The first section of The Via Veneto Papers is an evocation of the Rome of La Dolce Vita, of the early stages in the writing and the realizing of the film itself, and, through a series of brilliant little sketches, a commemoration of the aging poet Vincenzo Cardarelli, skeptical survivor from an earlier time, representative of an altogether different life. Occasional Notebooks comprises the second section and the third section is an interview given by Flaiano shortly before his death.