There is a secret Parma that lives in the novels of Alberto Bevilacqua. A city of mists and passions, of provincial heroes and unforgettable women, of memories that pass through time like benevolent ghosts. A Parma that is mother and lover, refuge and prison, root and destiny.

Alberto Bevilacqua was born in Parma in 1934. His father, Mario, is an acrobatic aviator and a companion in Italo Balbo’s exploits; his mother, Lisa, is an eighteen-year-old who will become the central figure in his entire poetic work. He began publishing at a very young age in the Gazzetta di Parma. His first collection of short stories, “The Dust on the Grass” (1955), won the admiration of Leonardo Sciascia.

But it was with “La Califfa” (1964) that international success came. Irene Corsini – worker, widow, impossible lover of the factory owner – inaugurates the gallery of great female characters who will go through her entire narrative. Two years later, “Questa specie d’amore” wins the Campiello Prize. In 1968, “The Cat’s Eye” conquers the Witch. In 1972, “A Mysterious Journey” the Bancarella. Bevilacqua is the only Italian writer to have won the three major national literary awards.

But the written page is not enough for him. He wants to see his characters take shape, he wants the Califfa to actually walk the streets of Parma. Become director: “La Califfa” (1970) with Romy Schneider and Ugo Tognazzi, “Questa specie d’amore” (1972, David di Donatello), “Bosco d’amore” (1981), “Gialloparma” (1999). Cinema as another form of writing, the camera as a pen that writes with light.

In this documentary, Donatella Baglivo collects the personal memories of a man who seems to have lived many lives –poet, novelist, director, journalist, polemicist – all intertwined in the common thread of an eternal Parma and an undying filial love.