CHAPTER I:
By motor- scooter.
Dear Diary,
there's something I like to do very much!
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.
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.
Hair is getting grey,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What has he said?
"Who are you".
You know,
I wish I could dance...
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.
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.
Almost stupid.
Also when I'm in other cities,
the only thing that I like to do
is look at the houses.
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, arent' you?
Out 50 dollars and go to hell!
Here is your 50 dollars.
Can I help you, people?
Otis, do you need help,
or you think you can make it alone?
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?
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",
"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.
CHAPTER II:
Islands.
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.
- Good morning.
- Morning...
Please,
can I have some orange juice
and a mozzarella sandwich?
Of course!
They've got the money!
If everybody walked, as I do,
less misfortunes would happen.
A mozzarella
and tomato sandwich. Thanks.
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.
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.
Are those notes
a piece of curious, amusing news?
Curious?
I only collect stupid news..
Stupid deeds,
unpleasant characters.
Maybe I'm attracted
to these types of things.
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.
Can I come in?
Only if it's necessary.
You aren't polite!
I have brought your wedding gift.
How nice!
- Look who's here!
- Oh!
You won't
have the casino close.
Why so much resentment?
Because I hate the people
like you, who delude the others.
And when you have gotten
what you want, you throw them in the mud.
Why don't you calm down?
This cathedral of yours
won't see the daylight.
- You're back at last!
- 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.
I knew it.
Some time ago
he told me that too.
Look!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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!
Salina has been
dominated by only children for years.
Every family...
Cheep-cheep,
the chick goes "cheep-cheep".
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 wouldnt know.
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...
Do you und-er-stand
what I'm say-ing?
The piglet.
- 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.
- May I?
- 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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
There is something hypnotic,
an ancient bond between...
Don't turn around!
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.
But... Nancy...
Whose wife is she?
Thorn's!
But where has
Stephanie placed the microphones?
In the house
of the wife of her ex!
But why?
Because she's jealous!
What was
Sally Spectra's problem?
She's pregnant,
does her husband know it or no?
She has told him!
Nancy is crazy
about her tennis teacher!
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!
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!
Rebuild Italy from zero!
A new way of life,
new light, new clothes,
new sounds,
a new way of speaking,
new colours, new taste..
All new!
Shon shon.
No, listen, let's go to Panarea.
Let's go to Panarea.
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.
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...
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?"
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.
Here you can find
the energy you need for your work.
Alicudi will give you something
which the other islands won't.
I know, I was told that.
Is it going to take long yet?
Yes.
Aren't there any other roads?
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.
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?
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..
"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.
Television!
Elevator!
Telephone!
Hot Water!
Wait for me!
Television!
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.
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.
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.
It's still too low.
No, no, you go, go.
It's tight enough.
It keeps his hair up.
Is it alright?
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
First of all we'll test you
with groups of substances:
...food, dusts, pollens...
and then we'll locate
every single substance.
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.
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.
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.
Caprolisin, Ecoval and Cinazyn...
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...
...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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Lowering of kidneys?
Lowering of kidneys?
The doctor would like to know
if you had any sexual excess last year.
No.
Ouch.
- Does it hurt?
- A little.
These are the last two, eh.
Yes.
Here, good.
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.
How are you?
Fine.
Can you feel the heat?
Yes.
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.
Grab it well, strong, this way.
How are you?
Fine.
Does it hurt?
Yes.
Can I increase it?
Yes.
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.
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.
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.
Stop, don't breathe.
Stop.
Breathe.
Don't breathe, stop.
Breath.
Stop, don't breathe.
Stop.
Breathe.
During the CA 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 #