A Conversation with JILL SANTOPOLO
Although you’ve written three novels before, this is your first foray into historical fiction. What inspired you to write Stars in an Italian Sky?
The seed for Stars in an Italian Sky was planted in the summer of 2019, when my husband and I traveled to Italy for two weeks to visit family (we both have Italian roots). One side of his mother’s family is descended from nobility, and a cousin of his talked to us about the institutional referendum that happened just after WWII in which the monarchy and nobility were abolished and the country became a republic. I was fascinated by the idea of that moment, when promised power is eliminated by popular vote, and started thinking about what that would be like, particularly if a member of the nobility had fallen in love with someone who was part of the working class. And then I realized that if I wanted to write that story, I would have to write historical fiction, so I dove into the research and fell in love with the genre.
What research did you perform to paint an accurate portrait of Genoa, Italy, during the 1940s? What were you most surprised to learn in your research?
The research was a lot more work than I expected, but a lot more fun than I expected, too—I read fiction books that were set in Italy in the 1940s; I read nonfiction books and articles about Italy and the area around Genoa, in particular during and after WWII; I used the archives of Italian newspapers and magazines to see what was being discussed in the media at that time; I went to fashion blogs dedicated to the time period; I interviewed people whose family members were alive then and listened to their stories and experiences; I asked questions to my grandmother, who was alive during the 1940s; I spoke to a historian who focuses on the region
and watched the videos he sent me about that time in the area around Genoa and Saluzzo; I read travel guides about Genoa; and I used Google Maps to “walk” the streets with my characters. My husband and I also drove through Genoa while we were on our honeymoon, so I had those memories of the city to use for texture. And then my Italian publisher did an in-depth fact-check for me, sending historical train schedules and making sure my cultural references were accurate. One of the things I was most surprised to learn was that women made their own make-up during and after WWII by doing things like holding candles under a china plate and using the ash that formed as eye shadow.
Are Giovanna and Vincenzo based on real people? What about Cass and Luca? Where did you draw inspiration for these characters?
None of the characters are based on real people, but I did think a lot about my family—I’m descended from Italian shoemakers on my father’s side and tried to imagine what their shop would have been like. I named Giovanna after my great-grandmother, Faustina after my great-aunt, and Vincenzo after my grandfather, mostly because I thought it would be a lovely way to honor them. I dedicated this book to my grandmother, and Cass’s relationship with and deep love for her grandmother is based on my relationship with my phenomenal Gram.
There are so many parallels between Vincenzo and Giovanna’s and Cassandra and Luca’s relationships, yet they also each feel distinct in their own special way. What do you think lies at the heart of each relationship’s dynamic?
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These relationships were formed a bit when my husband and I talked about how his family in Italy is descended from nobility and mine is descended from shoemakers. We noted that had we been alive generations earlier and fallen in love decades before in Italy, our relationship would have been a bit of a scandal. Decades later, in Vincenzo and Giovanna’s time it might have been slightly less scandalous, but not quite encouraged. But now, with our families both having immigrated to the US and flourished here, there was nothing at all odd about our marriage. I was thinking a lot about that as I wrote about Giovanna and Vincenzo and Cass and Luca—how time, location, and circumstances change how the same situation is seen. As far as the heart of each relationship—I think a feeling of belonging, of feeling at home with another person is what’s at the heart of both relationships, but the times each couple lives in changes how they play out.
Family is such an important part of each of these character’s lives. When it comes to romantic relationships, do you think love can be enough if your family doesn’t approve?
I would hope that love can be enough and that, when true love is really that, families will come around. In the end, I’d hope that families would want the people they love to be happy and would recognize that, especially if the reasons they disapprove of the match are about external factors.
The connection to mythology through Luca’s paintings was so fun to explore. Do you have an affinity to mythology, and if so, do you have a favorite story or character?
I do! I’ve always loved reading mythological stories. As far as characters, I’m partial to Minerva/Athena. I love that a woman is the embodiment of wisdom in both Roman and Greek mythology. And as far as stories, there’s one I included in Stars in an Italian Sky that is probably my favorite—the
story of Pygmalion and Galatea, where a sculptor falls in love with a sculpture of a woman he made, and Aphrodite makes her real. I love that the story is echoed in Pinocchio and in The Velveteen Rabbit, how you can love something into reality.
Who was your favorite character to write, and why?
Definitely Giovanna because I got to follow her for so long and watch her grow and change so much.
What do you want readers to take away from Stars in an Italian Sky?
One thing I hope readers take away from all my books is the power and importance of love in all its forms—both romantic and familial. In Stars in an Italian Sky in particular, I hope they also take away the idea that there are always shades of gray and that the reasons we ascribe to other people’s actions may not be true. There are always stories beneath the stories.
Without giving anything away, did you always know how the story would end?
Endings are the hardest for me! In all my books, the endings I start with are never quite the endings I end with. For this book, I always knew a few facts about the ending, but I rewrote it quite substantially two or three different times to get the order of events right so that it would (hopefully!) lead to an emotional crescendo.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on the very first pages of a new novel right now that, like Stars in an Italian Sky, involves a past and present storyline. It’s focused on two sets of sisters and two sets of love stories and tons and tons of secrets.
Discussion Questions
1. What aspects of Giovanna and Vincenzo’s and Cass and Luca’s relationships do you think are the most important? The most challenging? Which relationship do you relate to more?
2. If Luca and Cass switched places with Vincenzo and Giovanna, do you think their love stories would have gone down different paths? Why or why not?
3. Who was your favorite character in the novel, and why?
4. Discuss the ways in which class and social standing played a part in both Giovanna and Vincenzo’s, and Cass and Luca’s relationships. Do you think Vincenzo was right to feel the way he did about abolishing Italian nobility? What about Giovanna? Did you empathize with one perspective more than the other?
5. Have you ever dated someone your family didn’t approve of? If so, how did you handle that situation?
6. What was your favorite scene in the novel, and why?
7. If you could live in New York City, or Genoa, Italy, which would you choose, and why? Have you visited or lived in either city, and if so, what was your experience like?
8. If you were Giovanna in 1946, would you have made the same life-changing decision to listen to her sister after everything that had happened between her and Vincenzo? Why or why not?
9. Do you think Vincenzo and Giovanna ultimately made the right decision in 2019? Why or why not? If you were Cass or Luca, how would you have reacted?
10. What were your thoughts on the ending?
