I seem to recognize the eternal premises of fascism precisely in being provincial (…). One cannot fight fascism without identifying it with our own stupid, petty, and delusional side - a side that has no political party (…), because that side exists within each of us.
- Federico Fellini
Fellini’s words accompany the narration of events and characters, through a structure that transcends the dichotomy of good and evil as a rigid divide.
"Piccolo Mondo" is the name of a stilt restaurant built in the 1960s in Follonica, a small town on the Tuscan coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. The town developed in line with the dream of American wealth, driven by unrestrained urbanization during the years of the capitalist economic boom.
The cluster of towering buildings, factories, and tourist spaces becomes the emblem of a population unified and homogenized, struggling to accept diversity.
Between good and evil lies what we might call the "gray zone," and this is the space the film explores, denounces, and identifies as inhabited by many of us—regardless of our political affiliations.