On the heels of the success of Life is Life, which grossed €7.1 million last year, and Un mondo a parte, which scooped two film critics’ Nastri d’Argento awards and earned €7.4 million at the box office, Riccardo Milani has reunited the winning duo from the latter title, Antonio Albanese and Virginia Raffaele, to star in Salute!. Currently in post-production after eight weeks on set, the film will be released in Italian cinemas on 25 December, as announced in a newly released clip.

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Set in a small hospital in Molise, the story follows a cosmetic surgeon who spends more time on social media than on the ward and a head physician who bends over backwards for her patients. Their paths cross after a crash with a lorry transporting zampogne bagpipes in the now proverbial “Molise that doesn’t exist”. The Sant’Onofrio Martire Hospital at the heart of the film is portrayed as a riotously colourful microcosm, with nurses dancing the joropo, patients playing doctors, and corridors in which people eat cutlets and “pallotte cacio e ova” – cheese and egg balls. By way of the film’s humour and incredibly human approach, this little Molise hospital holds up a mirror to an entire country: fragile, contradictory, exasperating, but also generous, combative and determined not to leave anyone behind.

“I am happy and proud to continue telling the story of our country,” enthused the director, who co-wrote the screenplay with Michele Astori and Cristiana Farina. “I have often had dealings with the healthcare system, and I have always been fascinated by the well of humanity and humour it conceals.”

In February, Antonio Albanese presented his sixth directorial effort, Lavoreremo da grandi, which he also stars in, and he’s already developing his next work, Papà Chef, while Virginia Raffaele, who received a Nastro d’Argento for her performance in Un mondo a parte, toplined this year’s Un bel giorno (which earned €4.4 million gross). The pair are joined by Francesco Paolantoni, Biagio Izzo, Leo Gullotta, Marina Confalone and Emilio Solfrizzi. Cinematography is by Simone D’Onofrio, production design by Marta Maffucci and costumes by Sonia Grandi.

Salute! is produced by Mario Gianani, Lorenzo Mieli and Ludovica Rapisarda for Our Films, a Mediawan group company, and by Massimiliano Orfei, Luisa Borella and Davide Novelli for PiperFilm. International sales are being handled by PiperPlay, with distribution in Italy falling to PiperFilm.