Mondadori Rights List 2011

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Rights List 2011

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COMMERCIAL FICTION 252 pages  October 2011

Fabio Volo Le prime luci del mattino Morning’s First Lights

The eagerly awaited new novel by the Italian phenomenon

Elena is not satisfied with her life. Her marriage drags wearily on without passion or curiosity: ‘We don’t live together, we kill time together. We’d had the stupid idea that two unhappinesses added together would make one happiness. [...] Our home is full of candles that have never been lit. Like the two of us. The wick is still white.’ Then one day she feels that something is changing. Love, passion and desire burst impetuously into her everyday life. She realizes that another way of living does exist, that perhaps she deserves more, perhaps she too 2

deserves happiness. She must just find the courage to try, to take the plunge, even if it turns out to be a mistake. ‘I wondered how many men it had taken for me to be ready for today’s man. Then I realized that that was the wrong question: what I should have been asking was, how many women had I had to be in order to be ready for today’s man?’ Le prime luci del mattino is a sincere and profound book, as simple and wholesome as a glass of milk. It confronts human feelings face to face, without tricks, touching the innermost strings of the emotions with a firm and delicate hand.

Fabio Volo (born near Brescia in 1972) is the most extraordinary publishing phenomenon in Italy, with millions of copies sold and five novels still riding high in the bestsellers list. Among his foreign publishers: Diogenes, Fleuve Noir, Plaza y Janes, Rosa dels Vents, Presença, Bertrand Brazil, Ripol, Pegasus, Dudaj, Muza, Beobook, Znanje, Livani, Emitos.

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LITERARY FICTION 285 pages  November 2011

Alessandro D’Avenia Cose che nessuno sa Things Nobody Knows

A father who breaks his promise. Two teenagers who are running away from themselves. A teacher who is too young for his great task. A journey through sadness towards the light

Margherita is fourteen and about to step across the magical threshold into her first year at high school. It is a new world for her to explore and conquer, secure in the knowledge that she can rely on her loved ones. But one day, when she gets home from school, Margherita hears a message on her voicemail: it is from her father, to say he won’t be coming home again. In coming to terms with this great sadness Margherita gradually grows into a woman, like a pearl that forms in an oyster attacked by a predator. She is supported on her difficult path through adolescence by 4

her mother, her lively younger brother and her grandmother Teresa, who knows about love and has some wonderful stories to tell about it. Then there are Marta, her cheerful classmate, and Giulio, the gloomiest and most handsome boy in the school. But the most important influence is her teacher, a young man still struggling to make his way in life, yet sensitive to the lessons that literature has to teach. He draws Margherita’s attention to the courage of Telemachus in the Odyssey, whereupon she sets out on a journey in search of her father which will change her destiny.

Alessandro D’Avenia (Palermo, 1977) teaches at high school. His first novel Bianca come il latte, rossa come il sangue, (300,000 copies sold) was translated in the following countries: Albania/Dudaj, Brazil/Bertrand, Bulgaria/Obsidian Press, Catalunya/ Rosa dels Vents, Croatia/Algoritam, France/Lattes, Germany/btb, Greece/ Patakis, Lithuania/Alma Littera, NL/De Bezige Bij, Poland/Znak, Portugal/Lua de Papel, Romania/ Litera, Russia/Ripol, Serbia/ Algoritam/, Slovenia/Druzina, Spain/ Grijalbo, Taiwan/Morning Star, Turkey/Turkuvaz, Hungary/Europa. 5


LITERARY FICTION 302 pages  October 2011

Pietro Grossi Incanto Enchantment

A forbidden motorbike that gleams in the sun, three friends who are lost and then found again

A village in the Tuscan hills, a summer full of sun and cicadas, three boys who are close friends, all impatient to grow up: Greg, the lonely heir of the richest family in the neighbourhood; Jacopo, the son of boring parents; and Biagio, who is as poor, free and odd as Huckleberry Finn. During the summer, the reconditioning of an old motorbike and the unexpected discovery of an asphalted race track in the middle of the countryside mark the beginning of a remarkable adventure. A few months later Biagio starts out on his brilliant and 6

eccentric career as a champion motorcyclist. Jacopo, after filling in a postcard found in a school textbook, wins a scholarship and goes to study physics in the UK. Greg disappears into the glittering world of global high finance. Love, success and happiness: of all their youthful dreams, has any been fulfilled? Twenty years later, on an impulse, Jacopo flies to New York to meet Greg. It is the moment of reckoning for their friendship, as unexpected and liberating as a summer thunderstorm, as dazzlingly inevitable as a mathematical theorem.

Pietro Grossi (Firenze 1978) has lived in New York, Rome and Milan, working in the cinema, as a translator and as an advertising copywriter. His first book, the collection of short stories Pugni (2006, Sellerio) was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and won the 2010 Campiello Europa Prize.

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upmarket commercial fiction 368 pages  September 2011

Silvio Muccino - Carla Vangelista Rivoluzione n. 9 Revolution No. 9

Adolescence is a revolution exploding inside you. The only way of surviving is to let it out

This is the story of two adolescences. In 1964 Sofia is fourteen. Passionate, sensitive and imaginative, she feels vulnerable and ill-at-ease, as many teenagers do, in her rapidly changing body. Whenever she is worried, she discusses her problems with Paul McCartney, her imaginary friend. Whenever she thinks a particular moment deserves to be recorded, she takes a Polaroid of herself. In 1998 the world has changed, but Samuel, aged nearly fifteen, is another frightened teenager. Rebellious and unruly with his 8

family, he chances upon some Polaroids which show the face of an unknown girl of his own age smiling at him out of a bygone world. The two teenagers’ stories run parallel, until one day they meet in a flat which is being sold. It is a place that both of them know well. And that fifty-year-old lady’s face reminds Samuel of something… After the remarkable success of their Parlami d’amore, the couple return with a touching story that explores the essential elements of every young life.

Silvio Muccino, actor, director, writer and screenwriter, co-wrote with Carla Vangelista the novel Parlami d’amore (Rizzoli, 2006). He was director, screenwriter and principal actor of the film based on the novel. Carla Vangelista is an author, screenwriter and journalist. In 2009 she published Un altro mondo (Feltrinelli), on which Silvio Muccino’s latest film is based. A film is already being planned.

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memoir 224 pages  November 2011

Piero Antinori Il profumo del Chianti The Scent of Chianti

A glamourous blend of wine, aristocracy and Tuscany: the life of the “Marchese del Chianti”

The Antinori family has been making wine for over six hundred years, since Giovanni di Pietro Antinori became part of the “Arte Fiorentina dei Vinattieri” in 1385. Throughout his long history, spanning 26 generations, the family has always personally managed the business making innovative, sometimes courageous choices, always with unwavering respect for tradition and the land. As Marchese Piero loves to repeat: “Ancient roots and our essential “Tuscan-ness” play an important role in our philosophy, but they have never 10

held back our spirit of innovation”. Piero Antinori revolutionized the production and the marketing of wine and is the brain behind masterpieces such as Tignanello and Solaia (the celebrated “Super-Tuscan” red wines), the epitome of Italian excellence. His company is now an empire which extends throughout all the major wine-growing areas in Italy and in the world. In this book the “Marchese del Chianti” tells the story of his family, a compelling story of enterprise and creativity, tradition and innovation.

Piero Antinori, the head of one of the oldest European dynasties, is the director of Marchesi Antinori s.r.l., a brand famous all over the world for the excellence of its wines. He is assisted by his three daughters Albiera, Allegra and Alessia, personally involved in the business. In 2006 he was voted “wine-maker of the year”.

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memoir 180 pages  October 2011

Zucchero Fornaciari Il suono della domenica The Sound of Sunday

An original memoir which alternates the archaic rhythm of the countryside with the driving rhythm of the blues

“This guy is so talented...a great voice... probably one of the best blues musician I’ve ever worked with.” Ray Charles In his successful career Zucchero sold over 40 million of records around the world. His life, recounted with novelistic verve, is an epic of land, flesh and sex, deeply rooted in the hard ground of his place of origin. An ancient world, full of hard work, frustration and sorrow. But also of an unquenchable desire for happiness. A disarmingly honest love song for a wild, fearless, authentic life 12

full of unforgettable characters: Pino and Rina, his parents. His grandfather Cannella. His uncle Guerra, a Maoist who ate nothing but rice. Communist Emilia, anarchist Carrara. The fat priest, don Tajadela. The last son, almost a synthesis, Adelmo Blue, between archaism and postmodernity. Pigs, cows, hens. The smell of stables, milk and parmesan cheese. The sounds, the smells and the flavours in a blues novel told to a driving rhythm, now dionysiac, now diabolical, but periodically relaxing into the gentle sound of a ballad. The sound of Sunday.

Adelmo Fornaciari (born in Reggio Emilia in 1955) more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari, or simply Zucchero, is one of the most widely admired Italian artists, both in Italy and abroad. This is his first book.

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LITERARY FICTION 180 pages  March 2011

LITERARY FICTION 250 pages  November 2011

Enzo Fileno Carabba Con un poco di zucchero

Aldo Cazzullo La mia anima e’ ovunque tu sia

“Class is class but you must have chemistry too”

A crime. A treasure. A war. A love story.

With a Little Sugar

Giulia and Camilla are two sprightly old women who live in voluntary seclusion in their Florentine apartment, among antique furniture and memories of a glorious past. Their only contact with the outside world is Piero, their trusted dealer in the ‘magic potion’. But when Piero dies unexpectedly, Giulia and Camilla are forced to take a fateful decision: to venture out into the city themselves to procure the precious ‘potion’. But the mission proves harder than expected for the two intrepid old ladies, who soon find themselves 14

drawn into an extraordinary adventure, involving fights, vendettas, pursuits and dead bodies that need to be disposed of, until an enterprising niece whom they have never met makes her appearance.

Enzo Fileno Carabba (born in Florence in 1966) is the author of Jakob Pesciolini (1990), La regola del silenzio (1994), La foresta finale (1997), Pessimi segnali (2004) and the children’s story Fuga da Magopoli (2010). German rights sold to btb

My Soul Is Wherever You Are

On 25 April 2011 Giovanni Moresco’s lifeless body is found in the woods, near Alba. The first investigators think he had a heart attack but it doesn’t take the police long to establish that he has been murdered. Who can have murdered a man who was one of the wealthiest in the area and who produced one of the finest wines sold in the exclusive winecellars of Hong Kong and New York? Was it Antonio Tibaldi, the multimillionaire wine king? Was it Alberto Rinaldi, a former partisan comrade? Or was it Alessandro Vergnano, a Fascist, an

old enemy out for revenge? Amid village secrets and gossip, the investigation leads to a mystery whose roots lie in the last days of the Second World War and to a secret pact made under the shadow of the legendary treasure of the Fourth Army and the ghost of Virginia, a beautiful and courageous girl with heart-shaped lips who was tortured and killed by the Fascists. A gripping noir and a moving love story , La mia anima è ovunque tu sia is a novel about the origins of modern Italy.

Aldo Cazzullo (born in Alba, 1966) is an Italian journalist and author and a leader-writer for “Il Corriere della Sera”. He has written many non-fiction works, from the early Il mal francese. Rivolta sociale e istituzioni nella Francia di Chirac (Ediesse, 1996) and I ragazzi di Via Po (Mondadori, 1997) to his recent successes I grandi vecchi (Estense Prize 2006) L’Italia de noantri. Come siamo diventati tutti meridionali (Mondadori, 2009) and Viva l’Italia (Mondadori, 2010), a bestseller with 100.000 copies sold.

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LITERARY FICTION 164 pages  June 2011

LITERARY FICTION 216 pages  March 2011

Roberto Cotroneo E nemmeno un rimpianto

Giuseppe Culicchia Ameni inganni

Chet Baker’s Secret

A disturbing case of stalking and ordinary madness

And Not Even a Regret

Some men cross an epoch like a miracle. That happened to Chet Baker, “Chet”, solitary, drug-addicted, ambiguous and unreliable. But when he starts playing his trumpet, he seems to take wings and fly away, unveiling in a perfect way the soul of the whole world. One morning in 2006 the main character of this novel receives a telephone call; a woman tells him an amazing story: Chet Baker did not die on May 13th 1988 falling down from a window of the Prinse Hendrik Hotel in Amsterdam under the effect of drugs. 16

In reality he decided to vanish and keep out of sight; he lives in a secret place in Salento, in the South of Italy. The protagonist leaves to meet him and here starts a fascinating journey through the talent of a real genius, unaware and fragile, at the same time a journey through the suggestions of Chet’s sense for music. An intense small novel, which masterfully renders the emotions and the talent of Chet Baker’s music.

Roberto Cotroneo (born in Alessandria in 1961) is a journalist and a novelist. With Mondadori he published Presto con fuoco (1995), Otranto (1997), Per un attimo immenso ho dimenticato il mio nome (2002), Questo amore (2006) and Il vento dell’odio (2008). He is widely translated abroad; among his foreign publishers: Insel (Germany), Calmann-Levy (France), Livani (Greece), Rocco (Brasil), Shuei-sha (Japan), Words&Books (Korea).

Pleasant Illusions

Alberto has two great passions, which he cultivates in the solitude of his remote attic flat: model spaceships and Anne Vyalitsytna, a Russian Penthouse and Hustler model, he knows thanks to Twitter. Certainly, Anne’s colleagues aren’t bad either, and Alberto loves them all: Sophie Wild, Sophie Paris, Sandra Shine, Judith Divine. Alberto is no twenty-year-old, he’s nearly forty. A physics student, he has faked all the grades in his university career; he has no job, and lives with his mother. When she suddenly dies, Alberto finds himself obliged to cope with new

and unfamiliar problems, such as how to fix a meal or open a bank account. One day, by chance, he meets Letizia, a former girlfriend from his schooldays, and realizes that this is his chance to break out of his solitude…

Giuseppe Culicchia (born in Turin in 1965) is the author of Tutti giù per terra (1994, translated in France by Albin Michel and in Germany by dtv), Il paese delle meraviglie (2004) Un’estate al mare (2007) and Brucia la città (2009).

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LITERARY FICTION 388 pages  January 2011

LITERARY FICTION 444 pages  January 2011

Fabio Genovesi Esche vive

Federica Manzon Di fama e di sventura

An amusing and quirky novel by a new talent

An epic tale of ambition and revenge in Trieste and on Wall Street

Live Bait

A well-written coming of age story with odd, sympathetic characters and an equally odd but well worked-out plot. The stories of Fiorenzo, Tiziana and Mirko intersect in a small but not picturesque Tuscan town. Fiorenzo is 18, has lost his right hand as he was trying to blow fishes with a firework and divides his time between helping his dad in the family fishing equipment store and singing in his band Metal Devastation. Tiziana is a 30-year-old smart girl and directs a perennial deserted community centre for the youth. Lastly, there 18

is Mirko, a 14-year-old cycling prodigy and truly a natural. Fiorenzo’s voice is a real blast: funny, ironical, smart and witty. The reader will laugh out loud much more then once in a while for Fiorenzo’s ordeals, which turn out to be universal. A novel that is both moving and funny, bitter and poetic, superbly written and a delight.

On Fame and Misfortune

Fabio Genovesi was born in Forte dei Marmi in 1974 and made his literary debut with Versilia Rock City (Transeuropa 2008). He is a frequent contributor to “Vanity Fair”. Rights sold in Germany (Lübbe), the Netherlands (Signatur), France (Fayard) and Israel (Keter).

Tommaso was born at the hottest hour of the hottest day of the hottest summer. ‘He was born under an evil star,’ the old women say. But the boy has something special: he can understand the minds of men at one glance and read the future. But he attracts both success and misfortune. Ever since his childhood he has to defend himself against abandonment and injustice; and he does so thanks to an unquenchable ambition which takes him from the cramped rooms of a boarding school to the gilded temples of North-American high

finance. From burning passion to gentle love, in an intoxicating, allconsuming spiral. Federica Manzon creates a compelling saga and a strong emotional story, skilfully written by a wonderful writer with a gift for characterization.

Federica Manzon (born in Pordenone in 1981) made her début in 2008 with Come si dice addio (Mondadori). Di fama e di sventura won the premio Rapallo-Carige and was shortlisted for the prestigious Premio Campiello.

“It takes talent to recount a fifty-yearlong saga so full of twists, tragedies and private emotions.” La Repubblica

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LITERARY FICTION 668 pages  October 2011

LITERARY FICTION 188 pages  February 2011

Antonio Moresco Gli esordi

Antonio Pennacchi Mammut

A new edition of the first important novel by an author now considered a master

The working class fights again: is this its swan song or its salvation?

The Beginnings

The novel tells the story of a young man in three different periods of his life. In the first he is a silent seminarist: he sees the hidden conflicts between the clerics, invents liturgies and immerses himself in the devastating beauty and desolation of the world. In the second he is a revolutionary activist: he moves from one country to another, holding meetings with a group of fellowtravellers, he pursues hammerand-sickle-tattooed seducers of widows and listens to the story of Lenin’s embalmer. In the third period he is an unpublished 20

writer: a publisher first courts then rejects him and recommends destroying his work as an ingenious method of publication. Written over a period of nearly fifteen years, Gli esordi is a remarkable, poetic and tragic novel, full of unforgettable images expressed in a limpid, simple style. But it is also the story of a cross-section of Italian life, from the 1960s to the end of the last millennium.

Antonio Moresco (born in Mantua in 1947) made his literary debut in 1993 with Clandestinità. With Lettere a nessuno (Bollati Boringhieri 1997) and, in particular, Gli esordi (Feltrinelli 1998), he established himself as one of the most original Italian writers. His great novel Canti del caos was published in its complete and definitive form by Mondadori in 2009. His latest novel is Gli incendiati (Mondadori 2010).

Benassa is a stubborn, aggressive trade union leader in a large factory. He is a tough negotiator, the terror of the managing directors. He has represented the workers for years, but now, faced with the last, crucial battle to keep the factory open, he seems tired and ready to give up. After a big demonstration, he tries to explain to his comrades why, after twenty years of vigorous struggle he wants to give up. Is he really ready to take the money and withdraw? This novel, Antonio Pennacchi’s literary debut, was published

in 1987, when he himself was a factory worker. In his ironical and dramatic voice, he tells a story of class struggle, of the time when the trade union organisation was strong and united.

Antonio Pennacchi (born in Latina in 1950), an uncompromising and heretic storyteller, was a factory worker until the age of fifty. He is the author of the huge literary case and sensational bestseller Canale Mussolini, Premio Strega 2010 and 400.000 copies sold. Just released in the Netherlands by De Bezige Bij, it will soon be translated in Germany (Hanser), France (Liana Levi), Spain (Salamandra), Denmark (Gyldendal) and Croatia (Algoritam). 21


LITERARY FICTION 250 pages  April 2011

LITERARY FICTION 343 pages  May 2011

Margherita Oggero L’ora di pietra

Giuseppina Torregrossa Manna e miele, ferro e fuoco

An imprisoned girl and the power of books

A mesmerizing blend of magic and sensuality

The Stone Hour

Imma is thirteen years old and lives in a small village in southern Italy, where the local boss is the law and women are the property of men. Having been the chance witness of a brutal mafia murder, she is forced to leave the village and move to a big city in the North. She lives a secluded life, hiding in her aunt’s flat: she spends the whole day alone, sitting by a window, watching life outside. But real life cannot stop, and one day she boldly breaks out of her prison. She meets a young bookseller, who introduces her to important books such as The 22

Diary of Anne Frank, Oliver Twist and Ammaniti’s I’m not scared. Her reading helps her mature and eventually she finds the courage to break free. Remarkable for its strong setting, its social and political aspects but also for the intensity of the characters. Not to forget Oggero’s skilful writing.

Manna and Honey, Iron and Fire

Margherita Oggero is the author of the lucky mystery series of the teacher Camilla Baudino, translated - among others by Piper, Albin Michel, Ripol, Presença. German rights sold to D.V.A.

Romilda is born on a stormy night in a mountain village in Sicily. Her parents teach her how to gather honey from the bees and how to extract sap, or ‘manna’, from the ashtrees. She lives wild in the woods, among the bee-hives, a magical creature who enchants the bees and fascinates the people around her. Her carefree life is shattered when she meets the brute force brought by Don Francesco, Baron of Ventimiglia. Although she is only a child, he is determined to marry her and her parents cannot refuse. During the ceremony when she

enters the church surrounded by her bees, Don Francesco realizes that she has supernatural powers. She doesn’t love him and this shrivels her soul: her life in the castle is troubled and only several years later, after the Baron’s death, does she return to the woods and become the supreme ‘manna-gatherer’. When love finally comes, she is ready to open her heart.

Giuseppina Torregrossa (born in Palermo in 1956) is the author of the bestseller Il conto delle minne (Mondadori 2009), 100.000 copies sold. Already translated in the Ne t h e r l a n d s (Orlando), Germany (Ho.Ca.), Spain (Maeva), France (Lattes) Israel (Kinneret), Brazil (Suma).

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LITERARY FICTION 350 pages  September 2011

FICTION 350 pages  November 2011

Andrea Tarabbia Il demone a beslan

Folco Terzani A piedi nudi sulla terra

The journey to the end of the night of a persecuted and oppressed Chechen orphan

He who walks with nothing walks with God

The Demon in Beslan

Marat Bazarev is a survivor. With his comrades he burst into the best school in Beslan one sunny September morning and wrought carnage. He was the only one of the terrorists to come out of the school alive, captured by the Russian police. Now he makes his confession in a cold isolation cell in Moscow. He is prepared to take his part of the blame, but he wants to tell his story, a tale of blood and revenge, and of a friendship that outlives all the horrors. Andrea Tarabbia gives Marat a voice, and with great delicacy and perceptiveness 24

describes his journey into evil, evoking the drama of Europe’s 9/11 with unforgettable power. “Evil exists and this young Italian writer is talented in describing it. The title alludes to Dostoyevskij’s Demons and points you in the right direction.” Il Foglio

Barefoot on Earth

Andrea Tarabbia (born in Saronno in 1978) is a specialist in Russian studies and teaches at the University of Bergamo. In 2010 he published with Transeuropa La calligrafia come arte della guerra.

After studying English Literature at Cambridge and attending the NYU Film School, the author came to a dead end. Depressed and unsatisfied with the materialistic culture of Western Society, he decided to return to India (where he had lived in his childhood, following the father, the celebrated correspondent for “Der Spiegel” ). He stopped one year in Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying Destitutes in Calcutta, and then continued his hunt for the Indian sadhu, the holy men who have renounced the world. One day he encounters one,

sitting alone behind a fire, in a cave, with a meter-and-half of dreadlocks, his body covered in ashes. He spoke perfectly hindi but it took a while to realize that he was a Westerner, actually an Italian. This is Baba Cesar’s story, a story which begins in the social protests of the 60’s. A rare combination of East and West. Not the life of a monk, a traveller, a hippie, an Indian or a beggar, but one that weaves all of these elements and makes you feel: he has lived much more than I have!

Folco Terzani is forty-two. Born in New York, he grew up in Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, Bangkok and New Delhi, following his father, the celebrated correspondent of “Der Spiegel” Tiziano Terzani. He attended state school in Beijing and studied at the universities of Cambridge and New York. He has lived in Mother Teresa’s house of the dying Destitutes in Calcutta. He co-wrote with his father the book La fine è il mio inizio and is the author of the TV documentary Il primo amore di Madre Teresa.

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Historical FICTION 432 pages  February 2011

Historical FICTION 280 pages  September 2011

Alessandro Barbero Gli occhi di Venezia

Antonio Forcellino L’ultima passione

An unjust accusation. Two lovers separated by the sea.

Crimes, art and heresy in Michelangelo’s Rome

The Eyes of Venice

Venice in the late sixteenth century is a controlling, ruthless city. The Doge rules with an iron fist and the Holy Office is suspicious of everyone and has no qualms about summoning a poor man and hanging him. These are hard times, especially for the common people who swarm around the sumptuous noble houses. The Serenissima observes, listens and condemns, sometimes unjustly. To escape a false accusation Michele, a young builder, is forced to embark on a galley, leaving everything behind and without even having time to say goodbye 26

to his beautiful wife Bianca, who is only seventeen. Exiled from Venice, he becomes a rower on a ship that sails the Mediterranean laden with gold coins and spices. Meanwhile, Bianca is completely alone in the city, between the aristocrats’ palaces and the ghetto, and has to face even harsher tests. Land and sea, West and East, two lives and one passion in a rich historical fresco with wonderful cities and dark passageways, pirates and princes, gunpowder and precious cloths.

The Last Passion

Alessandro Barbero (born in Turin in 1959) is a university professor of medieval history. In 1996 he won the Strega Prize with Bella vita e guerre altrui di Mr. Pyle, gentiluomo. World English rights sold to Europa Editions, Slovenian rights sold to Mladinska Knijga

Rome, August 1545. In the Paolina Chapel Michelangelo Buonarroti, torn between earthly passions and creative fervour, is finishing “The Martyrdom of St Peter”. Under the splendid frescoed vaults of the Apostolic chapel young Andrea, a scribe at the papal court, is initiated into carnal love and loses his vocation. And in the rooms of the papal apartment a brutal murder is committed. It is a critical moment for the Church of Rome. As Luther’s Reformation consolidates itself, the nepotism of the popes reaches the height of its cynicism: Pope Paul III has decided

to create a new Duchy of Parma and Piacenza so that it can be the feof of his bastard son, Pierluigi Farnese, and in order to achieve this he has gained the emperor’s support by promising him in exchange to open the Council of Trent. In this way Charles V will obtain the religious peace but the Church of Rome is destined to weaken his authority in the eyes of Christians all over Europe. In the face of such unscrupulous manoeuvrings there are some men who are discontented and disgusted. Among them is Michelangelo...

Antonio Forcellino is an Italian historian, writer and restorer, a world authority on the art of Michelangelo. Among his books: Oro Fiamma (Rizzoli 2006), Michelangelo. Una vita inquieta (Laterza 2007), 1545. Gli ultimi giorni del Rinascimento (Laterza 2008) and La pietà perduta. Storia di un capolavoro ritrovato di Michelangelo (Rizzoli 2010).

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Historical FICTION 384 pages  January 2011

Historical FICTION 420 pages  May 2011

Alessandro De Filippi Danubio rosso

Emma Pomilio Il sangue dei fratelli

The barbarians and the fall of the Roman Empire

The last powerful chapter in “The Novel of Rome”

Red Danube

376 AD. The Danube marks the extreme edge dividing the now opaque splendours of the Roman Empire and the barbarians, the Goths, forced to leave their territories by the brutal pressure of the Huns and now reduced to starvation. Fritigern, their bloodthirsty chieftain, is about to cross the Danube to seize the lands and the wealth of the Empire. Batraz is a praetorian officer, the custodian of the life and death of Valens, the Emperor of Constantinople. He warns his Emperor to avoid an open conflict and to continue containment 28

action until reinforcements arrive with the legions led by Gratian, the Western Roman Emperor. But Valens has another adviser: Ertegul, cardinal of the Christian church in Constantinople, who decides to impose the new faith on the pagan barbarians. Valens has no intention of sharing the glory with Gratian, so he decides to face the Hordes alone, in Adrianople. Fifteen thousand legionnaires against one hundred and fifty thousand Visigoths: the earth turned into purple mud, the Danube ran red and the Hordes tasted triumph.

The Blood of the Brothers

Alessandro De Filippi lives in Turin and is a psychoanalyst. Among his books: Locus animae (1999), Angeli (2002), Cuori bui, usanze ignote (2006), Le perdute tracce degli dei (2008).

Although Marco and Fausto are very much alike, they are in fact not brothers. Fausto is a slave, the son of a slave and his master. Marco is the son of Fausto’s master and of his legitimate wife, the last heir of the noble Drusi people. Whereas Fausto is courageous and faithful, Marco is unreliable, weak and vicious. Their fate appears to be hopelessly sealed, but the fratricide war between Mario and Silla destroys the entire balance. When during a journey through the sea Marco puts him and the other slaves in great danger, Fausto flies into a rage and kills

him; he takes his place in order to save himself from the pirates. But pretending to be Marco is not an easy task. To take things even worse, he will have to defend himself against terrible charges of rape and murder. Emma Pomilio takes us to the heart of ancient Rome, when the clash between tradition and the struggle for freedom set the Mediterranean town on fire. This is the last chapter in “The Novel of Rome”, the series of novels dedicated to the history of Rome under the direction of Valerio Massimo Manfredi.

Emma Pomilio was born in Avezzano, Abruzzo. She dedicated most of her life to the study of Roman history and is the author of Dominus (2005), La notte di Roma (2008) and Il ribelle (2009).

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upmarket commercial FICTION 284 pages  January 2011

upmarket commercial FICTION 250 pages  September 2011

Luca Bianchini Siamo solo amici

Carla D’Alessio Le sette vite dell’amore

A bitter-sweet sophisticated comedy on love and desire

Six women and a talking cat. A bittersweet comedy set in the week before Christmas

We are Only Friends

Giacomo is a Venetian hotel porter. Rafael is a Brazilian exgoalkeeper. The fact that they have both guarded an opening with posts on either side is all they have in common. Giacomo, after a five-year wait, is about to meet the love of his life again: a married woman whose mantra is: ‘no expense must be spared’. Rafael is pursuing a soapopera. In a surreal, chance meeting Giacomo and Rafael strike up an unusual and sometimes equivocal relationship, which enables them to understand who they are and what they really want. 30

In the background is Venice, a city where people speak in dialect, are wary of strangers and always drink prosecco before dinner. “A merry trip through liquid love” (La Repubblica) “A minuetto of criss-crossing destinies” (TTL)

The Seven Lives of Love

Luca Bianchini was born in 1970 in Turin.He has published Instant Love (2003), Ti seguo ogni notte (2004), the biography of Eros Ramazzotti, Eros. Lo giuro (2005) and Se domani farà bel tempo (2007).

The main characters in this story are all women, of different generations. Ada, a recently retired teacher and the owner of the talking cat Behemot, is in her sixties. Her open-mindedness contrasts with the grim egotism of Gilda, who is in her forties. Gilda is alarmingly thin and is constantly on the look out for someone who might satisfy her desire for motherhood. Between these two extremes are the lives of four women in their thirties: Nina, who has the well-toned body of an athlete but the insecurities of a teenager; Mara, who is tough

in her professional role as a lawyer but diffident in the affairs of the heart; the frivolous Bea; and, lastly, Zoja, who has come from distant Ukraine to seek work and a future in Italy. Set in the week before Christmas, in a very different kind of Naples to the conventional image most people have of the city, this is a pacy and hilarious tragicomedy, as moving and exhilarating as real life.

Carla D’Alessio (born in Caserta in 1978) made her literary debut with the short story “Formine”, which was included in the anthology by female writers Ragazze che dovresti conoscere (Einaudi Stile Libero, 2004). In 2008 she published her first novel, L’altra Agata (l’Ancora del Mediterraneo).

31


upmarket commercial FICTION 200 pages  September 2011

Fantasy 568 pages  April 2011

Federico Vecchio Un altare di sabbia in riva al mare

Andrea Cisi Meterra

Loving, hating. Getting divorced.

An adventurous journey between worlds, a compelling Bildungsroman, a fantasy as enthralling as The Never-Ending Story.

An Altar of Sand Along the Seashore

Andrea is a young Roman lawyer who has worked his way up from humble beginnings and now has a successful practice, a beautiful wife and three children, a membership card for the canoeists’ club and a season ticket for the local football club. As a favour to a friend, he agrees to take on a divorce case. Little does he know how much it will change his life. In delving into Fiammetta’s life so that he can defend her from her husband’s aggression, he sees things he would rather not have seen. Gradually the certainties that have underlain his life begin 32

to crumble. Elena is separated, with a child, and dependent on the help of her mother, without whom her everyday life would be impossible. The novel describes the court hearings, the meanness of the claims and counter-claims, the selective memories and the exploitation of the children as a means of revenge: but also the dignity of men and women who assert their rights to happiness and love. An unforgettable portrait from within of the bureaucratic and existential world of divorce.

Federico Vecchio works in Rome as a divorce lawyer. Un altare di sabbia in riva al mare is his first novel.

In the sinister, labyrinthine port of Genoa, where gangs of teenage thieves alternate between bagsnatching in the alleys and playing wonderful games of marbles on the rooftops, Mimì Maresco is the champion of her district. But on her thirteenth birthday Mimì loses her title, distracted by an insistent voice which attracts her irresistibly towards a grating: it is the passageway to Meterra, an enchanted place inhabited by astonishing races, where once - before the wicked Zerfs brought discord - harmony reigned among the Humans, the Diaphani and the Bleurls. This is the beginning of

an extraordinary journey in company of Caramello, Mimi’s inseparable hamster. For in Meterra she discovers that she is a descendant of a human thief and dyaphanous fairy, who wanted her to be born away from Meterra in order to save her : she is in fact the “chosen one” and, for the same reason, the enemy that the Zerfs want to eliminate at all costs. Rich in dramatic twists, deadly combats and incredible games of marbles, this novel of adventure and education is woven around the themes of friendship and the long path of a little girl who is fighting hard to find her way to return home.

Andrea Cisi was born in Cremona in 1972 and is a factory worker. He has published the novels Così come viene (Transeuropa 2000), and Cronache dalla Ditta (2008).

33


noir 285 pages  May 2011

noir 305 pages  January 2011

Andrea Pinketts Depilando Pilar

Francesco Guccini - Loriano Macchiavelli Malastagione

The zany new novel by the doyen of Italian noir

A mysterious murder in the Apennines

Depilating Pilar

Lazzaro Santandrea, womanizer and amateur detective, is investigating yet another weird murder case. Both the victims and their murderers are taxi drivers in swinging Milan. The murderers are driven to kill by incomprehensible and farcical fits of rage. With the aid of Pogo and De Sade, his trusted friends and drinking companions, Lazzaro decides to help a female taxi driver who has been accused of murder. The setting is fashionable Milan, a real zoo populated by dwarves and freaks, but also by elegant killers and gangsters. 34

A brilliant new noir by Pinketts, another funambulistic adventure of Lazzaro Santandrea, whose imagination and sense of humour have made him an urban legend.

Bad Season

Andrea G. Pinketts, a lover of toscano cigars, glasses of beer and buxom girls is one of the most original authors of Italian noir. He has written eight novels in the Lazzaro Santandrea’s series, translated by Rivages and D.T.V.

In the chestnut wood above a tiny village in the Tusco-Emilian Apennines, old Adùmas, a mountaneer with a novelist’s name (his father, a lover of The Three Musketeers, named him after the author, a certain A . Dumas...) lies in wait for his prey. Adùmas is not a professional poacher, but now and then, as unofficial supplier to the local trattoria, he takes his shotgun and goes into the woods. It is dusk, when not far away an animal appears the like of which he has never seen before: a boar with a human arm in its jaws.

The villagers, convinced that the old man was drunk, simply laugh when he tells them: all except Marco Gherardini, known as ‘Buzzard’, an inspector in the forestry police. He soon finds out that the relations and business dealings between the local notables - a former mayor who owns an estate agency, a leisured young member of the aristocracy, an entrepreneur with a flourishing construction firm and a rather slow-witted carabinieri officer - are a tangle of interests more dangerous and impenetrable than any thicket.

Francesco Guccini (born in Modena in 1940) is a singersongwriter loved by more than one generation. Among his books: Cròniche Epafániche (1989), Cittanòva blues (Mondadori 2003) and Icaro (Mondadori 2008). Loriano Macchiavelli, (born in Bologna), is the creator of Sarti Antonio, one of the most popular Italian investigators. The most recent of his numerous books are Delitti di gente qualunque (Mondadori 2010) and Strage (Einaudi 2010).

35


Strade Blu fiction 275 pages  March 2011

Strade Blu fiction 250 pages  May 2011

Micol Arianna Beltramini Vieniminelcuore

Francesco Bianconi Il regno animale

A minimal and yet gripping odyssey

The shocking and yet moving story of a boy and of a generation in Milan

Vieniminelcuore

In a hotel room in Mantua a woman in her thirties and her twenty-eight-year-old partner from Denmark are having sex. Suddenly a flash illuminates her mind: “Okay, that’s enough!” She stops what she is doing, packs her bag and leaves. She doesn’t want to return home and starts visiting the most important places in her life. By chance she also happens to meet the most important persons in her life. Lost memories come to her mind and her pilgrimage is deeply tinged with sorrow. Through the original style of her 36

blog, Micol Arianna Beltramini tells the minimal and yet intense odyssey of the generation of the thirty-somethings, giving voice to a stream of thoughts from a young woman’s life, mingling books, comic strips, films, songs and comedy sketches.

Micol Arianna Beltramini, born in Cagliari in 1978 is the author of the successful 101 cose da fare a Milano almeno una volta nella vita and of 101 luoghi più romantici di Milano.

The Animal Kingdom

The rain pours down incessantly in Milan. Kids sell cocaine in Quarto Oggiaro and the rich smoke it as freebase in their private parties. Tramps and drug addicts stagger about like zombies, and in the fashionable aperitifs everything is “cool” and “interesting”. Alberto has arrived from the country attracted by a job advert. He would like to be a writer, or at least have the adventurous life of a journalist. He goes out with a woman who is as beautiful and thin as the bass player of a British band, her body covered with little cuts. Carlo, however, has stayed

in the village: as a child he used to fish for frogs with Alberto and was as brave as a hero; now he has grown fat and spends his days leaning on the counter in the local bar drunk on Fernet. Alberto discovers the world, and finds it repulsive. Everything seems contaminated and corrupt: work, music, sex. Sometimes a wave of strangely welcoming sadness comes over him. Francesco Bianconi’s first novel is a surprise and a confirmation. The leader of the Baustelle makes his literary debut with a powerful and original work.

Francesco Bianconi (born near Siena in 1973), a singer and composer, has published five albums with his rock group “Baustelle”. This is his first novel.

37


COMMERCIAL FICTION 468 pages May 2011

COMMERCIAL FICTION 398 pages May 2011

Alberto Riva Sete

Filippo Colizza Agente sacrificabile

A gripping thriller about world’s most precious resource

An alarming thriller set in North-Africa

Thirst

A highly original thriller set in Brazil even if far away from the Brazil of samba and spicy Carnival’s girls. A talented young scientist and a tenacious activist from a humanitarian organization are involved in a risky investigation into a big business based on the exploitation of the world’s most precious resource: water. Their rival is a mysterious businessman with a dark past full of secrets, known as the Drake. Between the sunny and blue sky of Bahia, the wasteland beside the San Francisco river and the 38

skyscrapers and multinational corporations of Brazil, this book is a treasure hunt which engages the richest Brazilian families, with their rivalries and private vendettas. An unusual thriller which gives you political, social and economical insight on nowadays Brazil, in the vein of Henning Mankell and Jean-Claude Izzo.

An Expendable Agent

Alberto Riva (born in 1970) lives in Rio de Janeiro where he corresponds for a number of Italian magazines. He is the author of Seguire i pappagalli fino alla fine (2008). German rights sold to Goldmann

A wave of terror attacks linked to the political situation in Lybia, a young woman working as a spy for Italian Navy, a very risky mission aimed at infiltrating and eventually eliminating a mysterious Islamic network whose ultimate goal is to set the whole Northern Africa strategic quadrant aflame. Alessandro Trevi’s mission: get to the core of the terror network, but time is running out. Moving fast from Marseille to Tunis and Algeria, using several fake identities, he’s hot on the trail of an elusive arms dealer

while gaining an enigmatic young woman’s trust: when he is certain to be near to the ultimate success, and to thwart a catastrophic terror conspiracy against the Western civilization, in first place he will have to save himself.

Filippo Colizza (born in 1975) was an official in the Italian Navy and a member of the Italian Intelligence. This is his first novel.

39


commercial FICTION 240 pages  October 2011

commercial FICTION 300 pages  November 2011

Alessandro Cattelan Quando vieni a prendermi

Luca Zanforlin Denise la cozza

The male reply to Eat, Pray, Love

A contemporary fairy tale by the author of the bestselling Amici novels

When Are You Coming to Get Me

Thirty-year-old Francesco can’t make up his mind what to do with his life, which is as out of kilter as a misbuttoned shirt, his job (which is temporary) or the relationship he is in. One day, out of the blue, his boss tells him he is fired. He manages to extort a generous severance payment in exchange for a promise not to sue the firm. Free, and with 30,000 euros in his bank account, he decides to go on his travels. First stop, Japan; after that, it will depend where life leads him. Amid existential reflections and hilarious adventures (as when he 40

works as a ‘compliment-payer’ in a night-club for women) Francesco tries, far from home, to find his way in life. In this novel, a sort of male version of Eat, Pray, Love, a sentimentally incorrect and direct novel, Cattelan perfectly capures the desires and fears of a whole generation.

Alessandro Cattelan (born in Alessandria in 1980) is a television and radio presenter. He was the creator, scriptwriter and presenter of MTV’s cult programme “Lazarus”. He is the author of Ma la vita è un’altra cosa (1980 with Niccolò Agliardi) and of Zome rigide (2010).

Denise the Skank

The television environment seems to be only for girls who are tall, beautiful and slim. And yet Denise, who doesn’t exactly have the figure of a soubrette, is determined to get into this world. For her the TV is life, passion and a dream. After the success of the novels taken from the highly successful TV show Amici, Luca Zanforlin, the author and co-presenter of the television talent show, presents his audience with this brilliant contemporary fairy-tale, part Ugly Betty and part The Devil Wears Prada.

Featuring a cast of odd-ball characters, Zanforlin describes the basic principles of contemporary society and the central role of TV shows.

Luca Zanforlin is the presenter of the TV show Amici. With Chicco Sfondrini he cowrote A un passo dal sogno, Fra il cuore e le stelle, Vola via con me and Testa o cuore, all published by Mondadori.

41


Narrative non fiction 360 pages  October 2011

narrative non fiction 266 pages  October 2011

Franco Arminio Terracarne

Pietro Citati Elogio del pomodoro

Cristo si è fermato a Eboli sixty years later

Encounters, travels and reflections by the greates Italian literary critic

Earthflesh

Franco Arminio presents a new and perhaps definitive chapter in “villageology”, the science he invented. It is a science with only one scientist, and a method that might be described as the “Arminio method”. It is a particular way of travelling through villages and describing them, writing a report in a language that is a blend of poetry and ethnology, and thereby analysing the southern question in a completely original manner. In this new book the horizon is wider: here the villages of the area around Avellino are no longer the centre of the investigation, 42

but only one chapter. Other chapters are devoted to Lucania and Daunia (the invisible villages) and to the Neapolitan hinterland (the gigantic villages). There are also excursions into Calabria and Molise. In short, the book presents a precise and rueful diagnosis of the state of southern Italy.

Eulogy of the Tomato

Franco Arminio was born and lives in Bisaccia (Avellino). He writes for several local and national newspapers, such as “il manifesto”, “Il Mattino di Napoli” and “Il Corriere del Mezzogiorno”. He has written Viaggio nel cratere (Sironi 2003), Vento forte tra Lacedonia e Candela. Esercizi di paesologia (Laterza 2008), Nevica e ho le prove. Cronache dal paese della cicuta (Laterza 2009) and Cartoline dai morti (Nottetempo 2010).

In the course of his life Pietro Citati has made an extraordinarily rich personal and intellectual journey: he has met and worked with many of the greatest European intellectuals and writers, travelled far and wide in Italy and throughout the world, and written articles and books that have changed the history of Italian culture. And yet, as Citati reveals with his usual acumen, sometimes we only need an image, such as that of the tomato, to capture the sense of an age, to understand the evolution of society, to sense how everyday life is changing.

Pietro Citati takes us on a wonderful tour of the culture, religion, values and lifestyles of Italy and western society. Sweet summers spent on the seas of Liguria, sunny days on the streets of Rome and voyages to Iceland in the footsteps of Manganelli become, thanks to the author’s narrative skill, places and times that open our eyes to memory and paint a vast and illuminating fresco of our world.

Pietro Citati is Italy’s most respected and followed literary critic contributing regularly to “Corriere della Sera”. His critical works are a mixture of academic analysis and fictional exploration. They have covered the life and works of great authors such as Proust, Tolstoj, Kafka, Goethe and Leopardi. Among his foreign publishers: Gallimard, Acantilado, Diogenes, Companhia das Letras.

43


memoir 192 pages  November 2011

memoir 192 pages  April 2011

Silvana Arbia Mentre il mondo stava a guardare

Enzo Mari 25 modi per piantare un chiodo

Stories of crimes and criminals that must not be forgotten

60 years as a protagonist in Italian Design

While the World Looked On

Silvana Arbia is one of the people most feared by war criminals and other international fugitives from justice. Now registrar of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, she formerly worked for eight years in the front line, as an investigating magistrate. Her work took her to the most dangerous areas of Africa, where she encountered the perpetrators of some of the worst crimes against humanity, such as Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, the minister for the family in Rwanda, the only woman charged to date with rape against humanity, genocide and 44

war crimes under international law, or the priest Athanase Seromba, who oversaw the massacre of two thousand Tutsis in his own church. In this dramatic testimony she describes some awful cases of mass violence, many of them now largely forgotten. She tells the stories of the victims of genocide, analyses the behaviour of their murderers and explains why many states often impede the course of justice. A vivid picture of a courageous search for the truth.

Silvana Arbia, after gaining experience as a judge and prosecutor in Italy, made her international debut as a senior trial attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She is currently Registrar of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The Soul of Design

One of the most innovative, original and intellectually provocative Italian designers of the twentieth century: Enzo Mari carried out projects all over the world, working with some of the greatest artists and architects. He has proved as influential to younger generations of designers as to his peers as a writer, teacher, artist and designer of products, furniture and puzzle games. In his whole career he managed to remain true to his original philosophy, never yielding to the temptations of marketing, which in his opinion was responsible for

transforming the designer from a creative philosopher into a mere interpreter of the market. In his opinion, ethics is the aim of every project. Enzo Mari is perceived as ‘the critical conscience of design’, his work has contributed to the world-wide debate on the contemporary design profession. This autobiography is not only a trenchant artistic and architectural manifesto, but also an intellectual meditation on life and on the decay of contemporary design.

Enzo Mari was born in Novara in 1932. His works have been exhibited in major museums of art and design, including the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Louvre in Paris.

45


memoir 210 pages  September 2011

memoir 188 pages  September 2011

Michela Marzano Volevo essere una farfalla

Claudio Rossi Marcelli Hello Daddy

A long and difficult journey through the darkness of anorexia

Two men, two cradles and a happy family

I Wanted to Be a Butterfly

‘For years I have done my best to become as light as a butterfly. And I nearly succeeded. In physical terms, I mean. In other respects, life has often been a heavy burden. It was a burden having to be top of the class. It was a burden preparing for the entrance exam to the Scuola Normale of Pisa. It was a burden getting over Alessandro. It was a burden leaving my country.’ Michela Marzano is now a wellknown philosopher and writer, an Italian who has achieved worldly success and become an authoritative figure in Parisian culture; but her story has not, as might be imagined, 46

be a straightforward progress towards professional and personal fulfilment. Like many women, she has had to struggle with a problematic relationship with food and her body. In this brave and honest book she tells the story of her life and of her long and difficult journey through darkness. Today, however, she has finally won her battle. Through this moving testimony Michela Marzano explains that, if you want to be healthy, it is no use rebelling against yourself. You have to learn how to ‘lose the thread, not be stubborn, not insist on consistency at all costs.’

Michela Marzano (born in Rome in 1970) teaches at Descartes University in Paris. She has written numerous articles on philosophy and has published with Mondadori Estensione del dominio della manipolazione (2009) and Sii bella e stai zitta (2011). In 2008 the weekly “Le Nouvel Observateur” included her in its list of the fifty most influential thinkers in France. French rights sold to Grasset

After exploring various possibilities (such as having a child with a single female friend, or moving to a country where adoption is possible for gay couples), Claudio and Manlio, two male gays who dream of becoming parents, decide to use a surrogate mother. They travel to the United States and enter the mysterious world of the American fertility clinic. A year later, thanks to Tara, the surrogate mother, a nice lady from the Mid-West, the two fathers return to Rome with twin baby girls, and discover a world that is

far more accepting than they had imagined. The new parents are helped by a range of friends and relatives, chief among whom are a grandmother and a Japanese nanny. This funny and brilliantly written first-person account handles one of the most hotly debated subjects of recent years, surrogate motherhood, with delicacy and humour. “ When my daughter plays with her dolls, she calls herself “Daddy”: maybe I shall explain her the whole story again...”.

Claudio Rossi Marcelli is a journalist. He is the editor and community manager of the weekly “Internazionale”. He now lives in Geneva with his partner and their two daughters.

47


NON FICTION 216 pages  October 2011

NON FICTION 150 pages  October 2011

Giuseppe Ayala La mafia ha nove vite

Nicola Gratteri e Antonio Nicaso La mafia fa schifo

The new essay by one of the heroes of the anti-mafia pool

What children think about mafia in a thought-provoking collection of letters

The Mafia has Nine Lives

There are few people who can draw on personal experience to help us to understand clearly the evolution of the mafia in Italy. Giuseppe Ayala has devoted most of his professional life to the fight against organized crime, from the time when with Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino he formed part of the anti-mafia pool to his present post at the penal court, a spell at the Ministry of Justice in between. In this book he analyses the way the mafia is evolving in Italy, the importance it currently has in the economic system, its territorial 48

roots, its leadership structure and its links with politic; and he explains to us why the mafia is no longer simply a southern emergency but a ghost that haunts the whole country. The idea of an aggressive mafia that is expanding in the north is misleading, in Ayala’s opinion; it is rather the ‘southernization’ of society all over Italy, the invisible process of the breakdown of rules and law, that creates a fertile terrain for organized crime throughout the country.

The Mafia is Disgusting

Giuseppe Ayala (Caltanissetta 1945), a magistrate, is currently President of the Court of L’Aquila. He is the author of La Guerra dei giusti: I giudici, la mafia e la politica (1993, together with Felice Cavallaro) and Chi ha paura muore ogni giorno (2008).

During the many presentations of their books on organized crime, Nicola Gratteri and Antonio Nicaso have noticed a surprising and encouraging fact: many young people showed a profound interest in, and awareness of, the problem of organized crime which now pervades the whole of Italy. Hundreds of boys and girls, in both southern and northern Italy, have inundated the authors’ mailboxes with letters, thoughts and real-life stories which reveal what the younger generation thinks about organized crime, what it is like to live in a mafia-

ridden country and why the written word is a crucial weapon in combating the problem. Gratteri and Nicaso have collected and selected the best and most significant of the letters they have received and now present them to the public in this unique anthology. A moving and bitter book, but also an amusing and optimistic one; a cross-section of contemporary Italy. It conveys a great message of hope for the future, when the job of fighting organized crime will fall to these same youngsters.

Nicola Gratteri is one of the magistrates who are most closely involved in the fight against the ‘ndrangheta. He has carried out investigations into the Duisburg massacre and into the international drug-smuggling routes. Together with Antonio Nicaso (journalist, the foremost expert on ‘ndrangheta) he is the author of Fratelli di sangue (2009)and La malapianta (2010), translated in Spain (Debate), the Netherlands (Lebowski) and Slovak Republic (Kalligram).

49


NON FICTION 130 pages  May 2011

NON FICTION 240 pages  November 2011

Mario Calabresi Cosa tiene accese le stelle

Federico Rampini Alla mia sinistra

The strength of believing in the future

Economic growth and social sustainability

What Keeps the Stars Bright

In the latest fifty years Italy has changed enormously. A general feeling of distrust threatens our future and the pervasive mood is a sort of nostalgic fatalism. But is it really true that life was better in the past? Taking refuge in an idealized past certainly doesn’t help us to face our everyday challenges. In Mario Calabresi’s opinion we must learn to dream again. We must regain the ability to invent our future and set ourselves ambitious goals. In this book he tells stories about people - businessmen, statesmen or ordinary citizens - who have 50

managed to find another dream in which to believe. Through their examples he shows that the present is by definition better than the past, and that a change in perception is often enough to enable us to regain control of our future.

Mario Calabresi (born in Milan in 1970) is the editor of the newspaper “La Stampa”. His first book Spingendo la notte più in là, a touching memoir on the murder of his father by terrorism, was a literary case with 100.000 copies sold. It was translated in France (Gallimard), USA (Other Press), Germany (Graf Verlag) and Spain (Debate).

On My Left

In the space of a few months the economic crisis of 2008 swept away the school of thought which held that the market, and especially the financial market, could, whatever the circumstances, regulate the distribution of income, providing universal access to resources and driving a balanced development of society. In reality, the bursting of the financial bubble affected almost exclusively the lower and middle bands of the population and had little impact on the wealth and interests of the big capitalists and the powerful business banks. It wrecked the all-pervasive dream

of a progressive free market. According to Federico Rampini, in the aftermath of that great crisis the western world must return to a more traditional ideal of the left, supporting a society with a strong welfare system and emphasizing the environment and the energy supply. It is a model similar to that followed by Lula’s Brazil and in part by Obama’s USA: economic growth going hand in hand with social integration, sustainable consumption and heavy state investment in research and development.

Federico Rampini was for many years the the Beijing correspondent for “la Repubblica”. Since 2009 he has been the New York correspondent of the same newspaper. Alla mia sinistra is his seventh book published with Mondadori. His foreign publishers include Laffont, Presença and Dokoran.

51


NON FICTION 336 pages  April 2011

NON FICTION 192 pages  April 2011

Barbara Frale Il principe e il pescatore

Roberto Giacobbo Aldilà

A secret plot organized by Pope Pius XII against Hitler

An enlightening journey through the oldest mysteries

Beyond

The Prince and the Fisherman

Pope Pius XII has been accused by many historians of “guilty silence” supporting Nazism with omissions and doing nothing to stop the deportation of the Jews. In fact, however, he was the promoter of a wide-ranging plot against Hitler. This is what emerges today from the secret archive of the Vatican. Barbara Frale, thanks to access to inaccessible papers, reveals that Pius XII commissioned a series of excavations under the basilica of the Vatican with the ostensible aim to identify the tomb of St Peter which in reality was used to cover 52

and organize secret meetings with German priests engaged to spy on the Nazi leadership. This book is a fascinating account but also an important reassessment of a controversial Pope and his relationship with Nazism.

Barbara Frale, a historian, has worked in the secret archive of the Vatican. She has published several essays and articles on the history of Christianity.

Is there a life after death? Will something of us survive after the decay of our body? Is this life the only one we are destined to live, or is it merely one stage in the cycle of reincarnation? Can we contact our loved ones who are no longer in this life? Will we meet them again one day? To read this book is to want to understand, to be willing to abandon some of life’s certainties, to be prepared for wonder. To set out on a journey through history and science, among the oldest mysteries and the most recent research. It is a thrilling, surprising and

enlightening journey full of hope. We see how the great civilizations of the past - such as the Egyptians, the Sumerians, the Greeks and the Maya - dealt with the theme of death. We examine cases of people who resorting to a medium to make contact with a loved one who has died. Clearing away the many impostors, we distinguish cases where it is reasonable to wonder whether such communication is really possible. We consider the accounts of patients who have had near-death experiences for which conventional medicine has yet to provide an explanation.

Roberto Giacobbo (born in Rome in 1961) since 2003 has presented Voyager, a highly popular television show. His published books include Il segreto di Leonardo (Rizzoli, 2005), Le piramidi. Mistero e realtà (Giunti, 2006), Il ragionevole dubbio (Giunti, 2007), Atlante dei mondi perduti (Giunti, 2009). With Mondadori he has published the bestsellers 2012: la fine del mondo? (2009) and Templari: dov’è il tesoro? (2010).

53


NON FICTION 168 pages  May 2011

NON FICTION 160 pages  November 2011

Luciano De Crescenzo Tutti santi me compreso

Michele Mirabella Se Giulietta avesse avuto il cellulare

The way to Sainthood by Luciano De Crescenzo

The first popular science book by the ‘professor’ of Italian TV

All Saints, Including Me

About forty years ago the Church of Rome threatened to remove San Gennaro from the calendar. Few recorded facts were known about him and those few were suspicious. The accounts of his martyrdom were not reliable. After long negotiations with the city of Naples, the Vatican gave permission for the saint to be worshipped, but only locally. San Gennaro became, in effect, a second-class saint. In more than thirty books, Luciano De Crescenzo has described the more unusual and human face of the Greek philosophers and the Greek myths. In this book he retells the lives of 54

the saints with his customary irony and lightness of touch. He strips the saints of their aura of sanctity to make them a little more like us. San Gennaro (with the true meaning of his miracle), St Augustine (‘my favourite because he invented Purgatory, the almost-heaven’), St Thomas (‘he never had a woman; let’s hope he is recompensed in heaven’). When you think about his many marvellous books and how successful he has been in spreading culture among ordinary people, it’s really tempting to number De Crescenzo among the miracle-workers.

Luciano De Crescenzo, engineer, screenwriter, actor and director, made his literary debut in 1977 with Così parlò Bellavista. Since then he has published over 30 books, which have been translated into 19 languages. His works, all published by Mondadori, include Raffaele, La Napoli di Bellavista, Zio Cardellino, Storia della filosofia greca, Oi Dialogoi, Socrate e compagnia bella and Ulisse era un fico.

If Juliet Had Had a Mobile

What have Romeo and Juliet got to do with the mobile phone, Ulysses with surfing the Net, or Cleopatra with marketing? Michele Mirabella is ‘the professor’ of Italian television, known to the public for his learned style of presenting and his frequent references to classical culture. In this book, in the footsteps of the humorous and bestselling studies of Luciano De Crescenzo, he explains the great classics of our culture through the new information technologies and popularizes the great icons of the past: for instance, the Botticelli’s

Venus is compared to nowadays TV starlettes; Eva and her apple versus Pippa Middleton’s back. An amusing essay in which a popular author manages very successfully to make classics accessible to all.

Michele Mirabella (born in Bitonto in 1943) is a television and radio presenter (“Elisir”, “Cominciamo bene Estate”, “Apprescindere”). He teaches the sociology of communication at the University of Bari and at IULM Free University in Milan.

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NON FICTION 150 pages  May 2011

NON FICTION 288 pages  November 2011

Piergiorgio Odifreddi Caro Papa ti scrivo

Piergiorgio Odifreddi I solidi ignoti

A semi-paradoxical reply to the Pope’s latest book

The second volume of Odifreddi’s personal history of geometry

Dear Pope, I Write to You

As a young boy, Piergiorgio Odifreddi dreamed of becoming Pope and began his education in a seminary. As a result, he became a atheistic, heretical, unconventional mathematician. His strictly rational and strong scientific Weltanschauung is at the route of this irreverent and cutting pamphlet against the current Pope, his Pontificate and religion in general. In his harsh criticism of the Church’s influence on contmporary society, using all the tools of a man of science, Odifreddi counters point by point 56

Ratzinger’s doctrine with insight, wit and poignancy, in his firm belief that religion is one of the main obstacles to the freedom of humanity.

The Unknown Solids

Piergiorgio Odifreddi (born in 1950) studied mathematics in Italy, the United States and the Soviet Union, and has taught logic at the University of Turin and Cornell University. He writes for “la Repubblica”, “L’espresso” and “Le Scienze”. Besides his serious essays on mathematics, he is the author of the fierce pamphlet Perchè non possiamo essere cristiani, e meno che mai cattolici (Longanesi 2007)

The study of geometry has its origins in early times, in the ancient Egyptian society, during the golden age of Greece, among the ancient Arabs and Indian civilization: a history which Piergiorgio Odifreddi recounted enthrallingly in C’è spazio per tutti. If we continue through the history of humankind, however, we discover that the geometry of the modern age is no less fascinating than that of antiquity. A long string of sensational discoveries, theorems and postulates have completely changed our way of understanding space and our

perception of the world. From the inventions of the mathematician poet Omar Khayamm to Cartesian analytical geometry, by way of the theories of Pascal and Fermat, Piergiorgio Odifreddi leads us through the fascinating world of modern geometry; and he does so with his usual light and witty approach, which makes it comprehensible to all. He manages again to transform one of the worst school nightmares for pupils of every generation into an attractive journey, full of surprises and curiosities.

Piergiorgio Odifreddi (born in 1950) studied mathematics in Italy, the United States and the Soviet Union, and has taught logic at the University of Turin and Cornell University. He writes for “la Repubblica”, “L’espresso” and “Le Scienze”. With Mondadori he has published Matematico e impertinente (2007), Il Club dei matematici solitari del prof. Odifreddi (2009), Hai vinto, Galileo! (2009), and C’è spazio per tutti (2010).

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NON FICTION 192 pages  April 2011

NON FICTION 170 pages  April 2011

Lino Zani Era santo, era uomo

Aleksandra Zapotoczny Vivi dentro di noi

A private portrait of Pope John Paul ii

A collection of touching testimonies for John Paul II’s beatification

A Saint and a Man

It was well known how much Pope John Paul II loved mountains and trekking through peaceful woods. Yet, few know that during these excursions he was accompanied by Lino Zani, an alpine guide and Karol Wojtila’s former skiing instructor. For years on end, Lino Zani has not only been the Pope’s partner in his ascents towards pure and lonely heights, he also was the secret witness of wonderful and private experiences. Through all this time, Zani has been the silent custodian of those intense memories. Only now, on the occasion of Pope 58

John Paul II’s beatification, he has decided to share with the whole world these experiences. This book is a secret, unexpected portrait of the most beloved among all Popes, who, while up high in his mountains, gained full and clear knowledge of Fatima’s Third Secret.

You Live Within Us

Lino Zani, an alpine guide, has written this memoir together with Marilù Simoneschi, a journalist living in Rome who works with the most popular Italian weekly magazines.

‘Thank you, Holy Father, for listening to me, for hearing the prayers and entreaties of a sinner.’ ‘The doctors don’t hold out much hope for me, but we pray every day... we pray to you to let him recover.’ ‘Holy Father, I am writing to you because I have been afflicted by a great grief... help us, I beg of you!’ ‘I will never stop thanking John Paul II for this gift of life.’ These are just a few lines from the countless letters, cards and scraps of paper that John Paul II received every day from all over the world. Intimate phrases which thousands

of believers continue to lay on his tomb every day. Vivi dentro di noi is a collection of the most touching testimonies, the most moving stories, from the evidence that was examined during the process of John Paul II’s beatification. They are a living witness to how the Pope’s faith, greatness and sanctity gave strength, hope and new joy to thousands of Christians.

Aleksandra Zapotoczny, born in Wadowice (Poland), is the editor of the Polish edition of “Totus Tuus”, the magazine that accompanies the Movement for the Beatification and Canonization of John Paul II (Wydawnicto Sw. Stanisława Publishing House of the Curia of Cracow, Poland).

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NON FICTION 150 pages  October 2011

NON FICTION 365 pages  November 2011

Enzo Bianchi Perché avete paura

Gianfranco Ravasi Le parole del mattino

The testimony of the Gospel of Mark according to Enzo Bianchi

365 thoughts, reflections and quotations for the beginning of the day

Why Are You Afraid

Enzo Bianchi has followed a personal road through faith and life, in which merely by experiencing ‘Christian difference in the company of men’ we can free ourselves of the indifference that increasingly pervades contemporary society, even in the Christian world; the essential basis of his thought is the reading and understanding of the Gospel. The Gospel of Mark, as well as being the shortest, is probably the most fascinating of the four Gospels: it may be described as a theological story, a text full of 60

narrative tensions and contrasts in which it is not so much the words of Jesus but facts, events and history that speak to us. The prior of the monastic community of San Bose guides us through the Gospel, clearing the field of dangerous misunderstandings, and reveals what ‘taking up the cross’ really means.

The Words of the Morning

Enzo Bianchi (born in Castel Boglione in 1943), after graduating in economics and business studies, in 1965 founded in Bose the community of which he is now prior. A regular contributor to ”La Stampa”, “Avvenire” and “la Repubblica”, he his the author of many books.

‘I cannot give you solutions for all the problems of life. I do not have answers for your doubts or fears. I can, however, listen to them and share them with you. I cannot change your past or your future; however, when you need me I will be near you. I cannot eliminate your suffering; I can, however, weep with you. I am not much, but I am everything that I can be.’ This is the humble, simple and human spirit in which Monsignor Ravasi addresses his readers. In this book he collects 365 quotations (one for each day of the

year) from philosophers, writers, mystics and artists of all ages and cultures, and provides a brief commentary: this is an invitation to everyday meditation in order to escape the indifference and moral degeneration that characterize our society, which has forgotten the meaning of true values and the Christian message.

Gianfranco Ravasi (born in Lecco in 1942), archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church, is currently the president of the Papal Commission for the Cultural Heritage. A biblical and Hebrew scholar, he has written a great number of essays on the subject of religion. His books have been translated in Germany (Herder), France (Fleurus), Poland (Salwator), Spain (Verbo Divino), Portugal (Dom Quixote), Russia ( St. Andrew Biblical Theological Institute).

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NON FICTION 194 pages  March 2011

NON FICTION 300 pages  November 2011

Francesca Paci Dove muoiono i cristiani

Bruno Vespa Questo amore

A tour of places where Christians are a persecuted minority

The thousand faces of Eros: a history of the feeling that moves the world

Where Christians Die

From Egypt to Iraq, from India to Indonesia, from Nigeria to North Korea, and from Algeria to secular Turkey, millions of holders of the Christian faith live as religious minorities. Although not all of them risk their lives, many suffer discrimination and social pressure, and everywhere the last few years have seen a widening of the rift between Christianity and other faiths, so that large-scale emigration is likely to occur in the near future. Francesca Paci, a Middle East correspondent, has visited the areas where these Christian 62

minorities live, and in this reportage, based on first-hand accounts by the people concerned, tells us the stories of Christians - men and women, missionaries, priests and ordinary believers who have suffered discrimination because of their religious faith.

This Love

Francesca Paci (born in Rome in 1971) has been PDA correspondent in Jerusalem and London. She is a specialist in Middle-Eastern affairs and works for the daily La Stampa. Spanish rights sold to PPC

After a series of political and historical works, Bruno Vespa for the first time tackles the eternal and inexhaustible theme of love, in a wide-ranging study which explores the irresistible force that ‘moves the sun and the other stars’ in all its forms and meanings, from the more erotic and carnal to the mystical and idealized. In this investigation of love the reader will encounter the most diverse characters - saints and sinners, missionaries and adventurers, noblewomen and prostitutes, supporters of chastity and swingers - all of whom, however,

are motivated by the multiform Bruno Vespa was born in L’Aquila and mysterious feeling that has in 1944. Since 1996 his TV program always made the world go round. “Porta a porta” has been the most popular talk-show on politics, current affairs and society. Among his books, all massive bestsellers: Dieci anni che hanno sconvolto l’Italia. 1989-2000 (1999), La Grande Muraglia (2002), Il Cavaliere e il Professore (2003), Storia d’Italia da Mussolini a Berlusconi (2004), Vincitori e vinti (2005), L’Italia spezzata (2006) L’amore e il potere (2007), Viaggio in un’Italia diversa (2008) and Donne di cuori (2009).

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NON FICTION 300 pages  October 2011

NON FICTION 200 pages  November 2011

Laura Grandi - Stefano Tettamanti Sillabario goloso

Giovanni Negri - Elisabetta Petrini Roma caput vini

A tempting book for all gourmand

The story that the Italians don’t know and the French don’t want to know

A Food-Lover’s Primer

Good food and good reading have always been intimately linked... Since that first, fateful meal of apples which Adam let himself be persuaded to eat, the pleasures (or displeasures) of the table have filled books sacred and profane, poems and novels, thrillers and love stories, and authors, in describing what the characters in their books eat and drink, tell us a lot about themselves, life and the world. In this Sillabario Laura Grandi and Stefano Tettamanti present a menu of readings for every time of day, from the first coffee of 64

the morning through the time for shopping, snacks, lunch, banquets and picnics, tea, aperitifs and dinner, to the midnight spaghetti and beyond. Their menu collects an enormous number of curious, surprising and succulent literary pages -taken from Roth, Tolstoj Szabo and many others- while at the same time giving the reader a culinary guide rich in advice and recipes.

Laura Grandi and Stefano Tettamanti are associates in the literary agency Grandi e Associati. They are the authors of: Il calendario del laico (1998), Il calendario goloso (Garzanti,1999), Nuovo calendario goloso (Garzanti, 2000) and Atlante goloso (Garzanti, 2002).

Rome, Capital of Wine

Thanks to modern techniques of genetic research into the origin of vines, it was demonstrated that the legions of the emperor Probus were - from the borders along the Danube and Rhein to the outermost regions of Britannia and Pannonia - the first and only source of vine-growing in Europe. This book tells the extraordinary story of a civilizing process, of an emperor’s mysterious decision to make the vine his most powerful political and military tool, thereby transforming wine into an eternal myth inextricably linked to the history and civilization of Europe.

An analysis of the DNA of European wines enabled the team of Prof. Attilio Scienza, the leading Italian wine geneticist, to establish the Roman origins of no less than 78 European vines, tracing them back to imperial Rome and the plantations established by the emperor Probus. The authors draw an intriguing parallel between the Eternal City of two thousand years ago and the modern American empire, arguing that wine was to imperial Rome as Coca-Cola is to the United States of America.

Giovanni Negri, journalist, writer and wine producer in Piedmont, is the author of Il sangue di Montalcino (Einaudi 2010) and together with Roberto Cipresso of Il romanzo del vino , Vinosofia and Vineide, all published by Piemme. Elisabetta Petrini is a wine expert.

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NON FICTION 200 pages  October 2011

NON FICTION 240 pages  November 2011

Gianfranco Vissani I trucchi del mestiere

Moreno Cedroni Maionese di fragole

How to choose, preserve and enhance our everyday food

The pleasure of cooking with your children explained by a great chef

The Tricks of the Trade

You may not know that if you want to get rid of the pungent taste of onions you only have to blanch them in water for a few seconds. Or that if you want to make your omelette softer all you have to do is add a teaspoonful of bicarb. If you have oversalted your meat sauce, just add half a potato. If you want to stop your basil collapsing, just put its stem in a glass of water... These are just a few of the small but crucial tricks that can make everyday cooking easier and help you make the best possible use of the food you buy every day. 1001 of these tips have been 66

collected by one of the most popular Italian cooks. He reveals the secrets of how to choose, preserve and enhance the food in your fridge. The tips are the product of the vast first-hand experience of Gianfranco Vissani, a wonderful chef and the presenter of the TV show La Prova del cuoco. A simple, delicious recipe accompanies each product.

Strawberry Mayonnaise

Gianfranco Vissani (born near Rome in 1951) is one of the world’s leading chefs and a brilliant TV presenter.

Take a father and a thirteen-yearold daughter: when it comes to cooking, they make a great team. Not surprising, really: he is Moreno Cedroni, the mercurial chef of the “Madonnina del Pescatore” restaurant in Senigallia (two Michelin stars). Here he explains, through memories and personal experiences, how easy it is to transform the making of a meal into an opportunity for play and discovery which you can share with your children. From the pleasure of shopping together to the secrets of making green appetising, to the

author’s suggestions for making nutritionally correct dishes with unusual flavours which you can snack on in front of the TV. By cutting, mixing and grating with papa, you can, as Matilde confirms, discover traditional flavours, experiment with new combinations and learn new rules.

Moreno Cedroni is one of the most innovative chefs in Italian cuisine. The creator of “Anikò”, the first ‘fish delicatessen’, he produces high-quality preserves in his workshop “L’Officina” and, in every summer season, presents avant-garde menus in his three restaurants in the Marche. He has published Sushi e susci (Biblioteca Culinaria 2001) and Multipli di venti (Cucina e vini editrice 2006).

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Byography 132 pages  May 2011

NON FICTION 228 pages  November 2011

Francesco Bonami Maurizio Cattelan. Autobiografia non autorizzata

Francesco Rosi - Giuseppe Tornatore Mi chiamano professore ma faccio il cinematografo

Maurizio Cattelan. An Unauthorized Autobiography

From birth to retirement, the life and thoughts of the most famous Italian artist in the world

They Call Me Professor but I’m a Film-Maker Conversation with Francesco Rosi

Maurizio Cattelan is undoubtedly the most well-known and controversial contemporary Italian artist; his works, from his sculpture of Pope John Paul II struck by a meteorite, to the ‘Hanged Children’, which was removed from a Milanese square after public protests, to the more recent ‘Finger’, which was exhibited in front of Piazza Affari, are always hotly debated in the world of art and by public opinion. Some consider him one of the most brilliant geniuses in contemporary art; others regard him as simply a vulgar and cunning 68

provocateur. Francesco Bonami, who has curated many of his shows and collaborated with him on many artistic projects, tells his true story, from his beginnings to his spectacular success. This is ostensibly an unauthorized biography but in fact it is more than authorized: Maurizio Cattelan ‘plays along’ and tells Bonami and the public about himself for the first time, as provocative as ever.

Francesco Bonami (born in Florence in 1955) is curator of the Biennal of the Whitney Museum of American Art and artistic director of the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. He is a frequent contributor to “Vanity Fair”, “La Gazzetta dello Sport”, “Panorama”, and “Grazia”. For Mondadori he has published Lo potevo fare anch’io (2007), Dopo tutto non è brutto (2009) and Si crede Picasso (2010).

Francesco Rosi is without doubt one of the greatest figures in twentieth-century Italian cinema and culture. Born in Naples in the early 1920s, he worked in the theatre and radio during the war, before becoming, in the 1960s, one of the most important and widely admired of all Italian filmmakers. His work was marked by political commitment and a bold determination to denounce the more unpalatable sides of Italian life, as in his celebrated film Le mani sulla città. His career intertwined with those of many other major figures in Italian

culture, from Raffaele La Capria to Gian Maria Volontè, and from Luchino Visconti to Sophia Loren. Giuseppe Tornatore, one of the leaders of the new generation of film directors, has had many conversations with ‘maestro’ Rosi, establishing a profound intellectual and human affinity with him. In this book he gathers the fruits of these conversations, telling Rosi’s story and at the same time taking the reader on a journey through the most important phases in the recent history of Italy.

Giuseppe Tornatore, born in Bagheria, is one of the most celebrated living Italian directors. His films include Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (Oscar for Best Foreign Film 1988) and Baaria

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