Braccialetti rossi (; literally "Red bracelets") is an Italian television series broadcast on Rai 1 from January 26, 2014 to December 2, 2016. It is an adaptation of the Catalan TV series Polseres vermelles, which aired between 2011 and 2013, and was the first such adaptation; Polseres vermelles was later adapted in ten more countries.
Plot Season 1 The series tells the story of the Braccialetti Rossi ("Red Bracelets"), a group of kids hospitalized for various causes, who make friends and found their group to give courage to each other. Leo, leader and founder of the group, gives each member a red hospital bracelet (hence the name of the series) which he had received as an identifier during his surgeries, subsequently the object will become the distinctive mark of the friend group. Introducing the story is Rocco, an 11-year-old boy whom after accepting a "challenge" by a group of older kids, has been in a coma for eight months, due to the strong impact with the water, followed by a dive from the highest platform of a public pool; the child is now in a coma, but he realizes what is happening around him and describes it and comments it in his own thoughts. Thanks to Rocco, we meet Leone, nicknamed Leo, a sixteen-year-old boy who has had his leg amputated due to a tibial tumor but who, despite everything, is a charismatic and upbeat kid who tries to fight his disease as well as possible. On that day, Valentino, nicknamed Vale, enters the hospital, who becomes Leo's roommate; for the same reason Vale must also undergo surgery for the amputation of a leg. Vale is a shy and reserved boy who loves surfing and painting. There is a new roommate for Rocco also, Davide, a fourteen-year-old boy, who found himself there because he fainted during a soccer match at his school; at first he looks like stubborn and grumpy, which is perhaps exacerbated by the fact that his father unleashes the problems of work by screaming at his son, and because the boy does not get along with the man's new wife; during the series, however, we will also discover the good and friendly side of Davide. On the same day another boy arrives, Antonio, known as Toni, who had an accident while he was trying a hidden motorbike in his paternal grandfather's workshop. Meanwhile, Leo, after greeting Vale, meets Cristina, known as Cris, a seventeen-year-old who suffers from anorexia. The day Cris arrives at the hospital, Leo and Vale go spy on her and after the girl discovers them, the two propose to have a goodbye party for Vale's leg, like the one Leo had the day before losing his. In the evening Cris goes into the boys' bedroom and she and Vale have a last dance, embracing each other, realizing that they have feelings for each other, even if Cris will be undecided between him and Leo, eventually choosing the latter.
In the fourth episode, Davide, who over time has become a sweeter and gentler soul, also thanks to the group, undergoes a serious heart surgery which ends up being unsuccessful, and he dies on the operating table. The other kids, unaware of everything, are celebrating their leader's birthday. The only one who can speak for the last time with Davide is Toni, thanks to the "connection" he has with Rocco. Davide asks Toni to tell the other members that he will be fine, and that he would've never imagined that he would have found such special friends like them at a hospital. Toni then runs to the other Braccialetti to announce the death of their friend. In the penultimate episode: Leo, Vale, Cris and Toni ask Dr. Lisandri if they can attend the funeral. However, the woman replies that the hospital, absolutely cannot allow minor patients to leave the hospital. Thanks to their resourcefulness and the help of a nurse, the young protagonists arrive at the church and sing the boy's favorite song,"Ogni Volta" by Vasco Rossi; all the people give a moving farewell to Davide. A few days later Vale, Cris and Toni are declared healed and have to return home, after saying goodbye with their "motto"," Watanka!" Leo, encouraged by Vale, goes to Cris and whispers in her ear "I love you."
The season ends with Rocco who, awakened from the coma, greets all the viewers.
Season 2 After the events of the first season, the group of Braccialetti Rossi seems to have dissolved: only Leo and Rocco remained in hospital, while Cris, Vale and Toni have been discharged. Davide, remained to take care of his friends, as a spirit that only Toni can see and hear. Davide can't accept that the group, even because of his death, have broken a very special bond and will do everything possible to be able to bring them together again.
Meanwhile, new patients arrive at the hospital : Nina is a rebel girl who is hospitalized for a breast cancer who will find the strength to face her fears thanks to Leo, with whom she will create a very special bond, even exchanges a kiss, which will make Cris jealous. Chicco is a young Filipino who, while he was drunk and driving his scooter, involuntarily ran over his classmate, Beatrice, who is now in a coma in the same hospital. Beatrice, known as Bea, will make a special bond with Rocco, one of the few who really can understand her by having passed from that situation of limbo between life and death. Flaminia, known as Flam, a blind child who animates the events of the series and who, despite having only six years, can give everyone, and in particular to Chicco, great life lessons. In fact, between the two will immediately be a great friendship: they will help each other to face their difficulties, the fear of Chicco for his irresponsible gesture that led Bea in a coma and that of Flam to face a difficult surgery that could give her back view. Chicco will teach Flam to "feel the colors", thanks to the use of touch and smell using the food present in the hospital kitchen, while the child will teach him how she sees, putting the heart first. She is in fact the only one who understands that Chicco has a good soul and that he has repented for the gesture committed, and will help him, along with Rocco, to ask Bea for forgiveness.
Just his apologies, will allow the girl to wake up, in the general amazement of doctors and patients. Chicco, in turn, will help Flam to recover after discovering that the important surgery did not give the desired results and that, for now, it will not be able to see yet.
Meanwhile, the leader Leo continues to attend Cris and their relationship has become more intense. The boy is finally about to be discharged from the hospital and plans his future with Cris, when he is diagnosed with a new brain tumor. He decides to hide the truth from Cris so as not to make her suffer again, and leaves her with the false excuse of not loving her anymore, pretending to love Nina. The girl, however, is desperate and to be close to him pretends to fall back into his feeding problems by being hospitalized again.
When she realizes that the fiction is not giving the expected results, she tries to escape from the hospital by coming out the window, but she falls and risks dying as a result of the reported head injury, causing Leo's guilt.
Vale, seeing his friends arguing for a misunderstanding, reports to Cris the whole truth and she, after a moment of discomfort for the news, runs from his beloved saying he intends to support him. Vale refuses to carry out the necessary checks for fear that he will be diagnosed with a tumor once again abandoning his friends, so Leo later chases him out of the group because "a Braccialetto Rosso is not a coward". Later he finds the courage to take control, being forgiven by the Leader.
Instead Toni is still tied to his friends Braccialetti and, both to be next to the grandfather who will have to be hospitalized for a surgery, both to stay next to Leo and Rocco, becomes a nurse.
The life of the Braccialetti is shaken by bad news: Nicola has a heart attack. Before he died he asked Leo to go San Nicola Island to bring a ring and a letter to his beloved Bianca.
During Leo's birthday party, the results of his and Vale's analyzes arrive: the latter is perfectly healed, while the leader's tumor is particularly serious and leaves him with very little hope of survival. Desperate Leo surrenders to the idea of dying and decides to be released from the hospital to fulfill the last will of Nicola, being followed by Cris, Vale, Toni and Davide, but revealing his critical condition only to Nina.
Once in San Nicola, the Braccialetti come to a party. Toni meets a girl named Mela, while Leo and Cris make love for the first time. Nina can not keep quiet and confesses to Vale, through video-chat, the seriousness of Leo's illness, which understands the intentions of the leader. The next day Leo goes to Bianca, who shows him a point in the cliff where he can spread Nicola's ashes. Completed the mission, Leo is about to leave by canoe alone by sea waiting for death but is stopped by his friends made by Davide who cling around the leader convincing him to go back to the hospital to fight again against cancer.
Season 3 After the events of the second season, Leo decides to go back to the hospital to give his doctors the chance to heal him from brain cancer. During this long period, as well as being joined by the Red Braccialetti, he meets a man who will bring flowers to his mother's grave. While initially he thinks that it is a lover, only towards the end discovers that the mysterious man, constantly dressed in a uniform by General, is none other than his grandfather, who, being in the past contrary to the marriage between his daughter and his fiancé (Leo's father) became deeply unresponsive to the whole world and no longer responded to the letters he received from his daughter. After this discovery, Leo decides to face his grandfather with courage and hardness. Only thanks to the great personality of this boy, the General, who realizes that he has never been faced and accused by anyone with so much determination, is able to convert and change his mind towards his family and Leo.
Moreover, Leo will always have as a strong point of reference his girlfriend Cris, who, after a love affair on the beach of the island of Nicola, the latter will remain pregnant with the son of Leo, who gives birth on the island. After a quick and joyful marriage, the two young people give life to their beautiful pets. The son entails to pay a high price to Cris, because he forces her to stand against her parents, who will always be against her will, unlike her sister Carola, who only changes her way of thinking and succeeds. to understand his sister. Cris decides from the very beginning to keep the baby in his lap, because he considers it the only memory he will have of Leo when he dies because of his illness.
Leo's life, however, undergoes a profound and intense change also from this point of view, because the brain cancer will be definitively eliminated with an intervention by Dr. Lisandri, immediately after the marriage. This cancer, against which Leo fights hard throughout his adolescence, will be represented, in the limbo between life and death (Rocco's pool), by a ferocious lion.