Tea with Mussolini () is a 1999 Anglo-Italian semi-autobiographical comedy-drama war film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, scripted by John Mortimer, telling the story of a young Italian boy's upbringing by a circle of British and American women before and during the Second World War. At the 53rd British Academy Film Awards, Tea with Mussolini won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Maggie Smith). The film also nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design but lost to Sleepy Hollow. Plot The film begins in 1935 in Florence, where a group of cultured expatriate English women – the "Scorpioni" – meet for tea every afternoon. Young Luca is the illegitimate son of an Italian businessman who's little interested in his son's upbringing; the boy's seamstress mother has recently died. Mary Wallace, the man's secretary, steps in to care for Luca, seeking support from her Scorpioni friends, including eccentric would-be artist Arabella. They teach Luca about life and the arts. Elsa Morganthal, a rich young American widow who Scorpioni matron Lady Hester Random barely tolerates, sets up a financial trust for Luca when she hears his mother has died, as she was fond of her and still owes her money for her dressmaking services. One day when the ladies are having afternoon tea, Italian Fascists disrupt them, reflecting the increasingly uncertain position of the expatriate community. Lady Hester, widow of Britain's former ambassador to Italy, retains an admiring faith in Benito Mussolini. She visits him, receiving his assurances of their safety, and proudly recounts her "tea with Mussolini". As the political situation continues to deteriorate, the Scorpioni find their status and liberties diminishing. Luca's father decides Italy's future is with Germany rather than Britain, so sends Luca to an Austrian boarding school. Five years later, Luca plans to study art in Florence with Elsa's trust fund. He finds that most British nationals are fleeing the country, anticipating Mussolini's declaration of war on Great Britain, and that Mary has moved in with Lady Hester and the other English hold-outs. Arriving at the house just as they – and Hester's grandson Wilfred, disguised as a woman – are being transported to the Tuscan town of San Gimignano, he follows. As the U.S. is not at war, Elsa and her American compatriot Georgie Rockwell, an openly lesbian archaeologist, remain free. Elsa uses Luca to deliver forged orders and funds to have