Reminiscing on Giorgio Bassani with Alain Elkann
Alessandro Cassin Literature can often open a window not only onto the inner world of an author but also on an entire culture. This is one of the reasons why…
Interviews
The indecipherable mess of human life
Due vite (Two Lives) by Emanuele Trevi is a luminous, beautifully written wisdom book. It was deservedly awarded the 2021 Premio Strega, Italy’s major literary prize, and awaits the foresight of…
Slavery and Conversion in Papal Rome
A conversation with Marina Caffiero. Your best known research focuses on the history of forced baptisms of Jews during the Inquisition era and on the institution of the House of…
Remembering Nedo Fiano z’l
On this Giorno Della Memoria, Centro Primo Levi remembers the life of Nedo Fiano (Florence, April 22, 1925 – Milan, December 19, 2020), the father of our friend and former…
Reluctant Jews
Sandro Gerbi in Conversation with Alessandro Cassin AC: You have vast experience in biographical writing of different types, however writing about oneself is a different enterprise. How did you conceive…
From Fiume to Rio: Nora Tausz Ronai
Nora Tausz Rónai was born in Fiume (today Rjeka, Croatia) in 1924. She is a Brazilian architect, writer and swimming champion. In 1938, the promulgation of the racial laws tore…
The Year of History, A Novel
When Elsa Morante published La Storia. Romanzo in 1974 it was a watershed event that invested Italian society both in terms of the unprecedented success among readers and the ideologically…
Corrado Cagli, the American Years
In the 1930’s the young Italian artist, Corrado Cagli was a rising star of the Scuola Romana, supported by the Fascist regime despite being both Jewish and a homosexual. Following…
Being anti-fascist today
Giorgio Bocca interviews Primo Levi (1985) Post-war Italian and European societies largely identified anti-Fascism as their foundation. Today, across Europe this assumption is being challenged. In an the attempt to…
Silvio Zamorani: Through Books One Thinks the World
Since the 19th century, Turin has been one of the most active centers of publishing in Italy. Next to the eminent Einaudi, there are a number of highly specialized smaller…