Returning to themes he explored in La strada (1954), Fellini crafts that a parable on the whisperings of the spirit which simply madmen and vagabonds are designed for hearing. The strange bunch, Ivo Salvini (Benigni), a bogus inspector of colonies, along with Gonnella (Villaggio), an former prefect, wander through the emilia romagna countryside of Fellini's childhood and discover a dystopia of television advertisements, fascism, beauty pageants, rock music, Catholicism, and Hindu ritual.