Palermo. Fulvio is a very reserved and shy person, yet possesses an uncommon sweetness and sensitivity. He's also generous and naturally helpful. But he has a difficult past. In his hometown, Sicily, as a boy, he spent years hanging out with the scouts. After school, he's always at his school, punctual, ready to do what's planned. But right there, where he thinks he should be welcomed and loved for who he is, he finds himself having to deal with the same bosses who mock him for his way of being. They're quick to judge him without ever listening or questioning him. And to Fulvio, who has a keen ability to grasp the nuances of feelings, of what's said and unsaid, all this seems increasingly absurd. Isn't it enough that he already has to put up with his classmates at school? And so, feeling judged as "different," he has no choice but to leave the group.
Now a high school graduate, he doesn't have a steady job, but he does have a trade. And many people call him. But moving away from home to work in a private residence is an immense ordeal for him. Cross the main road, then, it's the worst that can happen to him, a real punishment. While walking, if he passes in front of the local bar or in front of the right-thinking club, he is forced to hear someone cowardly throwing the word at him «"faggot"». Even if he sometimes doesn't hear that word, he still feels it, because he sees without looking that many eyes are on him and that that word is being told to him with their eyes. So, to avoid that guillotine, Fulvio takes to the side streets, but even there a "terrorist attack" made up of a malicious look, a giggle, or a bad word can strike at any moment. But how can he live like this? He almost wishes no one would call him to do his crafts anymore, just so he wouldn't feel that "human" pressure. His parents at home provide him with the necessities of life and try to protect him as best they can. But can he continue? And then Fulvio develops the need to leave Sicily, his hometown that has become so cramped for him. It takes his breath away, it makes him gasp for air, it doesn't let him be himself.
Going to Northern Italy, That's what Fulvio decides one day. And so, about twenty years ago, he leaves his home. Not like Abraham, because the Lord calls him to the promised land, but because he feels cast out by his fellow villagers. And how hard it is to start over. He lives in a small room, doing the most menial jobs. Over time, he finds a stable job that allows him to make full use of his high school diploma. Up North, he says, he feels happy. But even there, a medium-sized northern city, he sometimes feels ridiculed. Even there, some colleagues make jokes. But Fulvio doesn't want to admit it. There, he feels fulfilled. He wants to put down roots, and he buys a house.
His elderly parents remained in the village. And when they became seriously ill, he returned and patiently cared for them. When he could, he escaped to his hometown in the north, even for a fortnight or two, and then returned to devote himself to his elderly family, until the end. But even now that his parents died in the summer, he still goes back to the village. Because he has loved ones there. But he feels that the friends who truly love him can perhaps be counted on the fingers of one hand. With them he feels protected, He goes to the seaside, to the mountains, but don't let them invite him for a walk down the main street of the village during the patron saint's day. No, they tell him, you know, the village has changed, it's changing. And to encourage him, a friend tells him that there are several young people in the village with a homosexual orientation and that they don't do much to hide it. She tells him that the new generations are more open. That, in fact, his son has a gay friend and that there's no problem. That "Gianni" comes to his son's house frequently, that the son goes to Gianni's house without problems, that the other friends, both male and female, seek out Gianni without prejudice. They come in and out, they go to the beach together. The country, you see, is changing, they tell him. And he, Fulvio, says "no." That the country hasn't really changed if they told him that the priest publicly said that homosexuals are sick and need treatment. Them. And he's disappointed because he thinks the Church should encourage respect for everyone, have a more positive attitude, and not fuel separation, condemnation, and exclusion. And then there's his generation, those in their forties and fifties: how much has that changed?
Certain, he feels a little nostalgic Because of his ancient roots, he thinks of the innocent joy of children's games. But Fulvio won't be returning. In the meantime, he's decided to fix up his family home. Every summer, he adds a few more finishing touches. Perhaps it's a small sign of a faint hope that, yes, Sicily can truly change more than the North, and that one day, he doesn't know how far away, he might return.