasts in the woods, but lions don't kill him and breed him as one of them.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and his Jewish companion Paul Ree meet a beautiful young Russian intellectual and draw her into a ménage-à-trois.

Nine episodes about life in Italy in the period just before its economic boom.

David of Bethlehem slays the giant and becomes a rival to King Saul.

Nana or Nanà is a French-Italian film by Christian-Jaque starring Charles Boyer. It is an adaptation of Émile Zola's novel Nana.

During the first Napoleonic expedition into Italy, Thibaud is seriously injured before being caught up in a mystery involving his wife, her rightful inheritance and his own daughter's happiness.

To avenge his father's death and free the people of Seriphos from the evil King Galinor of Argus, the noble Perseus must defeat a dragon -- and the monster Medusa, whose steely gaze has cast the kingdom's best soldiers into stone.

In ancient Rome a love story blossoms between Fabiola, daughter of a senator, and Rhual, a Gallic gladiator. After Fabiola's father is killed, the Romans blame the Christians and the persecution begins. Rhual confesses to being a Christian, is accused of the murder and sentenced to fight to the death in the arena.

Two half brothers, one a pilot, the other a repairman at the plane factory of their father, are in a disagreement due to the envy of the younger brother, son of the first wife of their father. Then both brothers fall in love with the same woman; this causes more conflict between the two, making worse an already tense situation.

Some Italian partisans want to take refuge in a convent to escape German raids. The nuns are a little perplexed at first but then agree since one of the men is seriously wounded. When the partisans eventually leave, the Germans take a terrible revenge.

Simon Bolivar is the true-life story of the leader of the 1817 Venezuelan revolution.

Aliens send a hypnotic signal through a TV channel, and the signal makes people dance and makes them forget their fears.

Based on a Pirandello play, Vittori De Sica plays a wealthy young social lion who has to constantly fight off a horde of women who are eager to marry him because of his position and money. He weds Elisa Cegani, a servant girl, who turns out to be a more appealing wife than any of the others could have been. Assis Noris decorates the screen well as one of the chasers and pursuers. In 1937, De Sica and Noris made a film, "II Signor Max," which, other than the setting and character role names, basically has the same plot as this film.

After years of detachment Alberto Valli returns to the home of Margherita, his widowed mother, with his mistress Germaine.

Umberto Solaro loses the love of his life Speranza, a noble but poor girl who has been forced to marry a rich Austrian army officer. Heartbroken Umberto becomes a riding instructor but during a competition his horse dies and he decides to give up equitation and become an aviator.

The Last Judgement (Italian: Il giudizio universale) is a 1961 commedia all'italiana film by Italian director Vittorio De Sica. It was coproduced with France. It has an all-star Italian and international cast, including Americans Jack Palance, Ernest Borgnine; Greek Melina Mercouri and French Fernandel, Anouk Aimée and Lino Ventura. The film was a huge flop, massacred by critics and audiences when it was released. It was filmed in black and white, but the last sequence, the dance at theatre, is in color.

In Florence, at the time of Lorenzo de Medici, known also as Lorenzo the Magnificent, the aristocrat brothers Chiaramantesi rule with an iron fist the streets of the city. Ruthless and fierce, the two brothers have chosen as their special victim the innocent and harmless Giannetto. Even though determined to not react to the cruel pranks of the brothers, Giannetto is forced to take a stand when Ginevra, a beautiful girl that works in the Chiaramantesi household, is dragged into the game. To defend his honor and protect the girl, Giannetto works out a fiendish plot that will end in blood and madness.

A host of college girls take different life paths in the Italy of the 1930s.

Naples 1821. Alphonse, a young poet belonging to a noble French family, is caught by a storm at sea. Fortunately the boat manage to reach the shores of Procida, where Alphonse is welcomed by the family of Andrea. Here he meets the beautiful Graziella.

Lorna, the daughter of an American playboy, enters a girls' school for the international smart-set, in the Alps, where the main course of study appears to be how to trap a rich man. At first, she is dominated and looked down on by the school ring-leaders, and forced into rooming with - horrors - a scholarship student. But when a rich young American shows interest in her she is elevated to the international clique of the upper-termers. Then she falls in love with - horrors again - a poor local mountaineer.

This propaganda film was partly inspired by the story of the first Italian heavyweight champion Primo Carnera who, after winning the title with Al Capone’s help in 1933, was beaten the following year by the Jewish Max Bear and then again by the ‘Brown Bomber’ Detroit Joe Lewis in June 1935, on the eve of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. This match provoked numerous racial skirmishes on the streets of Harlem between the Black community and pro-Fascist Italian-Americans. The film overturns historical facts and here, obviously, it is the white boxer who wins in order to demonstrate the superiority of the “Aryan Italians” over the “sinister Jewish entrepreneurs” and the “savage Afro-American fans in Yankee Stadium”. In the film, these were played by South African prisoners-of-war interred in a work camp, which the German and Italian propaganda ministries had set up near Cinecittà “for cinematic purposes”.

Virginia de Leyva, daughter of a Spanish Lord, becomes a nun in Monza, in 1600s. She becomes very strict with herself and the students until she's unable to resist a romance with the nobleman Gian Paolo Osio which will lead both to danger.

Maria and Paul love them, but they are very young and, moreover, Maria is the daughter of the municipal sweeper while Paul is the lawyer Bonelli, vice mayor and head of the opposition. To complicate the story there is the reconstruction of a hermitage destroyed during the war. Reconstruction would take the view of the Paseroni villa, big industrial and political traffic. Bonelli's lawyer, a great speaker, becomes a mayor for the death of his predecessor and is bought by Paseroni, while rejecting the love of Paul and Mary for social differences and why Paul should stay behind Doddy Paseroni. At this point, Paul and Mary flee to kill, just as Bonelli has to hold a talk on the radio for the inauguration of Paseroni's villa ...

Called to perform at the Scala, a young baritone begins a transatlantic romance with a famous pianist. The singer, having been skewered by a critic after his last performance in Milan, attempts to find a way to win over the audience and the critics, while wooing his love interest.

Pascal's life should have been normal and happy. A shepherd in his native Provence, he was a friendly young man who very naturally fell in love with Vivette, the daughter of a rich farmer. But that was without counting with Marcellin, a spiteful, jealous man who coveted Vivette and wanted her for himself.The traitor managed to have Pascal enrolled in Napoleon's army. Pascal came close to death in Russia but miraculously survived. And fifteen years later vengeance would be his. Reunited with Vivette and the child he had given her, time had come for happiness.

In late 19th century Sicily, handsome free-spirit Liolà wanders into town, where he encounters an old flame now married to a wealthy landowner.

After her father commits suicide, a young woman asks for help to the son of a Countess and they fall in love.

A struggling model concocts a story of being raped and beaten by three strangers and soon becomes a media darling. Complications arise when the police eventually arrest three suspects.

Constantine is fighting against Barbarians with his father when he is called to Rome. In his way to Rome, he falls in an ambush planned by Maxence, who wants to become emperor.

La Contessa di Parma was the sole directorial contribution by Allesandro Blasetti in 1937. The first of several expensive costume dramas upon which the director established his international reputation, the film stars Elisa Cegani as Marcella, a model in the dress shop owned by enterprising Umberto Melnati. To improve his business, the owner instructs his models to dress up as society ladies and attend all the best parties. And that's how humble little Marcella comes to be mistaken for the popular Duchess of Parma -- and by extension, how our heroine wins the love of football hero Gino Vanni (Antonio Centa). A little wanting in the way of plot or logic, La Constessa di Parma is at least consistently good to look at.

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.

American students, Tommy and Annette, find themselves in a heap of trouble when they accidentally discover an art forgery ring in Florence, Italy.

Liana, an architecture graduate, is about to get married until she is confronted with the fact she is sacrificing the rest of her life for a man she barely knows. So begins a series of romantic encounters in which Liana tries to find her freedom and happiness, but which will ultimately lead her to a tragic fate.

Italian romance starring Giovanna Ralli, Gigi Proietti and Cristiano Censi

Sandro is a well-known journalist and he is conducting a survey on human selfishness. Every man and every woman he meets turns into a theme for his inquiry. Even his own wife, Titta.

A former General comes back to Trieste to live with his cousins.

A photographer named Corrado snaps a picture of Antonietta. When it shows up on the front page of a magazine, she wants to take him to court over it.

ETTORE FIERAMOSCA was based on a widely-read literary action epic by Massimo D'Azeglio, published in 1833. Translated to the screen in 1938 by the most important director of the Italian fascist period, Alessandro Blasetti, it was intended to boost current patriotic fervor and pride in the Italian nation, and it contributed to a revival of Italian nationalism.

Lucia Spinelli, orphaned by both parents, is taken as a housekeeper in the house of Mrs. Carla Parodi, when she reaches the age of majority, the young woman is almost forced to marry Mrs. Carla's brother. After the marriage and the birth of the first child, Parodi's intrusions on the life of the two spouses continue.