[2] Putting the hot Roman summer to good use, Nanni Moretti dedicates himself to his favorite hobby, riding his Vespa through the streets of the half-deserted city.

In Lipari he's the guest of his friend Gerardo, an austere scholar who moved there eleven years earlier to better study James Joyce's Ulysses without being distracted by modern commodities such as television, which he despises.

Here Moretti seems to have found the right place to focus on his project, but soon Gerardo runs away in despair to catch the last ferry, unable to live without his favorite soap operas, while disavowing his ideals and proclaiming undying love for cheap entertainment.

Moretti clarifies to the audience that the following chapter will be based on a true story happened to him some years earlier; one day, he begins to suffer from persistent itching and insomnia.

Surrounded by the dozens of useless drugs he bought, Moretti laments the incapability of most doctors of listening to their patients, before making a bitter toast "to health" with a glass of water.