Francesca and Nunziata (Francesca e Nunziata)

When I came to get you at the orphanage...

you were only a vow for me, a promise to keep, a superstition.

If I treated you well, my children were well too.

You were a stranger.

But little by little, I began to respect you.

You were the pillar, the good omen in my house, Nunziatina.

Young ladies, mind your manners! Today is a sacred day.

Princess Montorsi is coming to fulfil a vow.

She promised the Virgin Mary that if she saved her ailing daughter...

- She's taking all of us? - She's taking one of you!

Make her take me.

There she is. The prince and the princess. Behave...

Behave...

Lord, she's beautiful. Get in place...

Quick!

Donna Francesca...

This darn thingamajig!

Yes, but you like these extravagant things.

Well, we fulfilled our vow, the lass is a darling.

Let's not stop and say hello to my cousins, for heaven's sake.

Give me a smile. We're going straight to the factory just like you wanted.

Yes, because I'm going to the pasta factory to have fun.

Well, don't you?

I think you have fun working.

Oh, yes. Heehaw, heehaw, goes the mule!

Or do you want to run the pasta factory? We'd be washed out!

You see? You don't trust me. She's wrong though, little one.

I like wheat. The names are beautiful:

'tafarof', 'tangascof'

'Taganrog'

Whatever... 'Ardente', 'Gentilezza'

Ardito and Gentilrosso. You didn't get one of them right!

Anyway, they have nice names. I might use them as names for my horses.

Giordano, you're always joking.

You were born a prince, be a prince. I'll make the pasta!

The princess is here!

- Good morning, Your Highness. - Good morning.

Be careful, Donna Francesca.

I'll walk to the villa.

Aren't you beautiful!

She's blonde! Naneve, Ninella...

Come here!

These are your brothers. Paolina is in boarding school.

Aren't you pretty!

This little rascal here is Giovanni Antonio.

This here is Eleonora and she's Carulinella.

Maria Vittoria, this is your new little sister.

The wet nurse is coming down with the angel of the house, Leopoldo...

Even Nana' is here, she's so pretty. She was very sick.

Is your name Nunziata?

This is Nunziata!

Everyone's coming down to meet you.

That man up there is Don Paolino, Don Giordano's cousin.

That's Aunt Rosinella and that's Aunt Luigina.

She's such a darling!

Nana', come meet your new sister.

Give each other a kiss.

Donna Francesca is here! Gather round!

Where will Nunziatina sleep?

In Aunt's Rosella and Luigina's room.

- Where will they go? - In Don Paolo's studio.

- He keeps his lawyer things there. - You're so irritating!

- I am a lawyer! - It's an unheard of!

I'm sorry!

- I refuse to go downstairs! - There's nothing I can do...

Look what you did!

My goodness, listen to them yell.

Do you like your new sister?

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Good night.

I'm right near you.

- Kitty. - Pass.

- Pass. - Twice the kitty.

- Four times. - I'll see you: full house of tens.

- I'm sorry: full house of aces. - Congratulations.

Quagliarulo, you owe Prince Montorsi 1,250 lire.

- It was a bad night, I'm sorry. - The IOU, please.

- Don't you trust me? - Good morning, Prince.

Even the maharaja turned up.

For every child the prince gives his wife a new string of pearls.

Didn't you adopt this last one?

All the more reason.

With what I lost tonight, I'm the one who bought her these pearls.

I'm glad though, because I've known her since she was little.

She'd come with her grandfather and father...

carrying a tray full of pasta on her head to our house.

Life is strange.

My wife, the granddaughter of a pasta maker became Princess Montorsi.

Quagliarulo, the grandson of a mule driver...

became a pasta maker, but he remained a peasant like his ancestors.

How dare you?!

Quagliarulo, I could slap your face, but don't let it go to your head.

We nobles only quarrel among ourselves.

Good night. Actually, good morning.

- What time is it? - One-thirty, two...

Four o'clock!... Wake up, men!

It's four o'clock, you rascal.

Four o'clock! Wake up, men!

Oh! My goodness, oh!

Leave me alone.

It's young Nunziatina.

Ah! The bogey man, the bogey man!

Nunziatina, where are you going?

Catch her!

Go get the four syrups.

Come here...

it's nothing.

The voice you heard is Masino, the "crier".

He wakes up the workers at the pasta factory. He sounds like a wolf...

but he's a nice man. Don't cry.

It's a kite!

- 7 x 8? - 49.

- Fool! 7 x 8? - 56!

- 4 x 7? - 28.

- 9 x 8? - 72.

Not bad! I think we got lucky with this girl.

- 7 x 8? - 49.

Fool!

The wind is changing!

- What's all the rush? - The humidity is setting in, quick!

Gaspare, the humidity is setting in!

Hurry up with that pasta!

Why all the commotion? Nothing is being moved at the Faella factory.

Of course not, they don't have Donna Francesca.

She has a gift just like her grandfather, Don Giuseppe.

He'd wake up in the middle of the night...

he was like a wizard. He had a real nose for things.

He could smell the humidity hours before it set in.

Humidity is the most important and dangerous thing for pasta.

Be careful... It's delicate!

The dough from this morning has to be denser.

Tomorrow there'll be plenty of water, too much.

Bring the sticks inside or everything will get soggy.

Shake a leg, with a smile. Let's go!

What are you doing here?

Let's go home and do your homework!

- I already did it. - Don't bother Donna Francesca.

No, wait. Come here.

Do you like pasta?

- It's starting to rain! - Donna Francesca was right.

Did you really want to invite the pasta makers here to the villa...

to talk about the price of wheat?

How could you think such a thing? I don't understand you!

You're right, they're such fools. They don't understand anything!

At the most I play cards with them. I never dreamed you'd invite them here.

You even invited that louse...

- Quagliarulo! - Yes, yes.

I put him in his place last year at the country club.

Why is that?

He lost so he started saying vulgarities about your family.

He said you carried a tray on your head.

- I did carry trays on my head. - He shouldn't allow himself!

I made sure he won't set foot in the country club.

My goodness, Giordano!

Of course he didn't come! I try to make peace and you...

You're Princess Montorsi, do you understand?

What princess! I play the part of a princess for you, but I'm me.

You're a very good princess! Those peasants have to keep quiet.

We've been married for over twenty years. We have nine children... ten, actually.

You love me and God knows how much I love you.

But... tell me the truth.

Just a tiny bit... Are you ashamed of me?

Not again!

Be truthful, I won't be offended.

I always knew you were supposed to marry the Princess of Sangro.

I remember your mother's face, Donna Romilda...

when you turned up with me.

I don't know if you've seen what a dog the Princess of Sangro is now!

- I saw her, I saw... - She's a hairy whale with glasses.

I mean it, she's a dog.

I don't care what people say inside or outside their circles.

I still remember when your father bought my villa...

for your dowry

They said he bought you a noble husband.

But I didn't care.

I figured you out straight away...

I knew you loved me.

It's not that "I loved you"... I love you now and forever!

And you're asking me if I'm ashamed of you?

- No. - Me ashamed of you?

- How do I know? - Then you should be ashamed of me.

You women are extraordinary...

You even love people you don't respect.

- What are you saying, Giordano? - My princess smells of bread.

- Oh, My goodness. - Let me knead you!

That's Nunziatina...

she works with me every day. She's good at maths.

She checks the weight. You know what it is:

she loves pasta.

- How long has she been with you? - A year, but she's learned a lot.

She's as healthy as a horse, she's a hard worker like me.

Go call Nunziatina for me.

Today you have to learn how to buy wheat.

Smell this wonderful aroma.

This is the smell of healthy wheat without any mold. Remember it...

Keep it in your nose.

Let's open a few grains. Take the magnifying glass.

There should never be any spots here.

Donna Francesca. May I ask...

What's the special test you do before you buy wheat?