On June 24, 1985, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy Nilde Iotti, in agreement with Senate Speaker Francesco Cossiga, convened the two houses of the Italian Parliament, integrated with a number of representatives appointed by the twenty Italian regions, in a common session in order to commence voting for the election of the new President of the Italian Republic.
Similarly to Manzoni, Corti mixes fictional individual stories with actual history, going as far as inserting real characters in the plot: for example Father Carlo Gnocchi, Nilde Iotti, Agostino Gemelli, Corti's brother Piero (partly recognizable in Pino Riva).