Ventotene is a small island located at the same latitude as Naples, but is in the province of Latina.
It has historically been an island of relegation since Roman times.
Under fascism it was an island of political confinement and, from 1939, with the closure of the Ponza colony and the construction of the border citadel, it became the most important political prison camp in the country.
Ventotene was relegated to the "cream of the crop" of anti-fascist figures such as Sandro Pertini, Altiero Spinelli, Ernesto Rossi, Umberto Terracini, Mauro Scoccimarro, Camilla Ravera, and many others; and, starting in 1941, all Italian volunteers who had participated in the Spanish Civil War, either in the ranks of the International Brigades or in the volunteer militias, interned in French concentration camps, were sent into political confinement on that island.
Then came personalities of the calibre of Luigi Longo, Giovanni Pesce, Anello Poma, Umberto Tommasini, Federico Zvab, Emma Bronzo Negarville.
Even those anti-fascists who, due to the unfolding of the war, had become the responsibility of Italy, such as Alberto Tibaldi, Juan Matas and Lazar Fundo, were relegated there.
This experience was a key moment in the country's history. It was here that the leaders of the partisan movement, future leaders, and key figures in the history of the Republic, were trained. It was here that the ideas that led to the creation of the European Union were born.
Through the biographical journeys of Alberto Tibaldi, Miroslav Federico Zvab, Umberto Tommasini, Anello Poma, and Vinca Berti, we offer a broad glimpse into both their experiences of confinement and the events that unfolded before and after their imprisonment on Ventotene.
The film is set between Barcelona, Ventotene, and Naples, an ideal Mediterranean route of freedom.
