• Home
  • About
  • Study Italian With Me
    • Practice Conversation
      • Chiacchieriamo
      • Italiano Mordi e Fuggi
    • Study Grammar
      • Ti aiuto io!
    • Self-Study
      • Giorno dopo giorno
  • Blog
  • Contact

Instantly Italy

Italian speaking practice and grammar tutoring

Contemporary Italian Literature: Two Books That Will Help You Understand Life in The Italian Province

06/13/2019

Contemporary Italian Literature is full of very interesting reads. In this post, I tell you about two books that will help you understand life in the Italian province.
Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian.

Italy is not only Florence, Rome, Venice, Naples or Milan. And most of the times life in Italy is way different from the one you can live in those big cities.

Most of Italy is made of tiny little villages that nobody knows, where life is absolutely not as glamorous as they show you on Instagram accounts about la dolce vita and sweet life in Italy. Forget about Aperol Spritz drunk at sunset by the seaside or breathtaking sceneries or memorable art and historical treasures.

Real life in real Italian province towns is way different from these glossy images. Sometimes there is just one old bar filled with old men playing cards and the owner doesn’t even know what an Aperol Spritz is – unless you live in Veneto, of course. Sometimes the best scenery you can find is the view over a dismissed car factory and the closest thing to art are terrible paintings by your aunt on display at the local summer fair.

Don’t misunderstand me, I love Italy and I think it is beautiful even when it is not – because, believe me, sometimes it is not – but real life is way different from the image you get from certain books or movies.

Sometimes it is really difficult to describe a certain place or way of life, sometimes you have to experience it firsthand to fully understand what it is. Luckily, there is contemporary Italian literature, which is full of talented authors who set their novels in the province and help us to better understand some peculiar aspects of Italian life.

One of these authors is Fabio Genovesi, a writer from Forte dei Marmi, a seaside location in Versilia, Tuscany. He is quite a prolific writer, he has written four novels, a short novels collection and a couple of non-fiction books. Thank God, two of his novels have been translated into English, making them available for non-Italian readers as well.

These two books are the ones I am focusing on in this post, in my quest to suggest you books of contemporary Italian literature that you can enjoy even if you are not fluent in Italian. 

The two books I am referring to are The Breaking of a Wave (Chi manda le onde in Italian) and Live Bait (Esche vive in the Italian original version). Both of them have a similar setting: the first one is set in Forte dei Marmi, but in the outskirts of the city, outside the trendy tourist locations, and the second one is set in Muglione, a fictional place near Pisa.

Both places have some elements in common: they are unknown to people who do not live there, they are drowning in unemployment and lack of future prospects and there is nothing to do there. Life is empty, or better, full of meaningless things that have no purpose.

The Breaking of a Wave tells the story of thirteen-year-old Luna, who loses her beloved brother in a surfing accident and has to face her mother’s depression. The book is quite surreal most of the times but I have enjoyed it anyway (I am not that much into this genre) mainly because of its characters: Luna is incredible, vivid, stubborn, and full of life, but also weird Zot, her best friend, and his grandfather are truly unique.

All characters are somehow intertwined and interact with each other. The storyline is super simple but it isn’t what made me like this book. I liked this book mainly for the freshness of Luna and for the surreal yet very real description of life in provincial towns.

Immediately after finishing this novel, I began reading Life bait. As I said, the location is not the same but is very similar: a provincial town where the only way to live a good life is to go away. The only available jobs are meaningless and with no perspective, cultural life is zero and there isn’t even a place where you can gather or have a social life.

Everything is bleak and all characters are struggling, each one in its own personal way. The main characters are Fiorenzo, a teenager who is suffering from the loss of his mother and the absence of his father, Tiziana, who has returned home after studying abroad and is in charge of the local Youth Information Center, which works only as a gathering place for retired men playing cards, and Mirko, a young cycling talent.

Again, the plot is very simple and is basically the story of many lonelinesses meeting in a desolated place. All characters are somehow angry and alienated but they are really lovable and you become more and more attached to them while you go on reading the story.

Like the other one, this book is quite surreal as well – this seems to be Fabio Genovesi’s style – but I enjoyed it because it is a way to describe a very harsh reality without making it too dramatic, which makes the novel entertaining and enjoyable.

I haven’t read other books by Fabio Genovesi and I don’t know if I will but I’ve really liked these two. If you are interested in reading some contemporary Italian literature and want some real-life depiction of Italy, outside the glossy tourist towns, I’d really recommend these books.

But tell me, what is the last Italian book you read? I am curious!


If you are interested in working on the Italian grammar and want to focus on some specific topics, I suggest you check Ti aiuto io, my online Italian language tutoring service.

If you purchase Ti aiuto io, I will work as your private tutor, giving you tasks and homework and spending time over Skype with you to clarify and work together on each topic.
If you want to give it a try, you can request a 30-minute free chat, so that we can meet each other and see if you like the service.

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
«
»

Filed Under: Books about Italy 2 Comments

Comments

  1. Vanessa says

    08/23/2021 at 11:10 AM

    Dear Cinzia
    Many thanks as always for your wonderful newsletter full of the richness of Italy. I have just been reading all your book recommendations, many of which I have read in Italian….but with the English version at hand just in case I need to truly understand a difficult phrase.

    I am writing following your description of the 2 books by Fabio Genovesi. I remember reading an extract from his book entitled ‘Non tocca il mare’ in La Lettura many moons ago and I so enjoyed this that I was prompted to buy the book…..my first purchase of a book in Italian and of which I was very proud!!!. However it took a long time to read (with only a dictionary at hand and no English translation) but I absolutely loved it and would highly recommend it. It tells the story of a young boy brought up by 12 uncles in a small isolated rural area and how he faces, reacts to and negotiates school, friendship and all the other stages as he gets older……as his perception and that of his family is unique and different, and the story is by turns very sad and very humorous. I loved the book as you can see!
    Many thanks for continuing to offer recommendations as these are really helpful. Best wishes, Vanessa

    Reply
    • cinzia says

      08/23/2021 at 2:42 PM

      Thank you so much for your lovely comment, I am really happy to read that you like my book recommendations – and my newsletter too! That’s really great to hear.
      I haven’t read that book by Fabio Genovesi but I have been told it is really good too. I’ll definitely read it in the future.
      Grazie e a presto!
      Cinzia

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Ciao!

My name is Cinzia and Italy is the place I call home.

Books feed my soul, music fills my days and travelling makes my life richer. I am a day dreamer, tireless walker and believer in the power of little things.

I’ve created Instantly Italy to take you to Italy with me and explore together this crazy but “oh so lovely” country. Read More…

Latest from the blog

If you are looking for some Italian books in English, I highly recommend you this new title about a mother and her terrible loss

[Italian Books] Mi sa che fuori è primavera by Concita De Gregorio

Traditions and celebrations of Saint John in Italy, a truly magical time of the year

The Feast of Saint John in Italy: A Magical Time of the Year

Things I blog about

  • Books about Italy
  • Italian culture
  • Italian food
  • Italian language
  • Learning languages
  • Life in Italy
  • Visiting Italy

You can find me here

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS

Subscribe to know more about all things Italian

Copyright © 2022 · Instantly Italy - Cinzia Ferri · Vat #01658340094 · Site by Francesca Marano · Powered by WordPress and Genesis

Copyright © 2022 · Adorn Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in
Reimposta le tue preferenze cookie

Enter your name and email to join the Vespa ride!
If you sign up, you'll get updates about Instantly Italy and access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of Italian language materials.
Your information will never be shared or sold to a 3rd party.