"Rocco"

ROCCO Inspired by Alfred M. Zappala's "Sicily...Joy of My Heart." Story and Screenplay by Mike Colonna Logline: After discovering his great-grandmother’s diary, a young man named ROCCO and his loyal German Shepherd set off on a cross-continental journey to Sicily, where secrets from World War I and a smuggled treasure buried in the countryside challenge his resolve, reshape his identity, and change his destiny.

Synopsis: Southern California, Present Day ROCCO DI BENEDETTO, 30’s, a wandering soul living out of a converted sprinter van with his German Shepherd, ROAM. He feels disconnected from his roots — his parents, both Italian, never talked much about the family’s past. When his beloved great-grandmother Michelina passes away, ROCCO inherits her antique cedar chest. Inside, he discovers a tattered leather-bound diary, written in Italian, filled with hand-drawn maps, faded photos, and cryptic codes. The diary tells the forbidden love story of Giovanni Di Benedetto, a Sicilian soldier turned smuggler, who during WWI helped a dying German aristocrat flee Berlin — and in doing so, smuggled priceless artifacts from a bombed-out Prussian palace. The final entries hint that Giovanni, Michelina’s husband, buried the treasure in Sicily years before his death.

ROCCO becomes obsessed. He pawns his few belongings, buys a one-way ticket to Italy, and ships his van to Europe. With ROAM at his side, he drives down from Naples through the southern Italian coast, absorbing the culture, meeting strangers, and slowly unraveling clues from the diary. In Sicily, the landscape becomes more ancient, the people more guarded. He finds that Giovanni once worked with a secret underground network of art smugglers and anti-fascist revolutionaries during the war. A symbol — an eagle gripping a sword — a grand chandelier, recurs throughout the diary, etched into church stones, carved into ruins, and hidden in cemeteries.

Each small village leads to the next piece of the puzzle: A forgotten German cemetery hidden in the hills above Agrigento. A catacomb under a crumbling monastery in Enna with names carved into the walls. A mysterious woman named ESZTER, granddaughter of a resistance fighter, who seems to know more than she lets on. ROCCO learns that Nazi looters returned decades later, trying to recover what Giovanni buried. Locals remember whispers of deaths, missing persons, and sealed-off crypts. The trail leads him to a ruined church in the hills of San Lorenzo, where the diary ends abruptly.

ROCCO with ROAM'S help, uncovers a buried entrance beneath an olive grove. Inside is a booby-trapped stone vault, covered in moss, skeletons, and rusted war relics. Within, he discovers the long-lost artifacts: paintings, chalices, and documents linking German royalty to Sicilian resistance fighters — enough to reshape historical narratives and political alliances.

But he isn’t alone. His travels through Sicily are not unnoticed as he encounters numerous confrontations while searching for his great grandfather's treasures. A black-market art dealer, tipped off by someone close to ROCCO, arrives with armed men. A tense showdown ensues —ROCCO narrowly escapes thanks to ROAMS'S loyalty.