[1] Florence, spring of 1925, the young typographer Mario moves to the Santa Croce district, in via del Corno, to be closer to his sweetheart, Bianca, thus becoming in turn a "crowsman" (pun between the name of the inhabitants of the via del "Corno", but also the croaking "crows") and finding themselves sharing the daily events of the inhabitants of that small popular world in the dark years of the rise of Fascism.

His landlord is the farrier Corrado, known as Maciste, a well-known anti-fascist and formerly Ardito del Popolo like his friend Ugo, a street vendor of fruit and entertainment.

The small street is also home to a couple of convinced fascists: the accountant Carlino Bencini, a legionary from Rijeka and an insurance employee; and his colleague, friend and roommate Osvaldo.

Immobile in bed but constantly informed of what is happening in the street thanks to the little servant Gesuina, "the Lady", a maitresse, establishes a dense network of relationships and binds everyone to herself through the loans she grants.

The quiet coexistence in via del Corno is dramatically broken when Alfredo, just married and determined to make his business prosper, refuses to pay the contribution to the local section of the Fascist Party and suffers a brutal beating, which leaves him so heavily marked in the body that having to go to the sanatorium and give up the grocery store.