The choice to leave an elegant life to devote to the most fragile people is at the centre of On the way of Francis – The life of Biagio Conte, the TV film directed by Constance Quatriglio that tells the story of the lay missionary from Palermo, who died in 2023. Interpreted by Alessio Vassallo, Biagio Conte is told through his spiritual journey and the birth of the Mission of Hope and Charity, a reality founded in Palermo to welcome home homeless and people in difficulty. The film for TV is on Sunday 11 October 2026 in the first evening on Rai 1.
Palermo is a central presence in the story: from the popular neighborhoods to the station, from the alleys of the old town to the coast, the city accompanies the route of Biagio and highlights the social contradictions with which it compares. Some sequences were also shot around Assisi, in places related to the life of St. Francis and the spiritual transformation of the protagonist.
Sul cammino di Francesco, la trama del film TV
Palermo, 1990. Biagio is a young man grown up in a family of entrepreneurs, with a life that seems already traced. One day, however, decides to abandon everything and walk to Assisi, looking for a deeper meaning for its existence. The encounter with St. Francis becomes decisive for his transformation, as well as that with Carlos, a homeless man who allows him to recognize his vocation: to stand next to the last and share with them daily life.
Back in Palermo, Biagio begins to live under the arcades of the central station together with people without abode. With the help of Fr Pino, a Salesian parish priest who understands the scope of his project, is committed to guarantee meals and assistance to those who have nothing. Experience soon leads him to understand that material support is not enough: it serves safe places where people can find welcome and rebuild their lives. When identifying an abandoned historic building to be transformed into a center of hospitality, it collides with bureaucracy, indifference of institutions and economic interests linked to the property.
Biagio’s determination grows along with difficulties. To obtain a structure and defend the project, it resorts to long hunger strikes, risking its health. In the meantime, his mission also extends to women in difficulty and children, while relationships with family and friends of a time cross complex moments. His work, born from an individual choice, gradually becomes a collective project involving volunteers and citizens. The film thus tells the birth of a legacy of solidarity that continues today through the Mission of Hope and Charity, founded in 1991 and brought forward after the death of Biagio Conte.
Il cast: attori e personaggi
In the TV film directed by Costanza Quatriglio, Alessio Vassallo plays the protagonist, flanked by a cast that includes Sicilian actors and interpreters related to the territory told in history.
Alessio Vassallo interpreta Biagio Conte
Donatella Finocchiaro è Rosa, una donna in difficoltà che Biagio incontra alla stazione insieme al figlio
Giuseppe Spata interpreta Tano, amico di Biagio che, con il passare degli anni, si ritrova su posizioni contrapposte alle sue
Claudia Gusmano è Anna, la fidanzata che Biagio lascia quando decide di cambiare vita
Alessandra Fazzino interpreta Maria, la madre di Biagio
Ignacio Paurici è Carlos, il senzatetto incontrato ad Assisi che contribuisce a orientare la scelta del protagonista
Enrico Roccaforte interpreta don Pino, il sacerdote che sostiene il progetto di accoglienza
Chiara Russo è Simona
Chiara Cavaliere interpreta una giornalista
Ferdinando Gattuccio è l’assessore Barravento
Gigi Borruso interpreta Gigi
Toti Mancuso è Marcello
Totino La Mantia interpreta Calogero
Simona Badalucco è Giusy
Daniele Arcuni interpreta Totò, il bambino che vive per strada
Gaetano Aronica è il cardinale Pappalardo
Antonio Catania è Giuseppe, il padre di Biagio.
The film is directed by Costanza Quatriglio, who signs the script together with Stefano Rulli. The subject was developed by Stefano Rulli, Gloria Giorgianni, Celestino Pietro Pesce, Nicola Campiotti and Costanza Quatriglio. The production is by Gloria Giorgianni for Anele, in collaboration with Rai Fiction, with international distribution entrusted to Rai Com.
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