Il principe abusivo (2013)

Letizia is an unhappy, melancholy young princess from a small principality in northwestern Europe, because the newspapers never write about her and her subjects tend to ignore her. The king, her father, wants her to marry Prince Gherets, son of the King of Belgium, but Letizia is unconvinced, especially since her father’s interests are aimed solely at securing business deals with Belgium. The king then orders the court chamberlain, Anastasio, to devise a way for Letizia to appear in the gossip magazines and become the center of gossip. Anastasio proposes a plan to attract journalists’ attention: the princess must fall in love with someone extremely poor, vulgar, and uneducated, renounce the crown and become engaged; then, on the evening before the wedding, have her “fiancé” photographed in the company of an escort and call off the wedding. Though somewhat hesitant, both the king and the princess agree to the plan. The chamberlain then finds the “ideal candidate”: Antonio De Biase, a Neapolitan who is chronically broke and comes from one of the most deprived neighborhoods in Naples. He works as a volunteer test subject for pharmaceutical companies’ drug trials and gets by on his legendary freeloading, attending the openings of pizzerias, ice-cream parlors, and wine bars to eat for free, even going so far as to pose as a traffic warden. The chamberlain has him admitted to the kingdom’s clinic for medication tests, so before long Antonio finds himself face-to-face with Letizia. In a world where rich people’s prejudices against the poor are deeply rooted and difficult to overcome, the young poor man’s only chance of staying at court is to follow the advice of the court chamberlain, Anastasio. At first, Antonio’s complicated character clashes with Anastasio’s efforts to educate him, and the young Neapolitan causes quite a few problems in the kingdom. But the roles of mentor and pupil are destined to be reversed when Anastasio falls in love with Jessica, Antonio’s cousin, a greengrocer. The chamberlain will need advice on how to mix with ordinary people. Thus begins a double apprenticeship, with unpredictable results. In the end, after learning to be more polite and courteous, Antonio manages to win Letizia’s heart, to the point that she moves to Naples. The two celebrate their love by gatecrashing a wedding together with the chamberlain and Jessica, who pass themselves off as Neapolitan neomelodic singers.