Il diavolo d’estate

Sicily, July 1978, a couple of months from the murder of Moro. The 17-yearold Salvatore (Totò), bored wanders through the desert streets of a small village in the province of Agrigento. Ignazio and Siso are pushing the car, they’re out of gas. They are going to the beach to visit Michele, son of the deputy mayor: he has the permission to intercede with the city to pass their proposal to make the forecourt of the Barone’s Villa into an open-air disco. They invite Totò to join them. Mid-August. Totò and Siso find out that there was a fire in the disco. Within those ancient walls the tragedy takes place: Ignazio’s burned body. Totò is forced to face his friend’s death, and his demons on his own. In the background there’s Sicily marked by the desperate emigration to the north, the pressing shadow of the Mafia, the clientelism, where fears and folk beliefs are blended.