CHAPTER I: By motor- scooter.
Dear Diary, there's something I like to do very much!
(MUSIC)
Moretti: In Rome, the cinemas are closed for the summer,
or at least they show such films as "Sex love and sheep",
"Beastly desires", "Snow white and the seven black dwarves",
horror films like "Henry",
or a few Italian films.
(Man #1 in a film): I am a little afraid to come back into play.
I am a coward.
What has happened in these years, I wonder...
I don't know it anymore.
(Man #2) Hair is getting grey,
(Man #3) and defeats begin to be a burden.
...a non-stop series of defeats.
Our generation... What's become of us?
Advertisers, architects, stock agents, deputies, aldermen..
...journalists.
We have changed, we're worse,
nowadays we're all accomplices.
But why this obsession?
"All equal, all compromised, we're all accomplices"...
Can you tell me when we last had a walk together?
We are together only from force of habit.
You're ashamed of me.
What a headache, even "Optalidon" is no longer the same.
Remember how reassuring its old tube used to be?
Everything is different now.
You know, Antonio? You're getting worse and worse.
You can no longer feel anything real now.
We are old, we're soured, we are dishonest in our jobs.
We used to shout horrendous, violent things, in our marches
and now look how ugly we got.
Moretti: YOU used to shout horrendous and violent things
and you got ugly.
I used to shout true things,
and now I'm a wonderful 40 year old man.
What I like the most is to see the houses,
to see the districts,
and the district that I prefer is the Garbatella.
I walk around the council houses there.
However I don't like to see the houses only from the outside,
Sometimes I like to see what they look like inside too.
Therefore, I ring some bell and say I need to check the place
because I am preparing a film.
The landlords usually ask me: "What's this film about?"
and I never know what to say.
This film is the story of a Trotskian confectioner
and it's set in Italy in the '50s. It's a musical.
A musical.
Moretti: By the way, a musical about a Trotskian confectioner wouldn't be bad at all,
above all if set in the conformist Italy of the '50s.
When I ride my motor scooter, I also like to stop and watch the attics
where I would like to live.
I imagine myself renovating the apartments
high above, those that I see from the road,
apartments whose owners have no intention to sell.
One day I saw an attic that seemed to me more accessible.
Silvia and I also went to check it.
We asked how much it cost,
and the answer was: "Ten million lire per square meter".
How, "Ten million lire per square meter"?
He says, "Well, of course,
because Dandolo Rd. is a historical road.
Garibaldi fought the Resistance here.
I don't know why, I don't get it, maybe I'm sick,
but I love this bridge.
I have to come here at least twice a day.
Want to know what I was thinking of? A very sad thing.
That I, even in a more decent society than this one,
will always be in the minority,
but not as in those films where there are a man and a woman
who hate one another and tear each other to pieces on a desert island
because the director of the film doesn't believe in people.
I believe in people.
I don't believe in the majority of people.
I'm afraid that I will always be comfortable
only in the minority.
Whatever, good luck.
Moretti: Actually, I've always dreamt of being able to dance.
"Flashdance", that film was called...
It changed my life forever.
A film on the dance, on learning to dance,
while all I can do is watch,
which is also nice, but it's a completely different thing.
(LATIN-AMERICAN MUSIC)
Want to know what my dream is?
My dream has always been to learn how to dance.
I haven't been the same anymore, after watching that film
"Flashdance", with Jennifer Beals.
Is that dancer down there Jennifer Beals?
No.
I envy them so much! Are you Jennifer Beals?
No.
Moretti: Spinaceto, a district which has been built recently.
One never names it but to say bad things about it.
"Alright, but we aren't in Spinaceto here!"
"But where do you live? In Spinaceto?".
I remember that once I even read a script
called: "Escape from Spinaceto".
It was about a boy who escaped from his district and from home
...and never came back.
And so, let's go to Spinaceto.
I thought that Spinaceto was worse.
- But it's not bad at all. Bye. - You're right, I was...
Bye.
(ARABIC MUSIC)
Moretti: Casalpalocco. Passing by these houses,
I smell the odour of the tracksuits which are worn here instead of the suits,
...of videotapes and watchdogs in the gardens
and precooked pizzas in their cardboard boxes.
But why did they come here thirty years ago?
Excuse me!
Why did you come to live here?
But look how green, how calm here is.
It's green, but I'm sure that you came here...
...30 years ago. In 1961?
'62.
Thirty years ago Rome was a beautiful town...
But here is different.
Yes, is it different, but Rome was beautiful, understand?
That's what frightens me: dogs behind the gates,
videotapes, slippers...
Jennifer Beals?
Jennifer Beals? Jennifer Beals?
- Jennifer Beals? - Yes?
- Of "Flashdance"? - Yes.
- Who's this guy? - I don't know.
What has he said?
"Who are you".
You know, I wish I could dance...
(JENNIFER BEALS TRANSLATES INTO ENGLISH)
But if I lived in Emilia Romagna..
where centres for the elderly, and hospitals which work are,
and structures, services, and schools of dance,
...tango, merengue, cha- cha, mambo..
when I listen to the music I would dance,
instead of watching others dance.
Those shoes look very comfortable,
so simple and yet... they must be comfortable.
Yes, very much.
I think this guy must be, you know, a feet maniac.
Then let's go.
No, you just have to be calm, he's just a little off. Just, you know...
What have you said? Crazy?
No, no.
Wasn't it "crazy"?
No, I have said "off".
And what does it mean?
It means "special", "peculiar", almost crazy, but not crazy yet.
Isn't it right? I mean, off is not really crazy, not really troubled.
Ah, you mean like off-centre.
Yeah, like off-centre, but...
Something more precise, maybe "whimsical".
Whimsical?
Almost stupid.
Moretti: Also when I'm in other cities, the only thing that I like to do
is look at the houses.
Moretti: How beautiful a film about houses would be...
"A view on the houses".
Garbatella, 1927.
Villaggio Olimpico, 1960.
Tufello, 1960.
Vigne Nuove, 1987.
Monteverde, 1939.
HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER A FILM BY JOHN McNAUGHTON
You're stuttering, aren’t' you? Out 50 dollars and go to hell!
Here is your 50 dollars.
(DESPERATE HOWLS)
Can I help you, people?
Otis, do you need help, or you think you can make it alone?
(OTIS SNEERS)
Moretti: I wander about for a while
trying to remember who told me this film was good.
I had read a review in a paper,
something positive on "Henry".
Suddenly I remember and find that article,
and I want to copy it to my diary. Here it is:
..."Henry kills people, but he's almost a good person,
"he doesn't speak much, he'd rather act.
"His friend Otis is a pig instead.
"Henry is solid for his victims,
"he's the blue-blooded prince of annihilation,
"and promises them a compassionate death. Otis doesn't.
"The director pushes the audience
"into an even worse kind of nightmare, with a final shower of splatter.
"Pierced Eyes, tortured flesh, abomination.
"Henry is perhaps the first to scorn
"the criminal philosophy of the lombrosianis in Hollywood.
I wonder, those who write such things,
at night, before sleeping, aren't they a little ashamed?
Moretti: But when did it all start?
I don't know, I don't know.
Perhaps when you wrote:
..."That Korean film was a melodrama in dress,
"where clothes, and above all hats, were delirious.
"Super feminist, flaming and demoniac"?
"Shot like a trip by a Spielberg-like director
"who got into futurist spaces and rhythms.
And then there's Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch",
"(shouting) Pure high budgeted underground pus...
- Enough! Enough! - "A true cult movie!
"Women are not better for Jonathan Demme,
..."at least they are like Lin Piao's proletarians or sub proletarians
"of the three circling worlds,
"but certainly, his women succeed in bearing the war
"at the imaginary department for surgical operations.
"And in fact, before Lula and Sailor hold each other in the happy end,
..."whispering "love me tender", Sailor will spend a few years in prison,
"shattered heads will fly,
"stray dogs will catch chopped off hands,
"and smoke hundreds of Kools, Merits and Marlboros, showing off.
I don't know why, but I had never been
where Pasolini was killed, before.
(MUSIC)
CHAPTER II: Islands.
Moretti: We're almost in Lipari.
I'm going to see a friend who retired there eleven years ago.
He has only studied Joyce's 'Ulysses" since then.
I have to start writing my film
and I have the notes I need for the job with me.
I've had them for years.
I am sure that I'll do something good in Lipari.
(HORNS) (TRAFFIC ROAR)
- Good morning. - Morning...
Please, can I have some orange juice
and a mozzarella sandwich?
(Voice on TV): Of course! They've got the money!
If everybody walked, as I do, less misfortunes would happen.
Moretti: A mozzarella and tomato sandwich. Thanks.
(MUSIC ON THE TV)
(MORETTI HUMS THE SONG)
(AN ACTRESS SINGS ON TV)
(MORETTI WHISTLES)
What were you watching?
When?
When you were inside. On TV.
That wasn't "TV". It was a strange film.
Silvana Mangano was first a nun and then she danced...
- Well, I guess it also happens to you... - Never.
- You never watch television. - Never.
Haven't watched it for thirty years.
Wow.
Do you know what Hans Magnus Enzensberger says?
Huh?
I agree with him.
(MUSIC)
Gerardo: Hi, good evening.
You won't believe it, but there hasn't been
a mess like that for many years.
- You don't believe it? - Yes, yes I believe it.
(TRAFFIC ROAR)
Are those notes a piece of curious, amusing news?
Curious? I only collect stupid news..
Stupid deeds, unpleasant characters.
(INSISTENT TRAFFIC ROAR)
Maybe I'm attracted to these types of things.
Moretti: Too much noise, too much confusion in Lipari.
So we go to Salina, a calm and friendly island.
Some friends of Gerardo's live there with their children.
Actually, with their only children, because it seems that in Salina
everybody has just a child.
We'll be calmer there and will succeed in doing something good.
(VOICES ON TV) Woman # 1: Can I come in?
Woman # 2: Only if it's necessary.
Woman # 1: You aren't polite! I have brought your wedding gift.
Woman # 2: How nice!
Man: Look who's here! Woman # 3: Oh!
Man # 1: You won't have the casino close.
Woman # 3: Why so much resentment?
Man # 1: Because I hate the people like you, who delude the others.
Man # 1: And when you have gotten what you want, you throw them in the mud.
Man # 2: Why don't you calm down?
Man # 3: This cathedral of yours won't see the daylight.
(A DOOR SLAMS ON TV)
- Woman # 4: You're back at last! - Man # 4: Why?
There's something I want to tell you.
I hope it's good news, I've already had enough for today.
I am not sure she's reliable, but I have seen Geena today,
and she has told me that Keat wants to take revenge on you.
Man # 4: I knew it.
Woman # 4: Some time ago he told me that too.
Mother # 1: Look!
Mother # 1: I cannot think that for Pietro..
the first few years of his life won't mean anything.
Because he'll ever know.
He won't remember this period of intimacy, of proximity,
when he's needing me so much.
Something new happened this week: he has taken off his own diaper.
Dad # 1: We thought, we'll take two weeks off...
and teach him to pee.
- But he took it off... - ...by himself.
And didn't do anything wrong.
He has started behaving like an adult.
And his first day at the nursery school?
We woke up at night, we were worried, shaken.
Moretti: It's typical, of course...
Pietro slept, instead. He didn't know anything.
How could he imagine that his life would change...
Is he sleeping?
Pietro is going through an important, although transitory, phase now.
He has passed from a regime where he saw only us..
to a regime where he goes to the kindergarten...
No! He's sleeping, It's the right volume.
...where he sees many children, many people.
Daniele? Daniele!
- What's wrong? - Nothing...
Daniele!
Last night I watched a nice programme.
Yes, "Who has seen them?".
Good.
Only, I couldn't hear anything, because...
...in that family they usually...
- You got scared. - Yes, a little.
They are exaggerated with Pietro.
We have a different relationship with Daniele.
In fact we would like to have another child,
but we're afraid that he wouldn't like it
and so we often ask him.
Every two or three years we ask him if he would like a little brother,
or a little sister.
But he gets angry.
I'm scared.
We are scared.
(MUSIC)
(PHONE RINGS)
How are you?
Sara, this is Lorenzo, Daniele's dad. Can you put your daddy through?
The kitten? What's the cry of the kitten? (Lorenzo laughs) Meow meow.
And of the cricket?
Chirp chirp, but you knew it, didn't you?
Can you put daddy through?
And the sheep?
The sheep? Baaaah...
A rooster? Cock-a-doodle-doo!
What's the cry of...
Sara, I beg you, call your dad.
A donkey? Eeeeh-oooh!
You knew, it didn't you? I don't know all of them!
Moretti: Salina has been dominated by only children for years.
Every family...
Lorenzo: cheep-cheep, the chick goes "cheep-cheep".
Moretti: Every family had an only child,
who now controls everything.
It was impossible to phone anyone.
because phones were intercepted by kids, who...
Hi I am Rosanna, can you put your mom or daddy through?
Okay. Bye.
Paolo?
Giovanni?
Leandro, do you recognize me? What's my name?
Hello? This is Paolo.
What's your name? How old are you? Do you recognize me? What's my name?
I am Franco.
The piglet?
And the hippo?
The giraffe, I wouldn’t know. (Grunts) This is the piglet.
The giraffe and the swallow, I wouldn't know.
Listen, who's in the house, mom or dad?
Mom and dad are in the house, but I'll tell you a fable.
So...
(Articulates) Do you und-er-stand what I'm say-ing?
(DESPERATE VOICES ASKING TO SPEAK WITH PARENTS)
The piglet. (Grunts).
(MUSIC)
- No! No! - Wake up! Wake up!
The light!
Gerardo, wake up!
Daniele is awake and waiting for us.
In 15 minutes the worse moment of the day will come.
- But why? - It'll be three o'clock,
the hour of the wolf.
It's the worse hour, the hour when you feel lonely.
For twelve years, we've waken up Daniele at three o'clock
and brought him in bed with us.
Come on in as well.
- Moretti: May I? - Dad: Please, come in.
- So, Daniele, how's tonight going? - Well.
- Are you scared? - No.
Can you see how many of us are here to keep you company?
Under the cover, come on!
Are you sure you aren't afraid?
Yes! Yes!
Did you know that Daniele has never had a baby-sitter?
Hasn't he? Why?
Because we've always stayed with him.
You've never gone out?
Never. And so we've read everything.
We've read Von Kleinst...
Hegel...
Spinoza...
We've read... Federico Tozzi...
We've read everything about Xenophon...
- Svevo... - And then Herodotus.
And then?
Tacitus!
All Tacitus!
Then... we have...
Saint Augustine.
Saint Augustine, Delfini, Meneghello and Capitini.
Cicero, over and over again.
and Rousseau, Leibniz...
Wittgenstein.
Moretti: Dear diary, we're passing by the island of Panarea.
Gerardo says he has never been there...
...but he can list all its pubs and discos,
restaurants and beer houses.
We decide not to get off and to continue for Stromboli..
...where we are certain that we'll finally succeed...
A few verses by Tibullus came to my mind.
They describe the situation we're in,
when we watch TV.
"Quam juvat"... How beautiful it is,
to sprawl on the bed or an armchair... "cubantem"...
and listen to the impetuous winds, "immites ventos"...
which fight against each other.
They came to my mind while I was watching "A round terrace by the sea".
Give me the list!
Stop it!
Give me the list with the things...
...that you had to force me to do!
Listen: I don't have to waste my time, ever!
Moretti: I had been told
that when one gets to Stromboli, they immediately feel
the threatening presence of the volcano.
Gerardo and I started to fight at once.
Why hadn't he reminded me
that I was there to work?
I had given him a list
of the things I had to do..
but I had only wasted time since I'd been there.
I am the mayor, my pleasure! Professor!
Good morning.
Please be our guests.
No, thanks, we'll book a hotel. We have to concentrate.
There's a house of some friends' which is fit for you, come on!
The agronomist in charge of the 28.000 hectares is coming here...
...hectares which surround Tokyo.
He wants to discuss about my projects with me.
Riccardo!
He wants to understand the secret of our equilibrium between growth and comfort.
Riccardo, that's me!
Listen, I have abandoned the ideal of boulevards
with palms imported from Los Angeles.
I'd like to give back to the island its lost traditions,
and then squares, roads, gardens, fountains, theatres...
Riccardo, they don't know where to sleep!
Riccardo: Enough!
Sorry, I have so many projects, but all end up badly.
Everyone is so hostile here... How come?
These two friends need hospitality, if you're kind enough...
All the contrary of Amsterdam,
where at night you pass by lunch tables, halls and bedrooms,
and they're all floodlit, all visible.
A life without curtains.
I am the mayor! You cannot treat me like that!
They need to concentrate for three or four days!
They won't collaborate, there's nothing I can do.
Maybe it's the threatening presence of the volcano.
Yet there would be enough human material.
In Stromboli there's a mixture of Italians and Germans...
...very interesting.
The families are big, not like in Salina and its zero growth.
Mayor: For example I have three kids.
So much wasted potential. What a pity!
From now on you can only go on foot.
Along this path?
You follow the path, regular footsteps, without forcing.
Will you excuse me, I'm waiting for the Japanese agronomist to call.
He's responsible for the 28.000 hectares that surround Tokyo.
See you tomorrow, then.
(NOISES FROM THE VOLCANO)
There is something hypnotic, an ancient bond between...
Don't turn around!
What's happening?
A group of Americans, at the shelter.
I need a favour, I am ashamed.
I would like to know
if Sally Spectra told her husband that she's pregnant.
"Bold and the Beautiful", the soap.
In America they're ahead...
Oh, yes, they're a few seasons ahead...
And ask them if Stephanie has found out anything, after placing the microphones..
...in the house of the new wife of her ex-husband.
(Shouting) But... Nancy... Whose wife is she?
Gerardo (shouting): Thorn's!
(Shouting) But where has Stephanie placed the microphones?
Gerardo (shouting): In the house of the wife of her ex!
(Shouting) But why?
Gerardo (shouting): Because she's jealous!
Hello!
Excuse me, good morning.
Could you tell me if Sally...
(Shouting) What was Sally Spectra's problem?
Gerardo (shouting): she's pregnant, does her husband know it or no?
"...if Sally Spectra has told her husband that she is pregnant?
Sally Spectra from "Bold and the Beautiful"?
"Beautiful", yes.
Yes, she has.
(Shouting) She has told him!
The last question:
"If Thorn is working on fixing his marriage,
"or is Nancy in love with her tennis instructor?
Right now, Nancy is madly in love with her tennis instructor.
Now, at this moment? In these episodes?
(Shouting) Nancy is crazy about her tennis teacher!
(Shouting) There are no hopes for Thorn!
I am so envious of the music that you can always listen to in Panarea.
What do you think? I'd like to ask to Ennio Morricone..
if he wanted to write the soundtrack for this place.
Huh, could be an idea.
Like that western, how does it go?
- Shon shon? - Yeah!
(THEY SING "SHON SHON")
Exactly.
Best wishes, for everything,
maybe we won't meet anymore, however.
And a director of photography in charge of the light of the island...
Storaro who takes care of the lights and the sunsets of Stromboli!
Rebuild Stromboli from zero!
Mayor: Rebuild Italy from zero!
(Excited) A new way of life,
new light, new clothes, new sounds,
a new way of speaking, new colours, new taste..
(Shouting) all new!
(Humming) Shon shon.
(MAYOR HUMS "A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE' SOUNDTRACK)
No, listen, let's go to Panarea.
Let's go to Panarea.
Regina: Welcome! Excuse me.
Welcome to Panarea. Where are you coming from?
Stromboli.
What a bore.
I am preparing a party in honour of the bad taste.
It almost took me a year to organize it.
Helmut Berger said that he'll come in underpants directly.
And then on Saturday there's my divorce party.
Do you always organize such things?
We can provide you with anything you need. Cocktail, dinners, journeys...
...settings.
Regina: I can find a white elephant for an exotic dinner,
...or an amazing photographer for a marriage..
...or a watussi to liven up a worldly evening.
Ideas, creativeness, atmospheres, contacts...
(Together): Good-bye and thanks!
Dear diary, I'm happy only by the sea, while I'm travelling...
...between an island that I've just left and another one that I still have to reach.
We are going to Alicudi now, the most distant and wildest island of all.
I am sure that you're against the programme "Who has seen them?"
Should we deny Ulysses, after the fall of Troy
the right to wander about the seas
stopping by Circe, Calypso, Nausikaa?
Certainly not.
If we did that, we would not have the Odyssey.
And should we deny his relatives who remained in Ithaca
the right to look for him?
And so Telemachus goes around to ask news of his father.
and what he asks is: "Who has seen him?"
Moretti: Good morning.
There's no salvation for Italy.
He is waiting for you.
"He" who?
A man who has refused success and glory.
He hates narcissism.
We all hate narcissism here,
and Alicudi welcomes only those who share its same beliefs.
Man: Here you can find the energy you need for your work.
Man: Alicudi will give you something which the other islands won't.
Moretti: I know, I was told that. Is it going to take long yet?
Man: Yes.
Moretti: Aren't there any other roads?
Man: There are no roads at all here.
Aren't there?
- Listen, this person... - Lucio.
Who is waiting for us, yes...
He wrote a very successful book a long time ago.
- Too much successful. - Too much successful...
He came here to expiate.
Alicudi is the most island of all islands.
I know.
I don't like the other islands. Everyone is compromised there.
They don't know how to live alone. Here we all live alone.
Enzensberger says that television is nothing.
Moretti: Mh...
But tell me that the match Honduras-Belgium, 3-2
...with five straight overthrows...
is "nothing".
Exactly...
To me that "nothing" seemed a lot.
And to you too.
Alright, to me too.
And that penalty...
Yes but I have to solve the problem with the lack of shutters.
Because I know that tomorrow I'll wake up at dawn.
I can only sleep in total dark.
Yes, I admit it.
What?
Maybe I have exaggerated a little about television...
It's alright.
However, it's history now.
Of course. Now we're here, calm, on this island...
Ah, you're here.
I never go out. Because human beings are dreadful.
Yes... I can't sleep in the light.
Since there are no shutters, do you have some tape?
- Look there. - Yes, I wanted to equip...
Certainly.
Because I got some cardboard, and so...
I want to live here without roots.
Our roots are too heavy.
For the last few years I have been ashamed of Italy and its people.
I have been ashamed of the other islands:
avid, fat, ignorant, narcissist.
where people who don't feel guilty live.
We retired here to think about the others.
Italians are the most easily influenced and vulgar people of all.
This country needs to laugh so unbridledly.
What's there to laugh for?
Do you mind if I eat the crust?
Moretti: And we have been in Alicudi for a few days.
It is really a different island from the others
where we finally succeed into concentrating.
Everything's quiet here.
Terribly quiet.
Are you working?
I'm writing my diary however, in these days...
I am writing a letter to the Pope,
because he has excommunicated soap operas.
He says that they're a danger to the unity of the family.
I'll read it.
"Dear Holy Father, forgive me, but you're wrong.
"Our families are closed in their selfishness
"but thanks to soap operas we express curiosity..
"and interest for other families..
"of which we share the trouble, the drama, the problems, the joy.
"Ines, a secretary", 10.30 a.m..
"Guiding Light" 12.50 p.m..
Gerardo: "Loving", 2.00 p.m..
"Maria", 2.25 p.m..
"Santa Barbara", same time but on another channel.
"Celeste", 4.25 p.m..
"Bold and the Beautiful", 7.15 p.m..
I haven't watched TV for a few days,
but I don't miss it.
However on this island...
On this island?
There is no electricity.
So what?
There are no televisions in Alicudi.
(Shouting) Television!
Elevator!
Telephone!
Hot Water! Wait for me!
Television!
(Shouting) But how can you live without television?
Stop! Stop!
I feel pity on Enzensberger when he says..
that TV transmits nothing!
Stop!
KarI Popper, you're wrong!
It's not true for television to contaminate children!
On the contrary, children don't get stunned watching television!
They dream! As once they dreamt listening to fables and legends!
CHAPTER III: Doctors.
Moretti: Dear diary, I've kept the prescriptions I gathered in one year,
and also the notes I took when I met the physicians...
therefore nothing in this chapter is invented: prescriptions...
...meetings with the physicians, conversations with them.
Okay, at 1.30 at home, it's alright, thanks. Bye.
At 1.30 at home, then we'll do it again.
Moretti: This is my last session of chemotherapy,
the cure one has to follow when they have a tumour.
So I decided to film it.
Well, only for a while, inevitably.
That is true, however. No, no, it is true.
Mind the ear.
Woman: It's still too low.
No, no, you go, go.
It's tight enough. It keeps his hair up.
Is it alright?
Doctor?
Doctor: Yes?
Is there any "Deticene" in it?
Yes, but wouldn't it be better for you not to know?
Does it sting?
No, no, just a little. Let's leave it for now, but stay here.
Moretti: One day I started to have the itches
above all at night.
I thought it was urticaria, but it wasn't, it had nothing to do with it.
I had heard of a dermatological institute,
...very famous.
A lot of people go there at dawn
and wait all day to be visited.
(BUZZ)
Moretti, Giovanni, born in Brunico on 19th August 1953, living in Rome.
Have you ever been cured for the same disease before?
No, this is the first time.
- What's your problem? - I have very bad itch.
How long ago did it start?
A few weeks, almost one month ago.
- Where? - On my feet and arms.
- When is it worse? - At night, above all at night.
Your skin is a little dry, let's see.
Yes.
Hold it.
At first I feared it would be scabies...
No, that illness concerns other social classes.
Yes, there is a reaction.
Have you ever had hepatitis?
A long time ago.
Any other important diseases?
No.
- Do you eat? - How, "do I eat"?
- Do you have appetite? - Yes, I do.
You should go to a warmer place, to the seaside.
In winter one's skin gets dry and the cold increases these symptoms.
Alright.
So, I'll give you: pills of Histamen, an hour before dinner.
Yes.
Flantadin, a tablet in the morning for a week..
half a tablet still in morning, for the second week.
Moretti: I took all the medicine, but the itching didn't stop.
I returned to the institute, but the physician wasn't there that day
the one who had visited me.
So another one visited me.
You have a very dry skin which need hydrating.
I know.
Listen, do you have a coin in your pocket by chance?
A coin?
Any coin...
Mind the naevuses.
Yes, yes.
Thanks.
There is an evident dermographism, sign of a food allergy.
You can dress again.
Maybe it's a nervous problem,
due to the life that we live,
...that you live, Mr. Moretti.
However, this is the prescription by your colleague:
...Histamen, Fitamid.
Should I keep taking...
No, no, we need to have your blood analysed, hemochrome, ESR,
then I'll prescribe you the meds.
I'll also give you: Fristamin, one every morning for a month..
Prazene in drops...
Hematocrit: 46, hemoglobinic rate..
..16,3 = 102, red globules...
Moretti: The results are good,
but my itch continues and increases,
so I remember the name of a famous dermatologist
a kind of "prince" of the dermatologists
and so I call the study of this "prince".
Good morning, I would like an appointment with the professor, please.
How come it is not possible before three months?
It is an urgent thing, I have a very bad itch...
Which substitute? The assistant of the professor?
Oh, the patients in excess are sent to him...
It is alright, give me the number of the substitute.
32... Thanks, good-bye.
Are you going through a particular period of stress?
Yes, because of the itch, however.
Do you drink much coffee or tea?
I drink a lot of tea.
You can't drink more than a cup of tea or coffee, or a coke a day.
Alright. This medicine was prescribed to me by the other doctors.
I know them, they're superb colleagues.
However, I'll give you something else.
I'll give you: Anfo 3 for the shower..
then, after the shower, ldroskin..
then Infloran, a tablet in the morning on an empty stomach.
Then Atarax, a tablet in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Moretti: I like to take medicine and to believe
...that it works
However the substitute seemed embarrassed
and so I couldn't trust him.
That was the only time
when I didn't go to buy the medicine.
Then I returned to the dermatological institute
not to the dermatology ward, but to the allergology one.
- With these tests... - Mind the naevuses please...
We'll find out if you're allergic, as I believe.
Allergist: First of all we'll test you with groups of substances:
...food, dusts, pollens...
and then we'll locate every single substance.
Moretti: I was given thirty punctures a day for seven days.
So far the results are that I'm allergic to a few groups,
such as milk and by-products, walnuts and seeds, fish, pork meat.
Afterwards they'll single out the various types of food
that I'm allergic to specifically, and that I cannot eat.
I'm allergic to many types of food,
so I have to order a vaccine.
Here they are:
"Corn, barley, oat, garlic, onions, mustard, almonds,
beans, soy, peas, broad beans, chickpeas, parsley, artichokes, lettuce, tea,
linseed oil, hop, pepper, chestnuts, salmon, sardines, tuna,
cow's lactalbumin, cow's and goat's casein,
gruyere, gorgonzola, parmesan cheese provolone, Dutch cheese,
and swine.
Moretti: The itch continues, but thanks to the recommendation..
by a friend I get an appointment with the "prince",
a few days before the summer holidays.
Colopten three times a day, Cinazyn, twenty drops after eating,
a vial of Caprolisin at 6.00 p.m..
and after dinner, alternate Fenistil Retard, Xanax and Atarax.
An evening one and an evening the other.
- Yes, alternate. - Very well.
These four products for your legs and arms,
EcovaI ScaIp Fluid, for the itch to your head,
three or four drops in the evening.
and wash your hair daily alternating these three shampoos.
Every day.
Alright.
Moretti, you have to help me. My family and I are your supporters.
Thanks.
And even if it's summer, you have to wear cotton socks up to your knee,
Because I see that you aren't wearing socks.
Not in summer, no.
Cotton socks up to the knee, and long-sleeved shirts,
also on the beach.
Your skin has to be in touch with cotton all the time.
And now I'll give you the number of my holiday home.
Thanks.
When you return you'll feel better already.
I hope so, and please excuse me if I have come all of a sudden.
Miss, special price for Mr. Moretti.
Chemist: Caprolisin, Ecoval and Cinazyn...
Moretti: And also the ointments, Ictyane, Akerat...
Enterogermina and Colopten.
Yes, and Ictyane, Akerat, Soagen body,
Fargan ointment, and the shampoos, Factan...
Apolar and Mavigen.
All of the three?
Yes, I have to alternate them.
So: Colopten, Enterogermina, Ecoval, Cinazyn, Atarax,..
Caprolisin, Xarax, Fenistil.
Ictyane, ApoIar, Fargan...
(MUSIC)
Moretti: ...Until one day I read the pieces of paper which go with the medicine.
I never do it.
Caprolisin, let's see:
"anti-hemorrhagic, suitable for the hemorrhagic syndromes
"due to high fibrinolysin, internal haemorrhage..."
Caprolisin anti-hemorrhagic, bye-bye.
Then, Cinazyn:
..."it helps blood circulation, it increases the blood flux,
"brain spraying disorder".
So Cinazyn helps the circulation. Bye.
Moretti: Dear diary, the vaccines have arrived.
Only for safety's sake, I ask for an opinion
to an immunologist friend of mine.
Hi Guido, this is Nanni.
Quite well thanks.
Listen, I'll spare you the details,
however, around a month ago I did a few tests
and resulted allergic to many types of food.
I ordered some vaccines which have arrived today.
Of course I...
Anaphylactic shock?
Moretti: He tells me that those vaccines are useless,
and that they can also give anaphylactic shock.
The itch has nothing to do with food allergies
They give you urticaria, which means blisters on the whole body,
not just itch.
And so I start going to dermatologists again.
One of them, even if not so famous as "the prince"
should be quite good, and so I go to see him.
The motor-scooter is broken, I had to take the car.
More than a hour of traffic
and traffic makes me nervous.
One goes to a physician because he feels sick, and pays them to be told:
You're a loser. You have a psychological problem,
it all depends on you.
I am sorry, but you're a loser.
Look at you: why are you scratching?
It itches.
But there is no urgent need for that. Yet, you're scratching.
However: Trimeton vials, in the evening for seven days.
FenistiI retard, a pill after dinner,
and Legederm, when needed.
Thanks.
I have given you the medicine, but remember: it's all up to you.
Today I was convinced that the cause for my itch is psychological.
It depends on me, it's all my fault.
I try to remember what I have done, what happened eight months ago,
when the itching started.
Everything depends on me, the doctor says I have to collaborate,
resist and not scratch myself.
All depends on me,
and if it depends on me I am sure that I won't make it.
Moretti: My mother has given me a silk pyjamas
and sheets of linen to attenuate the itch.
At night there's not only the itch now.
I fall asleep and wake up half an hour later.
I sleep an hour and half, two hours average.
You know, a lady underwent my treatment for some time,
and her cholesterol went down.
These are things which give satisfaction.
Of course, but see, I don't know what else to do with the itch.
You have to avoid all the red food, tomatoes, carrots, oranges, strawberries.
Really, no red food.
Good, because last night I've been scratching myself all the time.
Yes, I see a wound on your big toe, here.
The big toe is your head: you wanted to hurt your head
last night.
And what should I put on it? Some ointment?
Make a compress with cabbage leaves.
Just half-cook it in hot water and then apply as a compress.
It's much better.
I have understood, that's perfect.
I didn't know if those massages would do me any good.
But they wouldn't do me any harm.
They were beautiful, pleasant, very relaxing.
The reflexologist prescribed me, besides the calendula based ointment,
blackberries and drops of tilia tomentosa.
Then she told me to have baths with tender wheat's bran.
I keep growing thin and start sweating at night.
So I decide to go to a centre of Chinese medicine.
Two physicians visit me, Chu Hu and Yang.
They feel my pulse, then swap places.
(THE PHYSICIANS SPEAK CHINESE)
Have you taken a lot of wind?
Wind? I often ride a motor-scooter but Rome isn't very windy.
No... in the Chinese medicine the itch corresponds to the wind in the blood.
Stick out your tongue. It's white and sticky.
(THE PHYSICIANS SPEAK CHINESE)
Lowering of kidneys?
(THE PHYSICIAN EXPLAINS IN CHINESE)
The doctor would like to know if you had any sexual excess last year.
No.
Moretti: Ouch.
- Dr. Yang: Does it hurt? - Moretti: A little.
These are the last two, eh.
Yes.
Here, good.
Moretti: Doctor Yang leaves me alone in the room.
He leaves me alone for a quarter of an hour
and I fall a little asleep too.
Then he returns all of a sudden.
(FOOTSTEPS OF DR. YANG)
How are you?
Fine.
Can you feel the heat?
Yes.
(MUSIC)
Moretti: So far, the acupuncture hasn't helped either my itching,
or my insomnia.
But everyone is kind at the Chinese centre,
the atmosphere is nice and so I make other attempts.
Dr. Yang: Grab it well, strong, this way.
(MORETTI COUGHS)
How are you?
Fine.
Does it hurt?
Yes.
Can I increase it?
Yes.
Moretti: To take care of my itch they give me electric acupuncture
with a tool called: "needle of the flower of the plum tree".
But Dr. Yang hears me cough
and says that this cure is not good.
He thinks the best thing is to have my chest x-rayed.
Radiologist: Put off your jacket.
Also the T-shirt?
No, only the jacket because there are buttons.
You have to hug this.
Chin up, just a little.
Take a breath and hold it.
Stop, without breathing.
Moretti: The technician develops the plate immediately.
He talks to Silvia, says that there is something
around my lung, a mass, and advises me for a CAT.
Does it taste bad?
No, it tastes like anise.
Okay then.
Radiologist: Stop, don't breathe. Stop.
Breathe.
Don't breathe, stop.
Breath.
Stop, don't breathe. Stop.
Breathe.
Moretti: During the CAT to my head
the radiologist looks at the CAT to my chest
and talks to Silvia and Angelo of it.
He says that, according to him, I have a sarcoma in my lungs.
They ask him for what it is and he answers
that it's lung cancer.
He says that, according to him, there is no cure.
Oh, luckily the radiologist was wrong.
I was operated two days after the CAT.
My doctor friend
to whom I had asked to be present to the operation,
later told me that the surgeon, looking in a slide
and watching a bit of the stuff he had just removed from my lungs, said:
..."I bet a testicle that this is Hodgkin's lymphoma."
"Not both, but a testicle yes".
Hodgkin's lymphoma is a tumour to the lymphatic system,
a curable tumour.
Then, one day, at home, I skim through "The Garzanti Medical Encyclopaedia",
and checking "lymphoma", I read:
...symptoms are: itch, loss of weight, perspiration.
However I learned something from this story, maybe two.
The first is that physicians know how to speak but they don't know how to listen..
...and now I am surrounded by all the useless medicine that I have bought.
The second thing that I have learned is that in the morning,
before breakfast, to drink a glass of water is a good thing.
I was told it's good for the kidneys, or for something else.
In short, it's good.
Then, please, milk with a dash of coffee and a croissant...
...and a glass of water.
# Translation: lyliakar #