Charlie Abbadessa

There is a store in Palermo unlike any other called Quir, a place of love defying any convention. The owners are Massimo and Gino, who have been together for forty-two years, perhaps the longest-lasting gay couple in Italy. Their small leather goods store has become an important meeting place of the local LGBTQI+ scene – here people chat about their love stories or seek advice – fighting for acceptance in Sicily, a stronghold of patriarchal culture.

In 13th century Italy, Francis Bernardone, the son of an Assisi merchant, renounces a promising army career in favor of a monastic life and starts his own religious order, sanctioned by the Pope.