Initially discarded, it is a great and moving insight into life. To be kicked out of the house at sixteen? What's the big deal, it happens every day... yes, today, with the infinite possibilities that the twenty-first century offers, but let's imagine that we are in the 1970s, in a rural town in Lucania. To be sixteen years old and from one day to the next to find yourself on the streets, alone, afraid, hopeless. What Salvo went through is moving. Unlike many boys of those years he is lucky, but at the same time stubborn in wanting to become someone. This story is meant to be a message of hope for those who go through a similar experience on a daily basis. Today!

Nicola is one of the many who generalize and who I like to call “induced homophobics”. These people, because of a childhood trauma, in this case sexual abuse, develop hatred towards all those who have a different sexual orientation. We have met some of them in previous chapters, and we have discovered how important it is to understand the difference between a gay person, a very normal person with sexual preferences that are different from the majority, and an abuser, who suffers from a mental deviation that admits no excuse. This is the case with Nicola and Gianmarco. When Nicola discovers Gianmarco's homosexuality, he opposes him in every way, he is bothered by the mere sight of him, unlike the latter who falls in love. Being an educated and intelligent person, in the end Nicola not only manages to understand the difference between the two types of people, but discovers that his is only fear of accepting reality…

The percentage of so-called straight people who do not disdain fleeting homosexual encounters is very high, and Cesare is one of them. For a few years he had a sexual relationship with Sergio, a so-called “street boy”, to then break it off as soon as he got married. Sergio was in love with his occasional partner, sought him out, found out who he was, but once he realized how much he loved his future wife he gave up. Despite his difficult past, he became accomplished, becoming a well-liked and ruthless businessman; Sergio's main business is taking over companies on the verge of bankruptcy, taking them apart and selling them for a profit. When his company is declared bankrupt and is taken over by Sergio for almost nothing, Cesare is willing to do anything not to lose it, and when the latter offers him a deal, living with him for a year in exchange for the company, he accepts. Sergio wants satisfaction, not revenge, he just wants to show him that he could have fallen in love with him, if only he had had courage…

Being the descendant of a dynasty of industrialists, while considered luck by many, always hides a downside. Growing up among boarding schools, nannies, strict rules and clichés to follow, shapes you, but does not teach you about life. Such as becoming a good parent. And Michele is not a good parent, to the point that the discipline he imposes on his son Simone threatens to make him lose him. Perhaps he is not even ready to take over when he finds himself thrown at the head of the family's empire because his parents and uncle die. Raised with a modern approach to business management, he tries to innovate, to bring his companies up to speed, with disastrous results. He is rescued by Riccardo, Uncle Jack's partner, brother of Michele's father. Giacomo practically raised him, made him study and taught him everything he knew about the world of finance. Riccardo was entrusted with the management of a hidden holding company, with a double task, to oversee Michele's work and act as the family safe. For Michele, discovering that he is not deemed up to the task is traumatic, even more so, discovering that he has a morbid interest in his uncle Jack's former partner…

Yet another example of how ruthless the world of politics is. Pierangelo, a well-known and influential politician, is an upstanding person, and therefore invisible to the colleagues of his own party. When he becomes the victim of a serious accident, he is replaced without hesitation. Pierangelo, who lost his wife and son in the accident, decides to change his life. Being a nobody, being able to freely walk the streets, finally devoting himself to himself, makes him a free man again. The discovery of his son's homosexuality for Pierangelo is traumatic, not because of the boy's diversity, he simply realized that he had neglected his family to pursue power. Partly to pay tribute to the advice his son gave him, as a tennis enthusiast, he begins to travel to follow the many tournaments on the circuit, where he always runs into Gabriele, a former tennis player, stopped by a serious injury who, having become a testimonial for a small clothing company, also attends all the tournaments. When they get to know each other and Gabriele confesses to him that he has been in love with him since the beginning…

Another case in which a man discovers he is not living the life he thought he was. On the very day his business fails, Alberico's wife leaves him. Although it does not take long and he has no difficulty in getting back on his feet, being still handsome he tries to make a new life for himself. The problem is that months go by, abstinence begins to take its toll, and despite the many approaches he realizes that he has lost faith in women, he thinks that they are all opportunists and only interested in his money like his ex wife. When he sees Tommaso and a friend having sex at the gym, noticing the strange morbidity it causes him, to check if it's true interest or just a matter of release, he has his first homosexual encounter. He finds it a good, momentary compromise, but in the end...

Religion, race, country, they don't matter, human beings have always followed a fixed pattern, and those who deviate from it are labeled as different. Basically, the rules say: study, work, have a family and support it. Until a few decades ago, the man had to work and the woman had the task of raising the children and taking care of the house. Anselmo has faithfully followed the whole pattern and more. At some point in a life devoted entirely to his family, he sees all of his convictions crumble. Finding out that an old friend of his has been in love with a man for ten years, and simultaneously discovering that his wife has been cheating on him practically since before they were married, disorients him. Realizing that he has lived a flat life of sacrifices, never allowing himself some fun, a vacation, while his friend Nino is happy and serene makes him wonder. Even having sex with his friend makes him wonder if he has done everything wrong in his life. Given that women, at least for the time being, are out of the question, accepting a homosexual relationship might be the solution?

Continuation of “Together forever”. It is a source of pride for me that Salvo, a few months after the passing of his beloved Patrizio, on the occasion of the release of the second chapter of “Parallel realities”, decides that he needs to find a new stability. He will forever love his Patrizio, has no intention of falling in love, but when, on the first day he returns to one of the places he used to go to with his companion he meets Fulvio, a “copy” of his lost companion, his heart stops! Fulvio is identical to his Patrizio when he met him almost fifty years ago, and it is natural for him to help him through a difficult time, even though he is unconsciously attracted to him. Attraction that eventually makes him surrender, and when he discovers that the incredible resemblance between the two is due to a blood tie…