Presentation
Montisola, on lake Iseo, June 1859. Francesca, affectionately called
Fanny, is anxiously waiting for Carlo, her fiancée. The young couple are
about to be reunited after several weeks apart. Carlo is a promising
university student and, in the fervent atmosphere of the Second Italian
War of Independence, also an Italian independentist. Finally, with the
arrival of summer, the two will be able to spend some time together on
lake Iseo, near their summer homes. The Second Italian War of
Independence has already been underway for a few months. The war has
filled the couple both with joy and foreboding, with the ambition of
freedom for Italy but also with fear. Fanny is worried that Carlo will
enlist in the army. However, it will not be Carlo who sets off to the
war but Carlo’s brother, Eugenio, who is already a member of Garibaldi’s
revolutionary Hunters of the Alps corps. Meanwhile Carlo and Fanny find
themselves immersed in a romantic whirlwind of amorous glances, kisses
and promises of love. Soon Fanny and Carlo’s friends, Cristina, Paolo
and Gianni arrive at the Montisola house. Fanny's parents improvise
hospitality for the group of determined young compatriots whilst they
themselves talk about doing something tangible by organizing help and
providing medical relief for the soldiers in the battle of Solferino,
which everyone present knows is imminent.