In 1926, a homeless man is arrested while stealing a vase in theIsraelite cemetery in Turin. When he is taken to police headquarters, heshows signs of derangement and claims he does not know who he is. Theyadmit him to the asylum in Collegno, hoping to restore his memory. Ayear later, Dr Rivano, director of the asylum, reveals the existence of theSmemorato to Luigi Astolfi of the Domenica del Corriere, who publishesan article accompanied by a photograph. From that moment, the storybecomes a case that fascinates Italy, and hundreds of people say they arecertain they see a resemblance between the mysterious man and a missingrelative. But the family that seems most convinced of the recognition is thatof Professor Giulio Canella of Verona. His wife Giulia, a beautiful womanwho has never lost hope of seeing her husband missing in Macedoniaduring the World War, goes to the asylum after her brother-in-law andsome friends have already made a series of startling comparisons.Put face to face with him, Julia is left breathless. But The Smemorato alsobursts into tears. Their embrace is so emotionalthat they convince the doctors and even Commissioner Finucci, who ishandling the case. Astolfi writes a memorable article. The next day, theman is discharged and entrusted to Giulia so that he can be reunited withher and their two children. But what seems like a happy ending is only thebeginning of a conundrum that to this day remains unsolved. The Amnesiacwould not be Professor Canella at all, but Mario Bruneri: a printer, socialistsympathizer, and above all a hardened swindler. Giulia is distraught; shedoes not want to believe it. Meanwhile, even the Osservatore Romanohas begun to place on its front page a not insignificant ethical doubt: if theForgetful One were Bruneri, who should pay for allowing a swindler toslip into the bed of a widowed mother of two? The reference to police andjudiciary, but ultimately to the fascist state is all too uncovered.Gradually the popular novel The Forgetful One begins to sting and stir upother interests.The Smomerato is fingerprinted. The comparison with those of Bruneri,kept in the central police archives, admits of no doubt: they are identical.According to justice, the Forgetful is Bruneri. Meanwhile, years havepassed, and Giulia has had two more children with the man she continuesto recognize as her husband, but the sentencing final does not allow forargument or romance. The Smemorato is arrested and remanded to prisonto answer for the crimes charged against Bruneri. The curtain comes down.Regime newspapers are instructed not to talk about the story again, andthe Church silences the Roman Observer.Rosa Bruneri manages, who knows how, to get a new house for herself andher son. On the Smemorato falls state oblivion. In 1934, the Smemoratoreceives a pardon and is freed. Giulia is waiting for him to leave with himand his children to Brazil. At the time of the handing over of the passport,yet another hoax: the document reads Mario Bruneri.But the Smemorato does not care. He leaves Italy anyway, taking hissecret with him
