The Art of a Useless Life

A slice of Italian post-war life told through the eyes of a man embroiled in the glamorous and perilous lifestyle of a Mafioso.

At the wheel of his massive car, Willy Melodia drives through the countryside in postwar Italy at a time when people clung tenaciously to life yet held on to hope for a better tomorrow. This is why Willy decides to open a restaurant, modelled after the American venues Willy played piano in for years.

The fame of the restaurant with its innovative cuisine and exceptional pianist soon spreads beyond the Strait of Messina and becomes a haunt for the stars with the launch of a film festival. Yet the past is always running to catch up. Willy left two children behind in America, each of whom are unaware of the other’s existence. He also returned to Italy at the behest of Charles “Lucky” Luciano. And so, the curtain keeps falling on his performance as a man from the stars.

“My Delahaye looked as if it had dropped from Mars; at every stop, knots of open-mouthed adults and children would gather around. I was beginning to enjoy my return from America; I relished being seen as a man from another world – someone with dollars, someone who had made it big.”