Introduction
It is Christmas Eve. Mattia, a small boy of eight years old, is ill in bed with influenza and waiting to celebrate the festivity with his parents and relatives. After dinner Mattia returns to his bed, and before falling asleep listens to his father tell him a story. It is all about Andrew, a boy of his own age who lived one hundred years before him. Andrew suffers from an incurable illness. To get better he would need penicillin which did not exist then.
Mattia listens to the interesting story and feels sorry for such an unfortunate little boy, not only because his life is at risk, but also because he and his family have been abandoned by his father.
Seeing him suddenly overcome with fatigue, Mattia's father decides to let him sleep. Then, just as he is about to fall asleep, Father Christmas appears. He invites him on a journey back through time so that he can take the little boy the medicine he needs to get better.
Mattia accepts Father Christmas's suggestion and, thanks to his sleigh pulled through the sky by the reindeer, Mattia travels one hundred years back in time.
Father Christmas then says goodbye to him, promising to return the following Christmas, one year later.
And this is how Mattia begins his adventure in time....