A collection of short stories set in a provincial city follows the comic and sometimes bitter rivalry between two neighboring factions, the Borghigiani and the Sobborghini. Through folkloric anecdotes, local legends and everyday episodes—mocking tales about a towering campanile, a river, a baked snow Christ, and children's brawls—the narratives trace how ancient enmities persist amid social change and are handed down to new generations, sometimes gaining fresh intensity when larger national events stir local pride and competition.