SYNOPSIS

Autobiographical novel. The writer narrates his exile, between 1935 and 1936, in a small town in southern Italy, infested with malaria, abandoned by the State and also by Christ, to whom he was forced for being against the fascist regime that reigned in the peninsula. Gagliano, a town in the province of Matera, in Basilicata, which is actually called Aliano, is a poor, arid and almost deserted place, of farmers and witches who live by superstitions, magical rituals and the slow and monotonous passage of time. When the writer, who is also a doctor and painter, becomes part of that sad rural reality, his experience leads him to make a profound reflection on the problems of southern Italy, in various aspects, which seem impossible to solve, even for the State itself.

REVIEW

More than a novel, it is a direct proof of a personal experience that makes you think about unresolved political and social issues that still highlight a great contrast between the north and south of Italy. The events narrated are at times funny and bizarre and at times sad and depressing, but after this up-and-down reading you have the impression of not knowing an important part of the history of the times of fascism, which is not studied in school books.
The narrator is the author himself who tells in the first person through direct and indirect speech, the facts he witnesses. The rest of the characters are described with a careful choice of adjectives. The dialogues are reported indirectly, but their absence does not take away the fluidity of the narration, since the author’s writing register is what makes this story interesting. Finally, as regards the places where the events take place, they are so well described that you can feel those sensations he talks about.