A number of different segments taken from 19th century Italian stories.

An adaptation of Molière's play.

A husband states that a possible betrayal of his wife, he would kill her without mercy. The case is that his hypothesis turns into a presumed reality.

The story of a young man who meets his own likeness and uses him to fulfill his dreams.

Papal aspirant "Cardinal Lamberti" has to tread a fine line between the powerful Duke of Montimar and doing the right thing by a young couple in love in late 1730s Bologna.

A historical farce about Napoleon.

Carlo, a young doctor, occasionally meets Anna, the daughter of professor Valli. Carlo falls in love with Anna, who returns his feelings; but her father longs a brilliant marriage for her.

In 1789, French poet André Chénier struck up a romance with a young aristocrat.

The film covers a hundred years in the lives of the Ricordi family, the Milan publishing house of the title, and the various composers and other historic personalities, whose careers intersected with the growth of the Ricordi house. It beautifully draws the parallel between the great music of the composers, the historic and social upheavals of their times, as well as the "smaller stories" of the successive generations of Ricordi.