In Castellabate, the picturesque location we became familiar with in Benvenuti al Sud, life has moved on: Mattia has married Maria and the couple has a son. Only one thing hasn’t changed: the man’s inability to grow up and take responsibility in life. Maria is fed up and decides to leave him.
In Milan Alberto and Silvia’s life isn’t as they had hoped. The city’s smog and frenzied pace of life are preventing the couple from enjoying the fruits of Alberto’s successful career. Silvia wants to spend her weekends in the mountains, but Alberto has other plans: running a super efficient experimental post office, the opportunity of a lifetime, and a commitment which will have him working every Saturday for a year.
Then Mattia comes to the same post office: in a high visibility jacket with his passport in hand, he turns up one cold night on Alberto’s doorstep. The latter welcomes him in rather coldly: he’s going through a rough patch with Silvia and the presence of his friend doesn’t help, quite the contrary… Filming took place in Milan in via Paolo Sarpi, piazza Duomo and at the Pirellone, but also in lesser-known areas of the city.
Soon an exasperated Silvia packs her bags and leaves, and Alberto thinks the way to lift his spirits is to put himself back on the market, although he’s a little bit rusty: it’s here that we see the Milan of happy hours and socialites. The Masai club in Piobbico (inland from Pesaro) is used as the location for ‘pulling’ in a drink-fuelled Milan. Piobbico is also used in the film as a mountain town setting in Northern Italy, a place of Italian alpine troopers and polenta. The Marches town was chosen for filming to meet production needs, as the team needed a well-kept town with a bridge over the river, a castle and a pretty piazza. In the historical centre, between Piazza Sant’Antonio, the Medieval hamlet and Brancaleoni Castle (dating back to the 18th century), a provincial festival is recreated with stalls and austere tables where polenta is served.
Lodi on the other hand, in particular the auditorium and the covered piazza in the modern building housing the headquarters of the Banca Popolare di Lodi, designed by da Renzo Piano, hosts the Le Poste convention for employees of branches in the South.
Macugnaga, a small town at the foot of Mount Rosa in the province of Verbania, hosts the celebration of the Italian alpine troopers.
In Castellabate, the picturesque location we became familiar with in Benvenuti al Sud, life has moved on: Mattia has married Maria and the couple has a son. Only one thing hasn’t changed: the man’s inability to grow up and take responsibility in life. Maria is fed up and decides to leave him.
In Milan Alberto and Silvia’s life isn’t as they had hoped. The city’s smog and frenzied pace of life are preventing the couple from enjoying the fruits of Alberto’s successful career. Silvia wants to spend her weekends in the mountains, but Alberto has other plans: running a super efficient experimental post office, the opportunity of a lifetime, and a commitment which will have him working every Saturday for a year.
Then Mattia comes to the same post office: in a high visibility jacket with his passport in hand, he turns up one cold night on Alberto’s doorstep. The latter welcomes him in rather coldly: he’s going through a rough patch with Silvia and the presence of his friend doesn’t help, quite the contrary… Filming took place in Milan in via Paolo Sarpi, piazza Duomo and at the Pirellone, but also in lesser-known areas of the city.
Soon an exasperated Silvia packs her bags and leaves, and Alberto thinks the way to lift his spirits is to put himself back on the market, although he’s a little bit rusty: it’s here that we see the Milan of happy hours and socialites. The Masai club in Piobbico (inland from Pesaro) is used as the location for ‘pulling’ in a drink-fuelled Milan. Piobbico is also used in the film as a mountain town setting in Northern Italy, a place of Italian alpine troopers and polenta. The Marches town was chosen for filming to meet production needs, as the team needed a well-kept town with a bridge over the river, a castle and a pretty piazza. In the historical centre, between Piazza Sant’Antonio, the Medieval hamlet and Brancaleoni Castle (dating back to the 18th century), a provincial festival is recreated with stalls and austere tables where polenta is served.
Lodi on the other hand, in particular the auditorium and the covered piazza in the modern building housing the headquarters of the Banca Popolare di Lodi, designed by da Renzo Piano, hosts the Le Poste convention for employees of branches in the South.
Macugnaga, a small town at the foot of Mount Rosa in the province of Verbania, hosts the celebration of the Italian alpine troopers.
At the provincial festival which Mattia, Alberto and their respective families attend at the end of the film, they serve polenta alla carbonara, a traditional dish in working-class Marches cuisine, where the scene was filmed.
Mattia is welcomed and (at the same time) seen off by his colleagues with a traditional Milanese dinner: on the table, among other things, are ossobuco, cassoeula and cotoletta.
The sequel to Benvenuti al Sud, but in reverse. Alberto and Mattia are in the doghouse with their respective wives: the former is too wrapped up in his career, and the latter doesn’t want to grow up. They must change their lifestyles and learn from each other’s flaws, but this time they do it in the arduous setting of Milan.
