Molise is Italy's second smallest region, after the Aosta Valley, a sort of rural and southern patchwork. A proverb even claims that it doesn't exist. Without going that far, we can simply observe that its most eminent representatives all, to varying degrees, cherish the old utopian dreams. Such is the case with actor Robert De Niro, who, by fiercely opposing Donald Trump's policies, continues the dream of his Molisan grandparents who left to seek a better life in the United States.

Elio Germano, almost as famous in Italy as his American counterpart, is cut from the same cloth. To discuss his role as a mafia boss in Sicilian Letters, directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, we met the actor at the Citta dell'Altra Economia, an alternative space adjacent to former slaughterhouses in the south of Rome. "It's my office," he said of the wobbly tables on the terrace where he is a regular. Now 44, Germano has always lived in the Italian capital. Nevertheless, he maintains deep ties to the land of his ancestors – his father, an architect, is among the organizers of "Cammina, Molise!," a large march aimed at revitalizing this underprivileged territory since 1995.

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