Un paese quasi perfetto (2016)

In the small town of Pietramezzana in Basilicata, near the Lucanian Dolomites and the regional nature park of the same name, the dwindling population of former miners lives on unemployment benefits, since the mine on which the local economy depended was closed after an artificial lake was created and flooded it. The mayor is trying to get a factory opened, having made contact with an entrepreneur from the north who intends to use European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding. However, signing the contract is conditional on the presence of Gianluca Terragni, a general practitioner who is also from the north and must be persuaded to live in the town. After that, the mayor moves to the city and becomes a municipal police officer, entrusting former miner Domenico Bonocore with overseeing construction of the factory. With the help of all the residents, Domenico manages to make Gianluca Terragni grow fond of the town, persuading him—through blackmail devised by the former mayor—to try living there for a month. Unfortunately, the factory never opens, after Nicola, the manager of the local bank and bell-ringer at the local church, realizes that the northern entrepreneur’s contract was actually a scam to steal European Union funds. The doctor is therefore about to leave town, despite his growing affection for the young and attractive Anna, when he has a flash of inspiration: to create a tourist attraction hub. The mine will become a wellness center, and the mine’s old cableway will become the Flight of the Angel, a steel cable that people ride while harnessed, admiring a unique panorama as they soar like birds.