Napoli Piazza Municipio is a long journey that unfolds in just a few hundred square metres: the square where the Naples town hall is located. A journey through a range of eras and countries – since numerous languages are spoken here – and several different social classes. The large esplanade in front of the port is composed of several other places that are each in their own way symbolic: the city hall, the castle built by the Angioini family in the XIIIth century, the construction site of the future metro which has revealed a port, and ship hulls dating back to the first century BC, the municipal theatre, the flower market. In these landmarks that recall the city’s history, people crossing the square tell their life-stories, in which the past is often too present, or sometimes repressed or forgotten. People’s relationships to the square are continually changing. Tourists disembark from their cruise ships like immigrants, but the welcome they receive is very different. The labourers working at the metro station must perform the meticulous work of archaeologists. A sunny day can turn into a happening where everything changes appearance. Mythical memories of Americans in post-war Naples conflict with current reality. The constant protest against the municipality have no effect, although nearly a daily occurence. In filming this emblematic square, Bruno Olivieri reveals the various strata of past and present, like an archaeological dig. With this film he goes far beyond a simple place-name, presenting a portrait of the whole of Italian society, with its momentum and its riches, but also its harshness and its miseries.