Silvio (Alberto Sordi) is an Italian partisan, he and his companions belong to Italian resistance movement fighting against the Nazis. They are at Lake Como. He is helped by Elena (Lea Massari). He spends three months hiding in Elena's grandfather's mill. They fall in love. Silvio is an idealist, communist, journalist writer. He goes back to war.
The film spans the story of Italy from 1944 to 1960, from the times of poverty in World War II to the birth of the Italian Republic, the elections and Silvio's ideals of the Italian Communist Party, his stay in jail, his disappointments, his crises with Elena, his attempts to get his works published and to sell his film scripts in Cinecittà to Alessandro Blasetti, Silvana Mangano and Vittorio Gassman (they appear as themselves).

Cab drivers in certain parts of the world are 'walking encyclopedias'. These individuals know just about everything and can discuss whatever issue with their passengers. Such man is Pietro, or Pie, as he is fondly addressed by his family. Pie, has a heart of gold. When we first meet him he is driving a person and talking about his fortune of having a wonderful family with whom he is going to celebrate Christmas eve. His passenger has another thing in mind, he is about to rob him!
We follow Pie as he goes through his city. There is a hilarious encounter with a Texan couple that feel insulted when Pie thinks they are American stereotypes because the tourist misunderstands what he is trying to tell them. There is a meeting with a would be suicide that asks to be taken to the nearest place to the Tiber, and his attempt at saving her life.
As it happens, famous people also take taxis, as it is the case when Pie picks up Giulio Andreotti, Italy's Prime Minister, with whom he has a meaningful conversation. Pie commits the ultimate sin when he is asked to take one of Italy's famous stars to the French embassy. As he only sees her from his mirror, he thinks he is talking to Sylvia Koscina, when in reality she is none other than Silvana Pampanini! His last claim to fame comes when he is asked to drive the great Federico Fellini to Cinecitta. Insisting in sitting up front, Fellini has to endure Pie's admiration. Unknown to the driver, Fellini is going to appear in a film directed by none other than Alberto Sordi, one of the best actors of his generation.
Directed by Alberto Sordi, the film is a love statement to Rome. We are taken all over the city taking its most notable sites as Pie drives his clients. The film was probably an excuse for Mr. Sordi to show his friends and his connection to a place that was dear to him. The film is mildly funny, an excuse to spend some time with some familiar faces and Mr. Sordi, the man that gave so much joy to so many. Bravo Alberto!

1962 film by Alberto Lattuada

Agnese has many men who woo her and live with her cousin Cesira, who has the opposite problem with men and wishes she would also have men woo her.

两个意大利士兵被卷入第一次世界大战，他们很想逃脱战争的阴霾，想了很多办法，但是现实无情，总是把他们推到荒唐而危险的境况中。在一次次偷懒成功后，他们却目睹着一次次战友们血肉模糊的战场惨状。终于一个亡故战友的妻子令两人的思想有了变化，在一次对敌行动被俘后两人被处死，但他们的长官却还以为他们照旧做了逃兵。

Nine episodes about life in Italy in the period just before its economic boom.

一名富商对工作、家庭、社会产生了厌倦，于是和一个朋友前往非洲，寻找另一个神秘失踪的朋友。后来，他们发现他安然无恙，成为了一个部落首领，周围都是些上身赤裸、身材优美的老婆。他们将重返人类文明社会，但是他们的朋友会否跟他们一起回去呢？

Giovanni and Raffaella are happily married from ten years, but their relationship goes into crisis when Raffaella falls in love with Valerio Mantovani, a handsome forty-year-old man she knew during the concerts of chamber music she weekly attends with her mother.

"The Witch Burnt Alive"
After a very long, but visually arresting animated opening credits sequence, Luchino Visconti (Death in Venice) directs the first story, which is the longest of the five, taking approximately a third of the film's running length. Mangano plays a superstar actress and model who travels to a mountain resort, only to find the well-to-do inhabitants have prejudices and preconceived notions about her based on her public persona. The women are all jealous and the men all want to sleep with her, but all Mangano wants is to be left alone. It's a mostly somber satirical piece, but story-wise, it languishes in its modest idea a bit long, becoming inconsequential to all but those fascinated by the realities of being famous.
"Community Spirit"
Bolognini's piece isn't really a story. It's more of a visual gag, in a short segment that features Mangano offering to take an injured man to a hospital, driving him at breakneck speed throughout the city, but not stopping at locations where he might find aid. I won't give away the punchline here, but it succeeds in being amusing, even if it's the kind of thing that only is interesting the first time through.
"The Earth Seen from the Moon"
The esteemed writer/director, Pier Paolo Pasolini (Salo), crafts the middle segment, which is the most artistic and memorable of the five. Reminiscent in style to "Don Quixote", a recently widowed father and his son travel around the country in search of a new wife and mother, and after a long period, they discover the literally speechless Mangano. She brings joy into their lives, but they are poor, and in order to find a better life for themselves, they concoct a scheme to try to make some quick cash. The story is contrived, and not completely interesting, but the outlandish performances, artwork, and costumes does evoke great charm and likeability. Although mute, it's probably the most appealing of Mangano's five performances, and Toto is terrific.
"The Sicilian"
Franco Rossi directs the fourth an shortest piece, a straight-forward revenge story that comes and goes before it ever has a chance of becoming interesting. It's violent, but easily the least satisfying of the five stories.
"A Night Like Any Other"
Eastwood's appearance is clearly the biggest attraction here, which was filmed in between the Sergio Leone "Dollars" trilogy. It's an enjoyable departure from his normal roles, playing a comedic romantic lead, and he is affably fun to watch. Famed Italian director, Vittorio de Sica (The Bicycle Thief, Umberto D.) does a masterful job with the story, which perfectly blends the mundane and the fantasy in a visually satisfying way. The story is about a bored housewife (Mangano, of course), who tries in vain to get her husband to realize that he is not as romantic as he used to be. The scene is interspersed with comedic romance sequences revolving around the couple's past romantic interludes, and dreams of how their lives should be.

In Naples, a voice from the skies announces one morning that the final judgment will be at 6 p.m. on that day. What follows is a series of vignettes depicting various people's reactions (or lack there of) to the announcement.

Sweet-sour comedy on Italy's 1950s rage to get rich as fast as possible! The businessman wants to satisfy his wife's craving for luxury and a "respectable life" so he becomes heavily indebted. In desperation he agrees to sell a precious part of his body for a large sum of money. But just before the crucial operation he panics...

1977 film by Mario Monicelli

In Italy, small-town newlyweds Wanda and Ivan Cavalli embark on their honeymoon in the big city of Rome. Ivan dutifully wants to keep appointments with family and church, but Wanda is only interested in meeting her favorite photo-strip star known as "The White Sheik". While Wanda impetuously sneaks away to locate the object of her affections, disconsolate Ivan tries his hardest to keep up appearances with the couple's relatives.

In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley announces an air race and offers £10,000 to the first person who can fly across the English Channel. But one of the participants, Percy, plots to sabotage his competitor's planes. Will Percy triumph?

1972 film by Federico Fellini

1953 film directed by Federico Fellini

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.