Mirco Abbruzzetti

A mysterious wrongdoing shakes the life of Castelrotto, a small Apennine village that has always been off the news... and history. Ottone, a former local journalist and retired elementary school teacher, takes advantage of the incident to pick up the pen again and seek revenge for an old injustice suffered. His plan is clear: manipulate the narrative of the new crime to accuse the men who ruined his life.

Montalto, 2021. On the occasion of the historic 500th anniversary of the birth of Pope Sixtus V, the mayor of the birthplace of the famous pontiff, hires an author of religious musicals from the Marches, Angelo Santini, to create a show inspired by the famous papal events. Among these Angelo readapts one, under the cumbersome supervision of the village parish priest, and entitles it "Acqua alle corda", inspired by the well-known story of the obelisk in St. Peter's Square.The mayor is very pressing on the fact that this show must have an important resonance, and urges Angelo to find a theater company worthy of attracting the attention of the media. Angelo therefore involves a very high-level musical company which, thanks to its autonomy, completely upsets the religious spirit of the work,bringing it to a demented dimension, and consequently triggering unpredictable tensions within the country.

Like his father and grandfather before him, Nicola works on a field along an old mountain road. He sells potatoes grown by his family to passing motorists, while work on the "new road" is about to end. An unexpected encounter will give him the courage to take risks and ... change gears.