Inspired by a real-life story, The Store Under the Portico is an original musical set in Mantova, Italy during the German occupation of Northern Italy in WWII.  Renata Baraldi, affectionately called “Tata” (a Mantovano term for “nanny”), takes over a fabric store for a Jewish family in hiding at the height of fascism (where women were deemed nothing more than child bearers).

In a country literally torn in two, where Nazis shot Italians at random while the allies bombed them, things in Italy were not as simple as they seemed. The Store Under the Portico tells the untold story of the enemy/ally of World War II, but at its heart, focuses on the everyday lives of the people of Mantova and what they are willing to do for love.