[2][3] In 1503, while wandering southern Italy in search for employment, soldier of fortune Ettore Fieramosca and his troupe – Bracalone (the group's chronicler), Graiano, Romanello und Fanfulla – run into a siege of the city of Barletta and its Spanish garrison by the French army.

By single-handedly routing a French assault on the city walls, they win the trust of the Spanish governor, Gonzalo Pedro de Guadarrama.

The French subsequently capture Capoccio's troupe, but while looking for Graiano, Ettore comes upon them, frees the captives and kidnaps La Motte and two of his knights.

Afterwards, Ettore gifts his chronicles to de Guadarrama, only to find out belatedly that Bracalone cannot write, thus having filled the book with meaningless scrawlings.

Ettore", both composed and performed by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis (who provided the film with an unusually monothematic score) and featuring vocalist Osvaldo Resti mimicking Spencer's on-screen persona as the lead singer in the song, became very popular in Italy at the time of the film's release, and are still popular among the comedy duo's international fan base.