Alfredo, a timid young Italian, lusts after and woos the beautiful Maria Rosa. But when he manages to marry her, he discovers life is not nearly so blissful as he expected.

A penniless Prince and a petty thief become associates in a con game and when they end up in prison, the Prince, who is a compulsive gambler, loses all his money to the other and becomes his servant.

Two Sicilian shopowners who live in Rome pick up some beatnik hitchhikers and the group gate-crashes their seaside villa. In the meantime the two men's wives smell something fishy going on and go to the villa themselves. To make things worse the place is also invaded by three prison fugitives who terrorize the lot.

A noble family assigns their younger son to the convent. The youngster has an affair with a novice, who becomes pregnant. The brothers, exasperated by his arrogance, denounce him to the Inquisition. As a punishment, the boy is walled up alive and released after fifty years. Due to a mysterious miracle, however, he remained as he is, just like the novice he impaled.