Pasquale Grifone, who lives in Naples with his family, receives in a dream the visit of Dante Alighieri. The poet suggests to the man, clouded by the fumes of alcohol, four numbers to play.
In Pietrasanta all are excited for the annual party of summer end. Here we find four characters: Merigo, a naive guy passionate of bike; Pierre, son of the mayor; Simone, a pestiferous kid; Mario, lifeguard of "Bagnomaria".
In 18th-century Rome, impish aristocrat Onofrio del Grillo amuses himself by playing pranks on all sorts of people — his reactionary family and fellow nobles, the poors, the French occupiers trying to modernize society, and even the Pope himself.
After winning $6.2 million in the 1976 New York State Lottery, he is arrested for throwing rocks at a church. He then tells his story at the police station.
Pasquale takes all of his 12 children and runs away from Monza, looking for a house of a wealthy and generous awning. Having met on the way impoverished peasant, Pasquale takes him also, having granted the rank of "Half-Monk" and thus having gained rustic, but a reliable friend.
A psychiatric-clinic medical director runs some tests on two patients, the Ragionier Antonio Vignanelli and Cavalier Peppino Caprioli, so they must retrieve some memories of family life in order to understand their mental illness.
Broke, and armed only with his sense of humor, middle-aged Gianni lives with his mother in their old apartment. The debts are mounting, but if Gianni looks after the building manager's mother during the Ferragosto, a mid-August holiday, all will be forgiven.