Gruppo editoriale Mauri Spagnol Rights List Frankfurt

Chiarelettere
Corbaccio
Garzanti
Rights List Frankfurt 2011
Guanda
Gruppo editoriale Mauri Spagnol
Longanesi
Nord
Ponte
alle
Grazie
Tea
GeMS - Gruppo editoriale Mauri Spagnol | via Gherardini 10, 20145 Milano
FICTION
1- GENERAL FICTION – p. 2
2- LITERARY FICTION – p. 8
3- MYSTERY/THRILLER/NOIR – p. 11
4- SPY STORIES – p. 15
5- ADVENTURES – p. 16
6- HISTORICAL NOVELS – p. 17
7- INSPIRATIONAL – p. 19
NON FICTION
1- GENERAL NON FICTION – p. 20
2- ESSAYS – p. 22
3- HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY/BIOGRAPHY – p. 24
4- POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS – p. 25
5- SCIENCES/PHILOSOPHY – p. 29
6- PSYCHOLOGY – p. 30
7- SELF-HELP – p. 32
8- HANDBOOKS/MANUALS – p. 34
9- HEALTH – p. 35
10- COOKING – p. 36
ENCYCLOPEDIAS/REFERENCES – p. 39
FICTION
GENERAL FICTION
RICETTE DI FAMIGLIA (Family Recipes)
Roberto Barbolini
Garzanti, February 2011 – pp. 159
A novel blending together recipes, emotions and good food with the vicissitudes of
an Italian family.
It all starts with a notebook where, in a childish handwriting, some family recipes have
been written down. Most of them belonged to grandmother Armida and thanks to her
recipes the history and flavours of the XIX century come to life. The most recent
experiences to be recorded in Family Recipes concern sushi bars and happy hours, places where you nibble
without really eating.
We follow this family for over a century, generation after generation, quirk after quirk, their meals and
snacks projected on the background of Italy’s history; through the years, the wide country houses where the
whole extended, patriarchal family gathered loose their importance, to be replaced by one-bedroom
metropolitan flats where our anxieties are trapped.
«He is the Fellini of fiction. Here are Barbolini’s fathers: Delfini and Gadda.»
Cesare Garboli, literary critic
“An extraordinary forkful of memories, of pleasures of taste and of the warmth of friendship.”
Corriere della Sera
Roberto Barbolini, born in Formigine (Modena) in 1951, has worked in the Culture section of Montanelli’s «Il Giornale» and has
been a cultural journalist and theatre critic for the weekly «Panorama» for many years. Barbolini writes non fiction, short stories and
novels.
NON MOLTO LONTANO DA QUI (Not Very Far From Here)
Massimo Cacciapuoti
Garzanti, October 2011 – pp. 190
Can young people still shape their own destiny?
Giacomo is the perfect son any parent would be proud of. The Rossi, his family, own the
wine bar just around the corner from the square.
The young man’s goal in life is to finish university and make his parents happy. Life
flows like a peaceful, and slightly boring, river, until Giacomo meets Francesco, a DJ in
trendy nightclubs. They get on like a house on fire and they quickly become inseparable: while frolicking
through Europe they enjoy music, adventures and fleeting loves.
Giacomo’s father cannot accept the sudden change in his beloved son: the relationship between the two
becomes tense and their silences are charged with unspoken words. The sudden death of his father and the
memory of those silences separating them force Giacomo to take charge of his life again: it is time to think
about the future, to make use of his degree and possibly to invest in the wine bar…
Giacomo’s life is upset once again when he meets Alice, an ambitious girl who is possibly his soul mate.
Finding a balance is not an easy task, yet happiness seems so close we can almost touch it at times…
«An original voice. Candour is the distinctive feature of Massimo Cacciapuoti’s narrative.»
Corriere del Mezzogiorno
«Cacciapuoti can control the language convincingly, and has the capacity to observe life with a hint of
dreamy disbelief.»
Il Mattino
«He is skilled, talented and can write beautiful pages»
La Repubblica
Massimo Cacciapuoti lives in Naples, where he was born and where he works as male nurse. He is the author of L'abito da sposa
(The Wedding Dress, Garzanti, 2006) and Esco presto la mattina (I Go Out Early in the Morning, Garzanti, 2009).
LE RICETTE DI NEFERTITI (Nefertiti’s Recipes)
Bruno Gambarotta
Garzanti, October 2011 – pp. 220
Nefertiti’s aphrodisiac cookbook: blending mystery, eroticism and good food.
Professor Paolo Maria Barbarasa had to fight to become a researcher in the Egyptian
Museum in Turin. Finally, a once in a lifetime opportunity presents itself for him: while
archiving various materials he discovers a papyrus containing twelve recipes, the only
recipes to have come down to us from Ancient Egypt. No doubt this is the archaeological discovery of the
year.
What makes this “Egyptian recipe book” even more extraordinary is the fact that Queen Nefertiti, one of the
most beautiful and fascinating women of all time, wrote it herself. According to some spicy rumours, these
were the delicacies Nefertiti prepared to inflame the desire of her husband Akhenaton!
However, there is a problem: the recipes disappear only to reappear mysteriously in the hands of twelve
women, twelve beauties from Turin who are the objects of Professor Barbarasa’s erotic fantasies.
Will he be able to get the precious recipes back within a week? And what will Mrs Angelica, the professor’s
wife, say about all this erotic and culinary commotion?
A lively style and a story with all the rights ingredients: mysteries, queens, lovers, betrayals and magnificent
recipes!
Bruno Gambarotta was born in Asti, works in theatre, television and radio and regularly contributes to the national newspaper «La
Stampa». He worked for a long time in RAI, where he hosted TV shows and radio programmes.
L’ULTIMA NOTTE DI QUIETE (The Last Peaceful Night)
Ivan Guerrerio
Ponte alle Grazie, October 2011 – pp. 144
A novel that dares to look at how, by changing the structure of the society we live in,
temporary employment is ultimately changing the identity of people, cities and
personal relationships.
A story for those who love underground culture, urban landscapes and cult movies.
Marzio works in a small publishing house located in a tower in Milan. Valeria draws
erotic cartoons; her relationship has just ended after twenty years of marriage. Giada works for an automatic
catering supplier. Mirko is an intern who will never complete his internship.
On a Saturday afternoon, after the publisher announced that the company has gone bankrupt and he fired
them all on the spot, they all decide to get to the top of the tower and look at the world from above. They see
factories that are about to close down, call-centers packed with temporary workers, witches disguised as art
critics, high school teachers in love with their young students, Chinese people pretending to be Japanese in
order to sell sushi. Among the multitude of images, one stands out for being especially wrong: that image
will change their life forever. Years later, the protagonists of that night will try to make sense of it and to
understand what really happened.
Four people of different age, culture and background: they know nothing about each other but they all share
the same desire to get to the top of the tower and live their last peaceful night.
This is a spurious, dirty, passionate and visceral novel that looks at the radical changes of the new
millennium; it is a work that places, side by side, political struggle and pop culture, generating an innovative
language, packed with sense of rhythm and personality.
Ivan Guerriero is 48 and lives in Milan. He has a degree in Law and currently works for the Municipality of Milan, where he looks
after the awards of public works contracts.
His first novel, Splendido Splendente (Wonderful Wonder), was awarded the Premio Calvino 2009, a prestigious prize
acknowledging the most promising young Italian authors.
IL TORO NON SBAGLIA MAI (The Bull is Never Wrong)
Matteo Nucci
Ponte alle Grazie, June 2011 – pp. 320
Two men and bullfighting. An existential encounter reminiscent of Hemingway.
The long-awaited second novel by the finalist of 2010 Strega Prize.
Rafael Lazaga Julia is a bull-fighter who has not been performing in Spanish arenas for a
long time. He dreams a life in the campo, the bull farms, as bulls are to him the only
source of truth, far from a petty and arrogant world. When he meets an Italian who has been infected with
bullfight fever and is willing to learn, Rafael takes up the challenge. Yet, he is hiding a secret. The cape he
wears while dancing with his life companions, the bulls, covers up unmentionable truths.
Will the bullfighting he is willing to teach be an instrument of revelation to himself too?
A journey through modern bullfighting, from literature, cinema and art to the history of unforgettable bulls
and bullfighters.
“Into this world we are all thrown, like Nucci’s bulls into the arena”.
Antonio Pennacchi, 2010 Strega prize winner
“Well structured and skilfully written, Nucci’s novel is never boring or pointlessly rich in details”.
Il Giornale
“Nucci’s last novel is intense, perilous and reminiscent of Picasso; you can get lost in its pages. Il toro
non sbaglia mai is an extraordinary book”.
Il Messaggero
“A profound novel that is in no way inferior to one of the most influential books in my life, Death in the
Afternoon by Hemingway”.
Gianni Clerici, Il Venerdì di Repubblica
“Nucci’s book is a successful blend of reportage, historical reconstruction, erudition and diary”.
Valerio Magrelli, La Repubblica
Matteo Nucci (Rome, 1970) journalist and writer, is regular contributor to Il Venerdi' di Repubblica and XL, specialized in books
and travels. He is a Greek philosophy scholar and edited the new edition of Plato'
s Symposium for Einaudi. He published several
short stories on various magazines, and the novel Sono comuni le cose degli amici (Ponte alle Grazie, 2009).
CONTROSOLE (Against the Sun)
Roberto Parodi
Tea, November 2011 – pp. 320
A man, a boy and a motorbike: a fascinating journey to the East and an emotional
adventure into the characters’ deepest feelings.
The father abandoned his certainties to follow the dream of a different life. His teenage
son is wrapped up in his own world.
They get on the motorbike together to face a problem that may even be on the other side of the world.
They drive for over six thousand miles on an old Harley, they cross one border after another, one country
after another, one face after another, all the way from Italy to Pakistan.
Mile after mile they talk, they argue, they get closer and they finally learn to love each other again.
Roberto Parodi was born in Alessandria a fairly acceptable number of years ago. He used to be a policeman, a mechanic engineer
and a banker before he realised writing was what he really wanted to do. He’s been trying to make up for lost time for a few years
now. He is a journalist who loves playing guitar, Chuck Berry, the Beat Generation and his motorbike. Surprisingly, he has three
children and (still) a wife. His previous novel, Scheggia (2010) is also published by TEA.
NON INVITARMI AL TUO MATRIMONIO (Do Not Invite Me to Your Wedding)
Matteo Pelli
Tea, May 2011 – pp. 240
Fabio Volo meets Nick Hornby.
A funny and entertaining novel. Music, dreams, misunderstandings, flights, passions
and love: they all come together in a gripping novel.
A young dj hosting the local radio station’s morning show. A simple, quiet life: home,
radio, recording studio, home. He is surrounded by a bunch of weird friends, such as
Egidio, who spends his time watching birds through a pair of binoculars, and «Quota», always busy placing
bets on anything.
All of the sudden the radio’s most popular presenter disappears, and the mystery begins. Our dj takes his
place: the new show starts as a complete disaster, then spirals out of control and ends up becoming an
absolute success.
Then the protagonist leaves for Cuba to solve a mystery.
Then the radio director leaves for Barcelona and the mystery gets thicker.
Then love comes, or so it seems, and mystery is everywhere...
“Enjoy the immediacy, liveliness and – why not? – the naivety Matteo Pelli conveys.”
Mina, singer and journalist.
Matteo Pelli was born in Lugano in 1978. After his studies at Accademia di Brera, Milan, he started working for RSI (Televisione
della Svizzera Italiana) at a young age, quickly becoming one of the most popular faces there. He is the author of two highly
successful novels, Johnny Pio (2008) and 900 metri (2009), both published by the Swiss publisher Edizioni Casagrande. Still active
on television, he organises events on behalf of renowned institutions and writes about music and gastronomy. His articles are
regularly published in several magazines.
Andrea Vitali, the most original voice in recent Italian literature
OVERALL VITALI’s novels sold 2,000,000 copies in Italy !
“He is extraordinarily clever. He is a great writer, in the next twenty years he will be acclaimed
everywhere.”
Antonio D'Orrico, Corriere della Sera
A successful author, compared to Mario Soldati and Piero Chiara, who has been on the Italian Best-Sellers
List with THREE of his novels at the same time ! He was born in Bellano on the Lake of Como where he
still lives and works as medical doctor. All his stories take place in his hometown – a place that has recently
become more and more attractive to people from all over the world! Hollywood stars like George Clooney
bought a villa on the Lake of Como… His novels published by Garzanti with enormous success, also
received many prestigious literary prizes.
In his novels - amusing, intelligent, very enjoyable - Andrea Vitali has reinvented Italian comedy: he
manages to restore the truest and deepest image of Italy, in a restless and entertaining whirlpool of
colourful characters and surprises. His readers anxiously look forward to his new book and every time
discover that he has become more and more smart and irresistible.
LA ZIA ANTONIA SAPEVA DI MENTA (Aunt Antonia Smelt of Mint)
Andrea Vitali
Garzanti, November 2011 – pp. 160
The old people’s home in Bellano, an old aunt, a caring nephew and an attractive
inheritance.
Ernesto Cervicati has always taken care of his aunt Antonia. They used to live together
until she got too old and she preferred to move to the old people’s home in Bellano. On
the one hand Aunt Antonia did not want to be a burden to her nephew; on the other hand
she had a certain modesty and tact.
Antonio, Ernesto’s brother, has always ignored his aunt. His attentions were better spent on Augusta, his
fake blonde, lustful wife.
One day, out of the blue, Antonio decides it is time to start taking care of his old relative. She is far from
wealthy, yet there may be some bits and pieces he can inherit from her.
Aunt Antonia has always been very fond of mints, and when she starts smelling of garlic Ernesto Cervicati
and Sister Speranza understand that something is just not right with her. And the mystery begins…
LA LEGGENDA DEL MORTO CONTENTO (The Legend of the Happy Dead)
Andrea Vitali
Garzanti Libri, March 2011 – pp. 237 debuted at #2 on the bestseller lists!
For the first time Andrea Vitali turns his gaze to the past, to the nineteenth century,
and brings to life another piece of his Bellano.
Bellano, a summer morning on 23 July 1843, two young men looking for adventure sail
away from the lake shore in a small boat. Lepido, the town’s tailor, looks anxiously at
them from the pier: it is not a fine day for sailing, the wind is rising. The boat sails
quickly away and a sudden tragedy follows: the boat capsizes and a dead body is cast on shore.
Yet there’s a problem: the victim is Francesco, the restless son of a rich and powerful businessman in town.
The other inexperienced sailor comes from Milan and is in Bellano on holiday; his father is the engineer who
is planning the railway that will link Milan and Valtellina. Two important families and a heavy request from
Como: there needs to be a culprit.
BACKLIST
IL MECCANICO LANDRU Landru, Technician 2010 - 90,000 copies sold in few months!
LA MAMMA DEL SOLE (The Sun's Mummy) 2010 - 170,000 copies sold
PIANOFORTE VENDESI Piano on Sale 2009 - 160,000 copies sold
ALMENO IL CAPPELLO At least the Hat) 2009 - 5 editions, 110,000 copies sold, Premio Casanova
2009; Premio La Tore 2009; Premio Procida Isola di Arturo Elsa Morante, 2009; Short-listed for Premio
Strega 2009; Premio Campiello Shortlisted for Giuria dei Letterati, 2009.
DOPO LUNGA E PENOSA MALATTIA After Long and Painful Illness 2008 - 120,000 copies sold
LA MODISTA (The Milliner) 2008 - 240,000 copies sold
IL SEGRETO DI ORTELIA (Ortelia’s Secret) 2007 - more than 200,000 copies sold
OLIVE COMPRESE (Olives included) 2006 - Ten editions !! Over 260,000 copies sold!
IL PROCURATORE (The Attorney 2006
LA FIGLIA DEL PODESTA’(The Mayor’s Daughter ) 2005 - (Partial English translation available)
Premio Bancarella 2006, Over 170,000 copies sold!
LA SIGNORINA TECLA MANZI (Miss Tecla Manzi) 2004 - 150,000 copies sold
UN AMORE DI ZITELLA (A Lovely Spinster 2004 100,000 copies sold
UNA FINESTRA VISTA LAGO (A Window on the Lake 2003 Premio Grinzane Cavour 170,000
copies sold!
“Dans ce joyeux foutoir de personnages, de situations burlesques et de quiproquos, des hydravions
s'abîment, des téléphonistes tombent amoureuses, et le lecteur s'amuse, follement”.
Le Figaro
“Léger comme la chantilly au sommet d'une glace. On ne peut rêver meilleure introduction aux lectures
d'été” La Croix
“Finding such an extraordinary storyteller is a real joy to all of us!” Andrea Camilleri
“The novels by Andrea Vitali are a rarity, they represent the perfect example of Italy’s ancient art of
storytelling…”
“Andrea Vitali is the Medical Doctor-Author whom I hold in great esteem and consider one of the best
Italian story-tellers.” Antonio D’Orrico, Corriere della Sera
“The books by Vitali are read in one shot, full of details, those that our memory bears, making us laugh.”
Giovanni Pacchiano, Il Sole 24 Ore
“He opens and closes his chapters as nobody else, among Italian authors...”
Mariarosa Mancuso, Panorama
"Hats off!! Andrea Vitali is more than a great writer. He is a VERY great writer. " Antonio D'Orrico
Corriere della Sera
Andrea Vitali was born in 1956 in Bellano, on the east coast of the lake of Como, where he still lives and works as medical doctor.
He published by Garzanti Una finestra vistalago (2003 -Premio Grinzane Cavour 2004 and Premio Letterario Bruno Gioffré, 2004);
Un amore di zitella (2004); La signorina Tecla Manzi (2004, Dessì Prize); La figlia del podestà (2005, Premio Bancarella 2006); Il
procuratore (2006, Premio Montblanc); Olive comprese (2006); Il segreto di Ortelia (2007); La Modista (2008); Dopo lunga e
penosa malattia (2008); Almeno il Cappello (2009); Pianoforte vendesi (2009); La Mamma del Sole (2010); Il meccanico Landru
(2010.)
Rights sold: France: Buchet-Chastel, Germany: Piper Verlag, Greece: Modern Times, Holland: Serena
Libri, Japan : C-Light Books, Korea: Indebook, Portugal: Porto Editora, Romania: Historia and Corint,
Serbia: Evro-Giunti Publishers, Spain: Roca Editorial
LITERARY FICTION
DARIO FO – 1997 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE in Guanda's catalogue!
A unique voice in the panorama of contemporary Italian literature
IL BOCCACIO RIVEDUTO E SCORRETTO (Boccaccio Revised and Incorrect)
Dario Fo (edited by Franca Rame)
Guanda, May 2011 – pp. 448
Illustrations by Dario Fo
A Nobel Prize Laureate pays tribute to a 14th century master.
Fo meets Boccaccio on familiar terrain: novellas.
The Nobel Laureate wants to rediscover Boccaccio and his influence: theatre, from the
15th century onwards and for several centuries, owes much to the author of Decameron
and to “his detached, ironic, disenchanted and provocative narrative style. Even the great Shakespeare, for
his Cymbeline, stole a few ideas from Boccaccio.”
Fo narrates, retells and creates anew.
The result is a highly enjoyable book that on the one hand highlights the historical role played by the Tuscan
author, while on the other confirms the extraordinary storytelling skills of our Nobel Prize.
BACKLIST TITLES PUBLISHED BY GUANDA :
L’OSCENO E’ SACRO (Obscenity is sacred) 2010
LA BIBBIA DEI VILLANI (The Peasants’ Bible) 2010 - The Bible revisited in Fo’s realistic, moving,
enjoyable, popular, jesterish and unique style!
UNA VITA ALL’IMPROVVISA (Life, All of a Sudden) 2009 - Rights sold to: Germany/Rotbuch
L'APOCALISSE RIMANDATA (Apocalypse Postponed) 2008 - Rights sold to: France/Fayard
L'AMORE E LO SGHIGNAZZO (Love and Laughter) 2007 - Rights sold to: France/Fayard,
Greece/Kastaniotis, Portugal/Gradiva, Romania/Minerva, Spain/Paidòs
IL MONDO SECONDO FO (The World According to Fo) 2007 - Rights sold to: France/Fayard,
Germany/Rotbuch, Greece/Kastaniotis, Romania/Minerva, Spain/Paidòs
Dario Fo, born in 1926, graduated in Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, Milan. Having discovered his talent for theatre
and satire quite early, he started writing monologues for the radio. In 1952 he made his theatre debut, which represented the
beginning of a long and distinguished career. Moving between public success and censorship issues, Fo triumphed all other the
world, his political satires drawn from popular culture and daily chronicle being performed to international acclaim. In 1997 he was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
IL NOME GIUSTO (The Right Name)
Sergio Garufi
Ponte alle Grazie, June 2011 - pp. 224
Fifteen books to piece together an extraordinary life. Just like any reader’s life is.
A would-be writer from Milan is struggling between life and death on a road in Rome.
From this position, in the short time before he passes away, he tells us his story. He used
to like hanging around Lino’s bookshop and there are as many chapters to this story as
were the books Lino sold before he closed down his shop: just fifteen! Each volume was sold to an unlikely,
picturesque character, or an ordinary but unexpected one. The way those fifteen books – from Leopardi to
Borges, from Foster Wallace to Kafka – enter into the life of the clients always represents some bizarre, yet
meaningful, coincidence with the life story of our protagonist. A very special and yet somehow also deeply
ordinary existence, just like any reader’s life is special and ordinary at the same time. In the end, while
thinking of the unsold books that are going to be pulped, he will understand that the limbo he is in, in those
moments preceding his death, is very similar to the process of deinking and bleaching that pulped paper has
to undergo before being recycled.
The flavour of read books and lived life emerges in an ironic and delicate style; a book that entertains while
offering food for thought.
“Garufi plays hide and seek with Calvino and Perec”.
Sergio Pent, La Stampa
“Garufi’s novel is honest, blunt and even harsh. Its style is plain yet learned, sophisticated yet clear… A
great accomplishment”.
Liberazione
An unexpected debut novel. Garufi’s previous literary experiments on magazines and online have received
the praise of important writers and literary critics:
«One of Italy’s most gifted writers».
Tiziano Scarpa, writer
Sergio Garufi (Milan, 1963) has been living in Rome for a while. He has written for Liberazione, Diario, Stilos. He was among the
contributors of Nazione Indiana. This is his first novel.
TUTTA LA VITA (Your whole Life)
Romana Petri
Longanesi, March 2011 – pp. 425
Love is stronger than destiny.
A novel on the sorrow and joy of life, on the strength of women against the background
of Italian history in the twentieth century.
A compelling and intense love story with an extraordinary protagonist: Alcina, brave and
proud, is determined to escape her fate. Thanks to the strength and optimism of the man
who has loved her since his childhood, she will be able to face the hardships of migration, leave her
homeland behind and rescue her daughter from the horrors of History, leading her to a destiny of happiness
that, against all odds, exists.
An intense, moving and much needed story.
«There’s a fragrance in Romana Petri’s writing, a fragrance we like and we are grateful to her for.»
Antonio Tabucchi, writer
«Love is the strongest matrix, the background noise in the whole novel.»
Valeria Parrella, writer
«A unrestrained representation of naked life, of its troubles, dreams and agonies.»
Filippo La Porta, essayist, journalist and literary critic
Romana Petri lives between Rome and Lisbon. She is a publisher, translator, literary critic and writes for several national
magazines. Petri is generally considered by critics one of the best voices in Italian contemporary literature. To date, she has published
nine books, including several novels and collections of short stories.
Among the many prestigious awards and honours received, Petri is a winner of the Premio Mondello, the Rapallo-Carige and the
Grinzane Cavour. She was shortlisted for the Premio Strega 2001.
Rights sold: Portugal: Bertrand, Spain: Destino
TUTTO COSPIRA A TACERE DI NOI (Everything is Plotting to Leave Us Out)
Daniela Ranieri
Ponte alle Grazie, January 2012 – pp. 256
Love story meets political thriller: temporary workers wage war against the system.
Luigi Trevor is a member of a collective called Nuclei Digitali Dissidenti (Dissident
Digital Units): its aim is to subvert the system by using information technology. When he
manages to get a job at a multinational communications company, where he plans to
sabotage their political and financial strategies, he is assigned to Arianna’s desk. Arianna
is a former employee who has disappeared all of a sudden.
Trevor is instantly attracted to the girl and starts a personal investigation into the evidence she left on her
computer. He spends what are possibly the last days of her life tracking down, archiving and reconstructing
meticulously a series of documents, letters, scientific essays and manuscripts she left behind, thus coming
upon the draft of a novel that may well contain the secret behind Arianna’s disappearance. Torn between
erotic obsession and the identification with Arianna, with whom he shares the lot of the intellectual
temporary worker, Trevor will have to solve an intrigue that involves the political and financial world,
repression and the power of multinational corporations.
Daniela Ranieri is a well-known web writer. Her writings, short stories and aphorisms have been published on Tumblr. She has a
remarkably wide following on Facebook, Twitter and Friendfeed. In 2004 she published De erotographia. Nuove scritture del
desiderio (Castelvecchi, 2004), an essay on eroticism and advertising.
QUALCOSA DI SCRITTO (Something Written Down)
Emanuele Trevi
Ponte alle Grazie, February 2012 - pp. 225
Pier Paolo Pasolini is at once a myth, a ghost, an obsession and an unachievable
role-model in this ambitious, intimate and profound book that encompasses fiction,
autobiography and literary criticism.
The novel’s protagonist, his vicissitudes, his ambitions and his whole life revolves
around one of the greatest intellectuals of the 20th century, Pier Paolo Pasolini. This is a
curious situation of “indirect knowledge”: the protagonist works at the Pasolini Foundation together with
Laura Betti – a close friend of the great author and an actress in many of his films. His research focuses on
Petrolio, the intriguing book Pasolini worked on from 1972 until his death. Surrounded by signs of the dead
author, the protagonist perceives Pasolini as a ghostly presence. Petrolio is more than just a book: it becomes
an extension of the protagonist’s body that helps him to experiment ways of life formerly inaccessible.
When looking at the great example set by Pasolini, the protagonist’s life looks like a comical and bloodless
replica. He is about to turn thirty, his first novel is about to be published, and the two most important women
in his life are pushing him to face up to the great author: his colleague Betti accuses him of being a spineless
hypocrite while the woman he loves keeps asking him to hit her. Despite feeling guilty, the protagonist is
unable to stand up to their requests.
“The best novels contain gems and weakness, visions and leaps. Some characters don’t know what they
should do, and they bump into their destiny by chance; it seems that others come from another planet, and
they are here to tell us something we do not understand, and they do not understand either. Emanuele
Trevi is a master of disorderly narration.” Marco Lodoli, La Repubblica
“Trevi has become very skilled in a difficult form of art: the art of losing the thread.”
Pietro Citati, scrittore e critico letterario
Emanuele Trevi is 47 years old. He is a novelist, literary critic and essayist. His debut novel was I cani del nulla (The Dogs of
Nothing, Einaudi Stile Libero). Il libro della gioia perpetua (The Book of Perpetual Joy, Rizzoli, 2010) is Trevi’s latest novel.
MYSTERY/THRILLER/NOIR
L’ENERGIA DEL VUOTO (The Vacuum Energy)
Bruno Arpaia
Guanda, January 2011 – pp. 260
A spy story on the adventure of Modern Physics . An international Intrigue at
Geneva’s Cern (European Centre of Nuclear Research).
On a Swiss motorway, by night, a car proceeds swiftly towards Marseille. On board, a
man, Pietro Leone, member of Geneva’s UNO, is racing away in the night with his child
Nico. Pietro himself does not really know why he is escaping and from what. All he
knows is that, for several days, somebody is checking all his movements and his family’s. His Spanish wife
Emilia Vinas and Cern researcher, hasn’t come back home from office the night before. She is responsible
for one of the experiments on Large Hadron Collider, LHD, the most powerful particles accelerator ever
built in the world…
The adventure of physics, from Einstein to the string theory, is a fascinating subject. This is what a young,
beautiful journalist from Madrid also discovers: she has came to Cern to write an article for her paper and
she is totally fascinated by these theories and the world of physics. Thanks to her questions we start being
involved in a world that might sound mysterious to most people but that, in these pages, is the background of
a real adventure novel and thriller. Because in this center of studies and researches, many passions, intrigues
and personal interests find place……Where is Emilia? What are Pietro and Nico running away from….?
“Bruno Arpaia is one of those rare writers who face art and literature with the only ambition to be
coherent with life and with his own times….” Luis Sepulveda
Bruno Arpaia, born in Ottaviano (Naples) in 1957, is journalist, editorial consultant and translator of Spanish and Latin-American
literature. He published several novels which got many literary awards (Hammet Italia Award, 1997 for Tempo perso; Premio
Selezione Campiello 2001; Un Autore per l’Europa 2001 for L’Angelo della Storia; Premio Napoli and Premio Comisso 2006 for Il
passato davanti a noi. All his books are published by Guanda – including a book on Conversations with Luis Sepulveda, Raccontare,
resistere, and the essay Per una sinistra reazionaria.
Rights sold: Russia: United Press
I MATERIALI DEL KILLER (The Killer’s Accoutrements)
Gianni Biondillo
An extract of the book is available in English.
Guanda, August 2011 – pp. 360
A typical anti-hero from the outskirts of Milan: Inspector Ferraro is back!
Inspector Ferraro has left Rome, where he has spent the last five years, and is back in ‘his’
Milan. He’s alone after the failure of his relationship with police commissioner Elena
Rinaldi, a woman who, just like any other woman, did not understand and will never
understand. His beard is a little greyer than before, but he is back to the police station in Quarto Oggiaro, in
the outskirts of Milan.
Yet his homecoming is not an easy one. He has to come to terms with the annoying sense of sloth and
existential failure that always gnaw him, with his pre-adolescent daughter Giulia, with the absence of his
colleague Lanza, assigned elsewhere. Finally, he has to deal with a house robbery: the usual gipsy, who lost
his life together with the house owner. At the same time in Lodi – since destiny likes playing with the threads
of people’s lives – a mysterious and incredible escape from prison has ended up in a bloodbath. The fugitive
is a petty black prisoner, so how to make sense of the criminal commando deployed to set him free?
A contemporary crime story, a novel that digs into the deepest fears of our time while driving us along a
frenetic chase from the north to the south of Italy.
BACKLIST :
IL GIOVANE SBIRRO (The Young Cop) 2007
CON LA MORTE NEL CUORE (Sick at Hearth) 2005 Rights sold to France (Joelle Losfeld/Gallimard)
and Germany (Goldmann/Random House)
PER COSA SI UCCIDE (Why We Kill) 2004 Rights sold to Spain (Tropismos) and France (Joelle
Losfeld/Gallimard)
“An impressive, surprising, sharp writer, and of great literary enjoyment!!”
Alessandro Bertante, La Repubblica
“Serious and cheerful, harsh and light, ruthless and sweet. Smart and smart...”
Antonio D’Orrico, Corriere della Sera
“Here, more than ever before, the good detective novel is the one that becomes the instrument to
understand, reading between the lines, the backdrop where it is set. In this case Milan and, behind Milan,
a bit of all of us.”
Corrado Augias, Il Venerdì di Repubblica
Gianni Biondillo (Milano, 1966) is an architect and essayist. He writes on cinema and television and is a journalist for Nazione
Indiana. The great success arrived with the novels featuring Inspector Ferraro, all published by Guanda.
COME DOVEVA FINIRE (How It Should Have Ended)
Alberto Gentili
Garzanti, May 2011 – pp. 390
Through the suspense and twists of a crime story, the anxieties and dark sides of an
entire generation are revealed.
Luca Mancini is a bouncer in a club popular among teenagers. Well, he used to be, given
that his skull got smashed. In order to solve the crime, Inspector Tommaso Cappa starts to
investigate among those who hang around the club. Boys and girls just like any others,
who go to school in the morning and go clubbing on Saturdays. The rest of the time they chat and text. And
that’s where the trap is, in one’s social network where money, sex and drugs enter into chat-rooms to create
an explosive mixture.
Alberto Gentili (Rome, 1961) currently writes for the daily «Messaggero». Previously, he was a journalist for RAI and
«L’Espresso», famous for his coverage of the great events in both national and international news. Gentili’s previous novel Liberami
amore (Set Me Free, My Love, 2008) is also published by Garzanti.
An incredible Début Novel by a very young woman author !
L’ALLIEVA (The Apprentice)
Alessia Gazzola
Longanesi, January 2011 – pp.260
5 on ten best-seller lists
4 editions, more than 70,000 copies sold!
She is young and smart. She doesn’t stand autopsies well. But she’s always facing
death. CSI meets Sofia Kinsella !
Alice Allevi is a young apprentice in forensic medicine. Her life is spangled by daily
disasters. She is not looked over favourably in the Institute where she works: it all started
when she cut her finger accidentally while trying to dissect an eyeball….
Her woman director has been picking her on constantly. Alice must also try to understand if her colleague
Claudio, a dandy and womanizer, is prepared to help her to overcome her little professional problems –
leaving aside any sentimental questions in which she keeps getting entangled. And, to complete the picture,
Alice has got a bizarre Japanese co-tenant who keeps her awake by reminding her that when you are young
you must live by night.
In this routine a murder creeps in… a common event for a Forensic Institute, were it not that Alice met the
victim the night before she died. This murder will become an obsession to Alice and, maybe, an opportunity
to get a professional redemption.
Alessia Gazzola is 27-years old and lives in Messina (Sicily). She is specializing in forensic medicine and L’Allieva is her first
novel.
Rights sold: France: Place des editeurs, Germany: Random House, Spain: Suma/Santillana, Turkey: Ilgi
TV rights have been optioned by Endemol
UN MATTINO D’OTTOBRE (One Morning in October)
Gianni Simoni
Tea, September 2011 – pp. 295
Two gentlemen serving justice: the investigation of former judge Petri and of Police
Superintendent Miceli.
Carlo Petri is a former judge who embraced an early retirement to escape a system he
considered too rigid, preferring to serve justice from behind the front lines. Nevertheless,
Petri always finds himself in the front line.
Superintendent Miceli is the kind of man who never compromises. Every evening, no matter what, he goes
back home feeling content as he knows his wife Lucia is waiting for him, her love for him undiminished by
time.
Brescia is shaken by a series of brutal murders: first Engineer Rava is found dead, mysteriously killed, in his
hospital bed; then Santina Vergottini, while walking alone in the street, is shot down by two bullets fired
straight into her heart. Two months later Letizia Strambi, a lung specialist, is sitting in her car outside her
house when she is shot twice in the head.
An unstoppable horror that is bound to continue since all the victims are apparently innocent and unrelated to
each other. A tough challenge awaits Petri and Miceli.
«From Giancarlo De Cataldo to Gianrico Carofiglio there are several examples of magistrates turned
novelists. Gianni Simoni embraces literature with intriguing results.»
Armando Besio, la Repubblica
«Simoni has been offering us flawless crime stories for a few years now. This is his fourth novel in the
series and we can already see a self-sufficient microcosm and a noteworthy narrative talent, as confirmed
by the growing sales of his books, mostly due to the word of mouth from many satisfied readers.»
Santa Di Salvo, Il Mattino
«Simoni is a highly skilled story teller. …his characters are lifelike and three dimensional, and his
pleasure as a writer becomes ours as his readers.»
Nino Dolfo, Bresciaoggi
«A frenzied investigation, a well-matched couple of detectives.»
Beppe Benvenuto, Style Magazine – Corriere della Sera
Gianni Simoni, a former magistrate, specialised in investigations on organised crime and terrorism.
He was prosecutor at the appeal trial for the Ambrosoli murder and held the judiciary inquiries on Michele Sindona'
s death in the
Voghera prison. On this matter he has written an essay, Il caffè di Sindona, with Giuliano Turone, published by Garzanti.
The other titles in the series featuring the investigations of Inspector Miceli and former judge Petri published by TEA are:
Commissario, domani ucciderò Labruna (Superintendent, I will kill Labruna Tomorrow), Lo specchio del barbiere (The Barber’s
Mirror) and Morte al cancello (Death at the Gate).
The novels featuring Inspector Bordelli have sold over 250,000 copies !
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO (Destiny’s strength)
Marco Vichi
Guanda, November 2011 – pp. 370
Cynical, gruff and disenchanted, Inspector Bordelli is engaged in a new investigation
in 1960s Italy.
Spring 1967. After the Florence Flood in November, the city is coming back to life. While
investigating the murder of a young boy, Bordelli clashes with the occult powers of
Freemasonry. A series of very clear messages force him to surrender: first of all Eleonora, the shop assistant
Bordelli has a passionate relationship with, is raped; then he receives a list of names of all his loved ones. In
order to protect his friends, he resigns from the police force. He finally sells his house in San Frediano and
moves to the country… but destiny offers him a chance to find justice, and Bordelli is not going to back out:
this is going to be one of his most exciting adventures.
Awarded the 2009 Scerbanenco Prize with the following motivation: “A story of civic engagement, a
bitter and painful story.”
BACKLIST OF INSPECTOR BORDELLI’S TITLES:
- MORTE A FIRENZE (Death in Florence) 2009
- IL NUOVO VENUTO (The New Arrival) 2004
- UNA BRUTTA FACCENDA (Bad News) 2003
- IL COMMISSARIO BORDELLI (Inspector Bordelli) 2002
“Over the course of his police procedurals, Vichi shows us the darkest and most secret sides of an
otherwise sunny and welcoming city. But his happiest creation, in my opinion, remains the character of
Inspector Bordelli, a disillusioned anti-hero who cannot be easily forgotten”
Andrea Camilleri
“Marco Vichi is one of my favorite writers. Death In August is a gem of a book penned by the hand of a
master at words”.
Dan Fante
"Inspector Bordelli is magnetic and melancholic like a Chandler hero" La Repubblica
"We like Inspector Bordelli for that nostalgic 'the way we were'atmosphere....an almost chandlerian
policeman." Giovanni Pacchiano, Il Sole 24Ore
Marco Vichi, born in Florence in 1957, lives in the Chianti region. He is one of the most successful Italian crime novelists and has
been shortlisted as one of the best Italian authors of the decade by the national newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Vichi has many novels to his credit, all published by Guanda: L’inquilino (The Lodger, 1999), Donne donne (Women Women, 2000,
new edition 2008), Il brigante (The Bandit, 2006), Nero di luna (Moon Black, 2007) and Un tipo tranquillo (A Peaceful Guy, 2010).
In 2002 Vichi started writing the popular series featuring Inspector Bordelli. In 2005 he published the collection Perché dollari?
(Why Dollars?) and Da Rossini ai Rolling Stones (From Rossini to Rolling Stones), published by Almanacco Guanda in 2005. He is
the editor of two collections of short stories, Città in nero (City in the Dark, 2006) and Delitti in provincia (Murders in the
Provinces, 2007). He has also written screenplays, music lyrics and radio scripts. He supports and cooperates with several
humanitarian projects.
Rights sold: Germany: Lübbe Verlag, Portugal: ASA, Spain: Duomo Ediciones, UK: Hodder and
Stoughton, US: Pegasus Books
SPY STORIES
LE REGOLE DEL GIOCO (The Rules of the Game)
Riccardo Perissich
Longanesi, January 2012 – pp. 400
In the vein of Tom Clancy and John Le Carré.
An indiscrete and expert look at the mechanisms at play behind the work of secret
services.
St. Tropez is one of the most exclusive places in the world. Arkadij Orlov, a Russian
tycoon, lives there. Russian secret services are watching him, and so are the French and Italian ones. What is
Orlov hiding? When he is about to reveal his secrets, the tycoon is killed in his car. An Italian secret agent
sees the whole scene but he is unable to see the face of the killer.
A breathtaking thriller unravels: at its center there is a mysterious operation and an extraordinary character,
Colonel Valente, member of Italian secret services. Valente will find himself at the center of a terrible game
in which everybody has a hidden agenda. Distinguishing truth from lie, friend from enemy is a nearly
impossible task. To follow the dangerous game, Valente will risk losing everything that he holds dearest: his
woman, his reputation, his work, his life…
Riccardo Perissich had an early career in journalism and he was a specialist in International Relations. He has worked for the
European Commission for over twenty years, taking part in international negotiations, covering directorial positions and acquiring
amazing insider knowledge of diplomatic mechanisms.
He is a regular contributor to both Italian and international press, writing on international affairs. Le regole del gioco (The Rules of
the Game) is Perissich’s first novel.
ADVENTURES
LA VOCE DEL DESTINO (The Voice of Destiny)
Marco Buticchi
Longanesi, September 2011 – pp. 650
A true “Master of Adventure”: Buticchi has sold over 1,000,000 copies!!
An extraordinary female protagonist engaged in a struggle against the forces of Evil,
a powerful and legendary mystery and, in the background, some of the darkest
moments in human history.
Paris, today: with an adventurous escape Oswald Breil and his colleague Sara save an elderly homeless lady
who was about to be abducted. Who is the mysterious woman?
No one would ever guess the old lady is in fact the famous soprano Luce De Bartolo: when she was a young
girl, in Argentina, she had met Evita Duarte, future wife of Colonel Juan Domingo Perón. To run away from
the demons hounding her after the fateful encounter, Luce has been forced to live a vagabond life ever since.
Oswald and Sara follow an ancient mystery to discover the connection between Luce, the Nazis who
migrated to Argentina and attempted to give birth to the Fourth Reich and the mysterious Spear of Longinus,
the lance that, according to the Holy Bible, pierced Jesus Christ’s side as he hung on the cross.
The ability to switch between different places and historical moments, a breathtaking plot and the constant
attention paid to historical verisimilitude place The Voice of Destiny among the best examples of
international adventure literature.
BACKLIST:
IL RESPIRO DEL DESERTO (The Breath of the Desert), 2009, 5 editions - Spain: Planeta
IL VENTO DEI DEMONI (The Wind of Demons), 2007
L’ANELLO DEI RE (The Ring of Kings), 2005 - Germany: Piper; Romania: Nemira
LA NAVE D’ORO (The Golden Vessel), 2003 - Germany: Piper
PROFEZIA (Prophecy), 2000 - Germany: Piper; Portugal: Difel
MENORAH 1998
LE PIETRE DELLA LUNA (The Stones of the Moon), 1997 - Germany: Piper; Spain: Salamandra
“Buticchi’s novels originate from a sudden flash: Imagination is unbound here”.
Corriere della Sera
Marco Buticchi was born in La Spezia in 1957. He is an eager traveller: travelling satisfies his curious mind and his taste for
adventure as much as nurturing his attention to details, crucial in shaping his concise and sharp descriptions. He is the first Italian
author to be published by Longanesi in the series “The Masters of Adventure” alongside such celebrated writers as Wilbur Smith,
Clive Cussler and Patrick O’Brian. His books have enjoyed huge critical and commercial success.
All of Buticchi’s novels are constantly being reprinted in Italy, and this is why Italian media, as well as
Buticchi’s many fans, have quickly named him their Wilbur Smith and Ken Follett. The over
1,000,000 copies sold in Italy alone speak for themselves...
HISTORICAL NOVELS
LE RONDINI DI MONTECASSINO (Montecassino's Swallows)
Helena Janeczek
Guanda, April 2010 – pp. 250
An extract of the book is available in English.
The tragic events of Italian war, the Siege of Montecassino.
A crucial war episode to describe five lifestories marked by the conflict.
Montecassino, 1944. The Allied have been trying for five months to break through Gustav
Line. There are not just Americans and English, but also troops from far countries, thrown
into '
Ciociaria'by the whirlpool of WWII: Indians, Nepaleses and even a battalion of New
Zeland'
s Maoris. There are soldiers from Morocco, guilty of consistent rapes on women; the Polish, former
gulag deported who are fighting in a foreign country for Poland'
s freedom. And even one thousand Jews,
carrying with themselves Wojtek, the Teddy Bear, are part of this company and they take arms just for the
sheer right to exist. And the civilians, with their sufferings, caught in a crossfire. Who were all these men
forgotten by WWII history?
Helena Janeczek tries to answer with simple stories full of warmth and empathy. John Wilkins, a Texas
soldier fallen in the bloodthirsty attempt to cross a river. Rapata Sullivan, the grand-son of a shortly-died
veteran of the Maoris battalion, attending the celebrations of the battle at his grandfather'
s place. Edoardo
Bielinski and Anand Gupta, two friends who grew up in Rome and go to Cassino just for '
spirit of adventure'
while they are wondering what'
s going to happen to them once their High School is over. And Rachida, an
immigrant from Morocco working as maid for an old Italian couple. A novel spreading its glance from
Ciociara over distant world portions, making them closer to us and showing us that, as long as our past is
still alive in the survivors'souls, the past is not at all past. It'
s still here.
‘….Peculiar and strange stories, in each of them the breath and heartbeat is made by courage and
generosity of those who find themselves in decisive moments of their existence, when they have to choose
between good and evil…..Janeczek writes skillfully, she is a real writer. ..”
Roberto Saviano, La Repubblica
Helena Janeczek was born in 1964 in Munchen from a Jewish-Polish family. In 1983 she came to Italy where she still lives. She
published a collection of poems in German and the novels Lezioni di tenebra (Mondadori, 1997 - Premio Bagutta Opera Prima)
republished by Guanda 2011 and Cibo (Mondadori, 2002). She is Editor at Nuovi Argomenti literary magazine and Nazione Indiana.
Rights sold: France: Actes Sud, Poland: Replika, Spain: Tusquets
IL PONTE DELLE SIRENETTE (The Bridge of Mermaids)
Giuseppe Pederiali
Garzanti, January 2011 – pp. 378 An extract of the book is available in English.
A young woman, a Jew fleeing from Thessaloniki and an invaluable antique
manuscript: three destinies dangerously come together against the background of
Nazi-occupied Milan.
In a winter morning in 1923 a girl is abandoned by the Ponte delle Sirenette (bridge of
mermaids) in Milan. Wrapped in a blanked, she remembers nothing about her past.
She will become a beautiful and ambitious girl, who will have to grow up, find her own way and face many
difficulties – all by herself. First she is placed in an orphanage, then becomes a maid in a family who exploits
and abuses her and finally ends up a prostitute in a brothel for wealthy clients.
When war breaks out, Sirena meets Ignazio, a Jew fleeing from Thessaloniki with an antique illuminated
manuscript: the invaluable object, decorated with medieval miniatures, was saved when the library of the
Greek city was destroyed.
Against the background of Milan under Nazi occupation, the destiny of beautiful Sirena and that of the
manuscript are interwoven in increasingly dangerous ways...
Spanning a century, the novel portrays two female protagonists who are stronger than destiny, stronger than
History itself and the men who determine it. This is an intense, intriguing and skilfully woven story, packed
with characters and charm. With a clear writing style, Giuseppe Pedali succeeds in narrating engaging
adventures while also speaking to our feelings; most of all, he gives us the portrait of two unforgettable
women.
“Pederiali’s prose is clear and passionate, enriched by unforeseeable but absolutely believable twists and
turns” Giuliano Dego, Corriere della Sera
“Extremely well-plotted, rich in unexpected turn of events, written with psychological subtlety and a great
sociological sensitivity.” Franco Brevini, Panorama
Giuseppe Pederiali was born in Finale Emilia (the southern part of Emilia Romagna) and currently lives in Milan. He is the author
of several novels for adults and young people. His books have been published in Germany, UK, Russia, France and Japan.
Garzanti has published Pederiali’s successful Crime Series ‘Camilla’(Rights sold to Blanvalet/Bertelsmann – Germany and Futami
Shobo – Japan) the collections of short stories L’Osteria della Fola, Marinai and Il Paese delle Amanti Giocose (2006, sold to Ibu
Publishing – Romania) and the novels Il Sogno del Maratoneta (2008) and La vergine napoletana (2009, sold to Periplous –Greece).
In 2010 Pederiali was awarded the Pico della Mirandola Prize for his literary career.
LE PASSIONI DELL’ANIMA (The Passions of the Soul)
Raffaele Simone
Garzanti, September 2011 – pp. 315
The philosopher and the queen, freedom and power, reason and love.
A key episode in the history of ideas is retold in a novel full of insights and emotions.
The friendship between René Descartes, the greatest and most famous philosopher,
mathematician and scientist of his time, and Christina, the young queen of Sweden,
started with a letter: the learned queen asked the philosopher whether it was worse to make bad use of love
or of hatred. Descartes, so dedicated to his philosophy and science, had chosen not to have a family in order
to pursue his philosophical vocation. However, he decided to answer Christina’s questions with a treatise
dedicated to the passions of the soul. Christina wrote the philosopher a lot of letters, and used a fair amount
of flattery, until she managed to convince Descartes to visit her in Stockholm.
Christina, who loved dancing and acting, had the fickleness of people in power; Descartes had the rigor of
the philosopher. She treated him like prey and considered him her booty of war; he was a free man who
placed his freedom of thought above all else.
During the bitterly cold winter of 1649, Descartes plays his final game: where is love? Is it to be found in the
aggressive seduction of the queen or in the geometries of body and soul observed by the philosopher?
Raffaele Simone is an internationally renowned linguist and is the author of various essays, pamphlets and treaties on the analysis of
culture. He directed such important lexicographic works as the Dizionario dei sinonimi e dei contrari (Thesaurus, 2003) and Il
Treccani (Dictionary in 5 volumes, 2003). He is the author of Il paese del pressappoco (The Country of Sloppiness, 2005) and Il
Mostro Mite. Perché l’Occidente non va a sinistra (The Gentle Monster. Why the Western World Will Not Go Left, 2008), published
by Garzanti and sold to France, Greece and Spain.
INSPIRATIONAL
Eight editions and 290,000 copies sold!! A huge success
L'ULTIMA RIGA DELLE FAVOLE (The Last Line of Fairy Tales)
Massimo Gramellini
Longanesi, April 2010 – pp. 258
How to find our soul mate and live happily everafter....
A powerful novel in the vein of Paulo Coelho
Tomàs, a young professor with never-healed wounds in his heart, likes Arianna. But,
frightened by this feeling he decides to run away....During his flight he falls into sea
ending up in a mysterious Soul's Thermal Baths'
, a parallel universe where the soul'
s wounds - rather than the
body'
s - of those who are escaping from life (but still have a dream which has not come true) are looked after
and healed. Between thermal baths and massages he will learn how to come to terms with his past and how
to......die in order to start living again....An apology written in a light and intriguing style, a personal path
teaching us how to smile at our own limits and obtain a greater trust in ourselves.
Massimo Gramellini is journalist of La Stampa, where he runs a daily column on the front page. Since 1998 he has been running a
weekly column Cuori allo Specchio. He published Colpo Grosso (1994); Compagni d'Italia (1996); Buongiorno (2002); Granata da
legare (2006) and, with Longanesi Cuori allo Specchio and Ci salveranno gli ingenui.
Rights sold: Brazil: Objetiva, China/Taiwan: Solo Press, France: Robert Laffont, Germany:
Kailash/Random House, Holland: De Bezige Bij, Spain: Suma das Letras/Objectiva, Turkey: Pegasus
LO SGUARDO OLTRE LE DUNE (Gazing Beyond the Dunes)
Carla Perrotti, Fabio Pasinetti
Corbaccio, November 2011 – pp. 250
30 full colour illustrations
The “lady of the desert” is back with a new, surprising challenge, undertaken
together with the blind marathon runner Fabio Pasinetti.
Carla Perrotti and Fabio Pasinetti crossed the Egyptian white desert on foot: 250
kilometres in two weeks and in complete autonomy.
Extreme temperatures, impossibly high dunes, challenging rocky paths all failed to stop them. They crossed
the finish line exhausted, yet also immensely happy. It is the seventh desert enterprise for Carla Perrotti; for
Fabio Pasinetti it is the proof that he can make it despite his blindness. For both of them it is the proof that
perseverance, self-sacrifice, and a lot of will power can overcome even the highest barriers.
Two voices and one diary, written with passion and dedication by two athletes whose only goal was to enjoy
an extraordinary experience to the fullest.
«This time it was different. I always walk by myself but this time I had to learn to share my experiences
with someone else.» Carla Perrotti
«In the desert I ‘saw’ the sunrise, the sunset, and the stars. They are wonderful.» Fabio Pasinetti
Carla Perrotti was born in Milan. She is married and has a son. For nearly twenty years she has been organising explorations to the
four corners of the world, going to remote places such as the Amazon forest, Borneo, Papua New Guinea and Ethiopia. Her
experiences are the subject of two very successful books: Deserti (Deserts, 1999, 10 editions - sold in Germany) and Silenzi di sabbia
(Silences of Sand, 2005, 3 editions - sold in Germany).
Fabio Pasinetti, aged 51, lives with his wife Oriana, blind as well, and works in a call centre. Visually impaired since birth, he lost
his sight completely at the age of 21, when studying in Bologna, due to an unsuccessful surgery. He has dedicated his life to sport
since then: he practiced tandem bicycle, Nordic skiing, mountaineering and later on he devoted himself to marathons.
NON FICTION
GENERAL NON FICTION
IL MITO VENEZIANO (The Venetian Myth)
Enrica Roddolo
Vallardi, August 2011 – pp. 205
The magic of Venice in a history book that reads like a novel
Far more than just a city, Venice is a myth.
The Venetian Myth tells the story of a city that has no equivalent in the world: it brings
back to life the palaces and most picturesque sites, the many men and women who gave
their life, and very often their art, to Venice.
Throughout history, Venice has fascinated a lot of great people – from Petrarch to Byron, from Wagner to
D’Annunzio and Peggy Guggenheim. What is the magic the city has exuded over the centuries?
Enrica Roddolo, journalist and writer, is the Editor-in-chief of the financial weekly magazine Il Mondo. She is a royal affair reporter
and her articles regularly appear in Corriere della Sera and other weekly magazines.This is her sixteenth book.
SALVARE IL PROSSIMO DECENNIO (Saving the Next Decade)
Roberto Vacca
An extract of the book is available in English.
Garzanti Libri, January 2011 – pp. 220
Defend yourself from complex risks. Ignore imaginary fears.
Nowadays, we are far wealthier than our ancestors, we live longer and we move and
communicate at a speed that was unthinkable just a few decades ago. Yet, every coin has
two sides. On the one hand progress cannot erase old fears, and they resurface in
unpredictable ways; on the other hand the higher the degree of complexity of society, the
higher the risk of its becoming more vulnerable.
With his usual competence and clarity Roberto Vacca offers an updated and concise analysis. He challenges
several old myths and a variety of prejudices that feed unreasonable fears. In addition, he tries to expose the
weak links in our complex, interconnected world system, adopting a realistic, scientific and up-to-date
approach.
Together with some grey areas, the picture that comes out offers some extraordinary opportunities as well.
Back in 1971 Roberto Vacca published Il medioevo prossimo venturo (The Coming Dark Age): the book was
a best seller and quickly became a classic in futurology, turning Vacca into a global celebrity. Salvare il
prossimo decennio is, in a way, the sequel of that book.
Roberto Vacca (Rome, 1927), is an engineer and a Professor at the Faculty of Engineering in Rome. He is an executive manager in
the private industrial sector and has been involved in TV shows devoted to the popularisation of science and technology. Among the
many essays written by Vacca, Garzanti has published Anche tu matematico (You Are a Mathematician Too, First edition 1989,
Expanded edition 2008), still in print after twenty years, Anche tu fisico (You Are a Physicist Too, 2008), an explanation of how the
world around us works and evolves, and Patatrac! (The Crash! 2009), an analysis of recent crisis which also tries to indicate some
viable solutions.
TRA SOFFICI ZOLLE E TENERE LATTUGHE: il fascino segreto dell’orto
(Between Soft Soil and Tender Lettuce: The Secret Allure of the Vegetable Garden)
Paola Violani
Vallardi, November 2011 – pp. 256
Old practices and new tips to grow your own vegetables and to have fun creating
you personal kitchen garden.
Throughout history the kitchen garden has been a primary source of support, an
opportunity to experiment creatively and a protected place where personal passions could
be nurtured.
This book is a celebration of the deepest truths about kitchen gardens: it covers the traditional aspects of
agricultural practices and the benefits on the diet, with a special emphasis placed on the vegetable garden as
an opportunity for personal and spiritual development. Growing your own vegetables may become an
opportunity to get to know and understand nature better, and to find your balance at the same time.
The book contains 200 illustrations and 45 informative sections on the most common vegetables: everything
one needs to know to grow and cook them.
Paola Violani is a landscape architect with more than thirty years of experience in planning and developing balconies and private
gardens. A true nature lover, Violani is fond of growing her own vegetables: the kitchen garden has been her favourite pastime since
early childhood. Her “ephemeral gardens” have won several awards at prestigious flower shows. She is a regular contributor to
various gardening magazines.
ESSAYS
CATTEDRALI (Cathedrals)
Luca Doninelli
Garzanti, May 2011 – pp. 274
Between architecture and anthropology.
The Church of the Nativity, the Harrods department store, the Great Pyramid of Giza, the
Forbidden City, the Wailing Wall, the Grand Central Terminal, Les Halles, the Sagrada
Família and the Milan Cathedral: these are all buildings that capture the soul of a city.
When we are there, we are at one with the place. In these places we perceive – or at least
we believe we perceive – something beyond ourselves, and that to some extent transcends ourselves.
Luca Doninelli leads us through an extraordinary investigation of the role played by landscape in general
and, now that half of the world population lives in cities, of what urban space can tell us. Furthermore,
Doninelli teaches us how to pay attention to the psychological landscape and the cultural horizon we live in
and that make us at once curious and confused. By describing some unique places and the stories they
embody, Cathedrals wants to educate the gaze and expand the way we look at the world around us; by
following Doninelli in his journey, we can better understand the relationship that exists between the history
of humanity and the meaning life has for each one of us.
Luca Doninelli (1956) is a journalist and writer of fiction and nonfiction. Among Doninelli’s books published by Garzanti we find
La revoca (1992, Selezione Campiello prize, Premio Città di Catanzaro and Premio Napoli), Le decorose memorie (1994,
Supergrinzane Cavour prize and Nicola Stefanelli prize), La nuova era (1999, Grinzane Cavour prize), Tornavamo dal mare (2004,
Scanno prize, San Vidal prize, Basilicata Literary Prize and Procida-Isola di Arturo-Elsa Morante Literary Prize) and L’incendio dei
sogni (2009). Among his theatre plays, Ite Missa Est premiered in 2002 under the direction of Claudio Longhi.
ODIO GLI INDIFFERENTI (I Hate the Indifferent!)
Antonio Gramsci
25 Weeks in the best-seller lists
Chiarelettere, June 2011 – pp. 108
7 editions
Indifference equals cowardice. I live, I am a partisan, and therefore I hate people who
don’t take sides.
“Indifference operates with great power on history. It operates passively, but it operates
nonetheless. What happens, the evil that weighs upon us all is not so much the result of the
initiatives of the few who act, it is rather the outcome of the indifference, the absenteeism
of the many. What comes to pass does so not because a few people want it to happen, rather because the
mass of citizens abdicate their will: they let things happen, they allow laws to be promulgated that only a
revolt could nullify and they let some men achieve power that only a mutiny will be able to overthrow…”
(Antonio Gramsci)
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), scholar and politician, joined the PSI (Italian Socialist Party) in 1913. He was among the founding
members of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in January 1921, and became its leader in 1924. He was arrested and condemned to
twenty years in prison by the fascist regime, as part of the repression of all opposition parties. His political and historical analyses of
those years are collected in the Prison Notebooks. Gramsci died after a prolonged illness, as witnessed in his Letters from Prison. The
present volume includes Gramsci’s writings from 1917-1918.
Rights sold: Spain: Ariel/ Planeta
IO E DIO. Una guida dei perplessi (God and I. A Guide to the Confused)
Vito Mancuso
Debuted at #2 on the non fiction bestseller list!
Garzanti, September 2011 – pp. 480
2 editions
A key essay to understand what it means to believe in God today.
When we think about God today, only two options seem possible: on the one hand God
may be in open conflict with the world we live in; on the other hand God may represent
an alternative, the illusion of a totally different world that works as a reassuring
consolation, a shelter offering access to the mythical world of childhood and of happy ending stories.
Nowadays, it seems no longer possible to balance a responsible idea of God with a correct view of our
world: some choose God because they despise, or are even afraid of, the world; others choose the world
because they despise, or are tired of, God. Most people don’t choose at all, maybe because by now they are
deprived of that fundamental need of the soul some used to call “hunger and thirst for justice”.
A bestselling author, loved by readers and critics alike because of the rigor and honesty of his observations,
offers believers and non-believers a fundamental text to understand what religion and faith mean in today’s
world.
Vito Mancuso is an Italian theologian, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Theology at the San Raffaele University, Milan. His
writings have attracted a lot of attention and his L’anima e il suo destino, La vita autentica e Disputa su Dio e dintorni (Soul and Its
Destiny. Authentic Life and the Dispute Over God), written together with Corrado Augias, has sold over 100,000 copies and has
obtained a considerable publicity in the press, TV and radio. Mancuso’s personal opinions on ethics and dogma, often out of line with
the Catholic Church, never fail to cause a stir. His articles regularly appear in the national daily La Repubblica.
RIBELLARSI E’ GIUSTO (The Right to Rebel)
Massimo Ottolenghi
Chiarelettere, May 2011 – pp. 122
After Time for Outrage! by Stéphane Hessel, here comes another wake-up call: a
ninety-five-year-old militant’s warning for the new generation.
“We have not succeeded, we have failed. Now it’s your chance.” While pleading guilty
Massimo Ottolenghi, born in 1915 and seen as a symbol of civil resistance, also sends a
strong message to the younger generations.
He has survived two World Wars and was persecuted together with his Jewish family: he has been an angry
liberal-socialist and a perpetual dissident throughout his whole life. This book collects his life and words.
Massimo Ottolenghi was born to a Jewish family in Turin. During World War II he was a militant of the anti-fascist Italian Action
Party with Ada Gobetti, Alessandro Galante Garrone and Giorgio Agosti. He became a magistrate after the war, and eventually a
civil lawyer.
HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY/BIOGRAPHY
L’ONORE PERDUTO DI ISABELLA DE’ MEDICI (The Lost Honour of Isabella
de’ Medici)
Elisabetta Mori
2 editions!
Garzanti, June 2011 – pp. 420
Suspected of adultery, Isabella de’ Medici was suffocated by her husband. This
biography reconstructs her life and gives her back her lost honour.
Isabella and Paolo Giordano, descendants of two distinguished Italian families, are at the
centre of one of the bloodiest “dark legends” of the Renaissance. For centuries historians
have described Isabella, the beautiful daughter of Cosimo de’ Medici, as a woman deprived of any moral
restraint who gave herself to “illicit passions”, justified only by the little attention her husband Paolo
Giordano Orsini paid to her. Exasperated by her continuous infidelity, he eventually killed her.
At last, it is now possible to unveil the truth and to restore Isabella’s honour, eroded by centuries of lies.
Starting from original documents, first of all from the love letters exchanged between husband and wife,
Elisabetta Mori retraces one of the great mysteries of Italian history. By doing so, the author reconstructs an
epoch, its costumes and culture, as well as the political intrigues in 16th century Italy. Furthermore, Mori
offers us the truthful and moving portrait of a woman who found herself trapped among diplomatic
agreements, political machinations and deep feelings.
Elisabetta Mori is a historical archivist working at the Archivio Storico Capitolino in Rome. She wrote several essays on
Renaissance Italy and has been researching on Isabella de’ Medici for many years.
POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS
IL GOLPE INGLESE (The English Coup)
Mario J. Cereghino, Giovanni Fasanella
Chiarelettere, September 2011 – pp. 350
#10 in the non fiction bestseller list!
Oil is the reason behind the invisible, yet fierce, conflict between the British and
Italy: with Mussolini first and the Republic afterwards
The wave of violence and terrorism that scarred Italy in the 70s had its origin in the
refusal to give in to British diktats.
Based on unpublished classified documents from London’s archives, the book attempts
to piece together the whole story of those crucial years, looking closely at other, lesser known, aspects of the
activities of the British secret services (SIS) in Italy.
Mario José Cereghino lives and works between Latin America and Italy. An historian and researcher, in recent years he has been
focusing on declassified documents from various State archives.
Giovanni Fasanella is a journalist, screenwriter and documentary director. He has written several books on Italian hidden history.
He is the author of Il Sol dell’Avvenire (Red Sunrise, Book & DVD, co-authored with Gianfranco Pannone, 2009) and Intrigo
internazionale (International Intrigue, co-authored with the examining magistrate Rosario Priore, 2010) both published by
Chiarelettere.
BARACK OBUSH (Barack Obush)
Giulietto Chiesa, Pino Cabras
Ponte alle Grazie, June 2011 – pp. 205
An unprejudiced analysis to find out what is really going on in the world today.
What does the obscure disappearance of Osama bin Laden mean, and what were the
events that lead to it? What happened to Al-Qa’ida? Who is now leading Egypt or the
other countries after the Arab Spring, and how is the United States trying to control the
emerging political forces? How will the tense relationship between Iran and Syria
develop? And what is the United States doing, secretly or openly, to counterbalance China’s raising
superpower?
With acumen and a no-nonsense approach, Giulietto Chiesa and Pino Cabras cast all those questions the
media leave unanswered in a new light. The result may not be uplifting, but at least it is very clear: the role
played by the United States under Obama – by now distinguishable from his predecessors only because of
his ‘correctness’ – is that of a declining empire which, burdened by a huge debt, eroded by a fading
democracy and fierce international competition, has to sell its life dearly. As dearly as possible in fact: and
we may be all called to pay the price.
Giulietto Chiesa is among the most renowned commentators on international affairs; a former PCI (Italian Communist Party) leader,
he used to be a foreign correspondent from Moscow for l’Unità and La Stampa, and he still is a contributor to the latter newspaper.
He was Member of European Parliament (2004-2009) and is the founding member and current director of the association Megachip.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of the New Policy Forum, which has Mikhail Gorba ëv as its president. Chiesa is the author
of Candidato Lettone (2010) published by Ponte alle Grazie and La menzogna nucleare (2010), co-authored by Guido Cosenza and
Luigi Sertorio, and published in the series ‘Inchieste’.
Pino Cabras, BA in Political Sciences, works for a finance investing company and has several programmes in the United States and
Asia to his credit. He has been directing the website www.megachip.info since 2008.
ATTENTATO AL PAPA (The Assassination Attempt of Pope John Paul II)
Ferdinando Imposimato, Sandro Provvisionato
Chiarelettere, May 2011 – pp. 320
Thirty years after the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II, a new
investigation brings to light unseen documents and new testimonies.
May 13, 1981, 5.17 pm, St. Peter'
s Square at Vatican City. No less than three bullets were
fired at Pope John Paul II, who was entering the square in his jeep. Two Turkish
extremists were behind the failed attempt: Mehmet Ali A ca and Oral Çelik. For years we
have been told that it was nothing more than the act of a madman. This is the starting point of one of the
most intricate plots in contemporary history.
Ferdinando Imposimato, the Rome’s magistrate who followed the investigation on the assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II,
leads us beyond official conclusions in this book, co-authored by Sandro Provvisionato. With the support of unpublished
documents, the author illustrates how the Vatican mingled with Stasi’s secrets and spies (the notorious East Germany State Security
Service), and the role Stasi itself had in the pontificates of Paul VI and John Paul I (also known as Pope Luciani). It thus emerges
how, behind the attempted assassination of the most popular and beloved Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, many people
from both sides of the Iron Curtain were involved. Ferdinando Imposimato and Sandro Provvisionato are the authors of Doveva
morire (He Had to Die, 2008), a pivotal text on Aldo Moro’s kidnapping and assassination, published by Chiarelettere.
Rights sold: Poland: Czerwone I Czarne
Paola Mastrocola, the great Italian novelist who sold over ONE MILLION
copies of her books in Italy!
TOGLIAMO IL DISTURBO (It’s About Time We Went)
Paola Mastrocola
100,000 copies sold!
Guanda, February 2011 – pp. 270
The book that has opened up a huge debate in Italy.
The issues it raises make this book stand side by side with Not for Profit by Martha
C. Nussbaum.
A serious, pitiless analysis of the decline of a culture based on humanities, of the current
social situation, of the future awaiting young people leaving schools that can hardly
offer them a meaningful education.
“This book is a battle cry: we cannot allow culture to abandon our life, and most of all to desert our schools,
as that would give all of us a very bleak future.
The book is also an indictment of my generation, guilty of some devastating choices yet seemingly incapable
of any remorse.
Finally, this is my personal appeal to the younger generation, because they need to choose for themselves the
kind of life they want, disregarding any social or family pressure. Society flatters and commiserates the
young, allowing them to indulge more and more in self-pity; on the contrary, I want them to break free from
this trap, to make a revolutionary gesture and freely choose whether they want to study or not, thus
undermining all the unbearable common places about education that have been ruling and oppressing us for
over forty years.” Paola Mastrocola
This is a controversial book, starting from its title: It’s About Time We Went, as if to say that when the
prevailing cultural model supported by society equates knowledge with mere notions and denigrates any true
intellectual effort, it may be time for teachers to go. To go and find themselves in a school not everyone
wants to attend, but where abstract knowledge is considered a value worth investing in.
This has nothing to do with the debate about an alleged superiority of humanities over scientific culture: the
issue at stake here is to maintain the access to the kind of knowledge that nurtures freedom of though and
speech, fosters autonomous judgment and the force of imagination as fundamental preconditions for a mature
and responsible humanity.
Mastrocola launches a radical proposal which will appear provocative to some, while others will be able to
appreciate its practical and passionate meanings.
Despite not being a standard essay, the author proves herself capable of entertaining while capturing the
reader’s attention.
“This is a much-needed, courageous book written with admirable narrative skills…”
Pierluigi Battista, Sette/Corriere della sera
“We will be talking about Paola Mastrocola’s book for a long time… an enlightening work”
Cesare Segre, Corriere della Sera
“A book that offers a critical, attentive – and I would add correct – analysis of the society we live in, a
society the young are subjected to without even being aware of it.” Maurizio Cucchi, Avvenire
“A highly enjoyable book” Pietro Citati, La Repubblica
Paola Mastrocola was born in 1956 in Turin, where she still lives and works as a high-school teacher. She has written several
novels, all published by Guanda: La gallina volante (Italo Calvino Award 1999; Premio Selezione Campiello 2000; Premio RapalloCarige for Woman Author 2001); Palline di pane (shortlisted for Premio Strega 2001); Una barca nel bosco (Premio Campiello,
2004; Premio Alassio Centolibri - An Author for Europe 2004, 300,000 copies sold); Più lontana della luna (2007) and La narice del
coniglio (2009). Mastrocola has also authored a narrative pamphlet La scuola raccontata al mio cane (2004), two novels in the form
of fables Che Animale sei? (2005) and E se covano i lupi (2008), and a collection of poems, La felicità del galleggiante
Rights sold: Turkey: Destek
PREPARIAMOCI (Let’s Get Ready)
Luca Mercalli
Chiarelettere, May 2011 – pp. 198
3 editions!
A plan to live in a world with fewer resources, less energy, less abundance… And
possibly an extra pinch of happiness.
Tsunamis, climate alarms, nuclear tragedies. Fear and bewilderment. We all know the
balance is broken but we all pretend not to see it. What can we do? What we need is a
new collective intelligence.
The author suggests his revised Ten Commandments: Honour renewable energy; You shall not pollute; You
shall not waste; You shall not overbuild; You shall recycle... Change starts in our homes and we need to
embrace healthier and more sustainable habits.
Miraculous solutions can no longer be expected: we’d better keep our brain switched on all the time, and turn
off the light when we don’t need it.
“I’m very interested in the future, because that’s where I’ll spend the rest of my life” Groucho Marx
Luca Mercalli was born and lives in Turin. He is President of the Italian Meteorological Society and Director of “Nimbus”, the most
important Italian journal of meteorology. He is a regular guest in the popular TV show “Che tempo che fa” and is in charge of the
climate section of the national daily “La Stampa”. His most recent titles include the following: Filosofia delle nuvole (Rizzoli 2008),
Che tempo che farà (Rizzoli 2009) and Viaggi nel tempo che fa (Einaudi 2010).
IL CASO BATTISTI (The Cesare Battisti Case)
Giuliano Turone
Garzanti Libri, July 2011 – pp.180
2 editions!
The Truth on Cesare Battisti. Common Criminal or Victim of Political Persecution?
Cesare Battisti, his escape, absconding and flights have been the centre of attention for
years. Politics, diplomacy, the judiciary and mass media worldwide have been dealing
with him: from Italy to France, from Mexico to Brazil. Battisti, half terrorist, half
novelist, never fails to arouse bitter controversy: to some he is the hero persecuted by an
oppressive regime, to others he is a killer skillfully playing the role of the victim.
Who is the real Cesare Battisti? What is his story? What are the crimes he has been sentenced for?
Giuliano Turone chronicles the whole story: the personal, political and judicial aspects of the Battisti’s affair.
Step by step, the author discusses the investigation and the seven trials, the four murder charges and the life
sentence, with in the background Battisti himself, who has been proclaiming his innocence all along.
«An assassin who killed four people and left a fifth one invalid for the rest of his life.»
Claudio Magris
«Cesare Battisti is a victim of political persecution. His trial was a fabrication.»
Fred Vargas
Giuliano Turone, a former magistrate, has dealt with mafia-related crimes and with economic criminality for many years. He
teaches techniques of investigation at Università Cattolica, Milan. Turone has co-authored, together with Gianni Simoni, Il caffè di
Sindona. Un finanziere d’avventura tra politica, Vaticano e mafia (Sindona’s Coffee. A Financier Moving Through Politics, the
Vatican and the Mafia, 2009, 5 editions), also published by Garzanti.
SCIENCES/PHILOSOPHY
ANIMA & IPAD. (Soul& IPad.)
Maurizio Ferraris
Guanda, October 2011 – pp.190
The iPad: object of desire, technological memory and soul of our time. The first,
unique philosophical analysis of this topic.
What has our soul got to do with an iPad? Nothing, or so it seems. The former is the pang
of remorse that tells us we are alive and aware, while the latter is today’s must-have
technological gadget. Nevertheless, this bizarre couple seems to have a deep realtionship.
First of all the iPad is a typewriter that reveals to what extent our communications society is, deep down, a
recording society in which everything needs to be written down, recorded and archived. Furthermore, both the
soul and the iPad have memory in spades and are blocks one can read, archive and write on. Finally, the iPad
tablet is the updated and enhanced version of the wax tablets employed by the Ancient Romans and Greeks.
Soul and iPad are thus twins. The iPad, when switched off, offers a shiny screen that works well as a mirror to
comb your hair or touch up your make-up; when turned on, the memory is alive and the screen becomes,
literally, the mirror of the soul. A deep, disorienting book that treats the iPad not as a technological device but
as something that speaks about us, our life, our thoughts and our world.
FILOSOFIA PER DAME (Philosophies for Ladies)
Maurizio Ferraris
Guanda, January 2011 – pp. 200
Philosophy is a woman!
Many a philosophical dictionary has already been written, usually focusing on topics such
as God, substance, freedom or the end of all things, and often adopting an oracular tone.
This dictionary has a different starting point: it gives answers, practical and effective ones
if possible, to the reader. To any reader, even though there is a hint the main readership
may be represented by women. But you never know! The book covers all the most canonical topics in
metaphysics – the essence of the gift and of love, the exercise of memory and the use of patience – without
being limited to it. It looks at a variety of subjects that are at the same time crucial and crucially rejected by
traditional philosophy: the end of a relationship, stress, couch-potato husbands, potential stalkers, holidays and
parents-in-laws all the way to modern, and post-modern, topics such as internet gaffes and complex Facebook
friendships. How to deal with neighbour disputes or nosy acquaintances? How to overcome the fear of
disgusting animals? Here are some of the book’s themes that no other philosopher has possibly looked into
before.
An intelligent exercise in pop philosophy, this text first of all challenges the myth of philosophers who ask
questions without offering any answer, because they have no answer to offer or worse because they keep it for
themselves. Finally, Philosophy for Ladies wants to show how a philosopher, despite belonging to a dubious
category, may have something meaningful, useful, and possibly entertaining, to say.
Maurizio Ferraris is Professor in Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Turin. He is the director of the review “Rivista di
Estetica”, co-director of “Critique” and regularly writes for “La Repubblica” (National Newspaper) and “Donna Moderna”
(Women’s Weekly). Ferraris is Directeur d’études at the Collège International de Philosophie, Fellow at the Italian Academy for
Advanced Studies in America and at the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, visiting professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en
Sciences Sociales in Paris and a number of other European and American Universities. He is the author of more than forty books
translated in several languages. Among his recent titles we find Dove sei? Ontologia del telefonino (Where Are You? For an
Ontology of Mobile Phones, 2005, Awarded with the Premio filosofico Castiglioncello), Babbo Natale, Gesù adulto. In cosa crede
chi crede (Father Christmas, Grown-up Jesus. The Belief of People Who Believe, 2006) and Documentalità. Perché è necessario
lasciar tracce (Documentality. Why it is Important to Leave Evidence, 2009).
PSYCHOLOGY
Giorgio Nardone, the greatest representative of Strategic Therapy
More than 200,000 copies sold!
COGITO ERGO SOFFRO (I Think, Therefore I Suffer)
Giorgio Nardone with Giulio De Santis
Ponte alle Grazie, October 2011 – pp. 128
The point is not to stop asking yourself questions, it is to stop asking yourself the
wrong ones.
This book tackles one of the most relevant issues of contemporary man: the constant
speculation over how good, how correct and how effective our thoughts and actions are.
Very often the speculative attitude, which ought to bring to correct reasoning, turns into a chain of doubts
and internal conflicts. Getting stuck into one’s own reasoning ends up producing the opposite effect of what
initially hoped for: the individual experiences the inability to make any decision and the pain of uncertain
choices.
The book, in its elegant and approachable style, gives an in-depth coverage of all the historical theories of
“rational skepticism” – the school of thought that sees doubt as the ultimate instrument in philosophic,
scientific and psychological investigation – and analyses the pathological outcomes arising from placing
doubt and speculation at the centre of one’s reasoning. Finally, with over twenty years of experience to his
credit, the author presents the techniques and therapies available to solve the most serious cases of
pathologies linked to excess of doubt and perversion of thought.
GLI ERRORI DELLE DONNE (in amore) (Women's (Love) Mistakes)
Giorgio Nardone
Ponte alle Grazie, May 2010 – pp.154
A famous psychologist goes into women’s head by a practical and strategical
approach.
Women’s mistakes originate from something which Nardone calls ‘the scripts of
relationship’: the roles that women play within the couple and with themselves. However
these ‘scripts’ are not at all pathological: it’s only their application – brought to extremes
and repeated, - that makes them pathological. To escape failure it is essential to become self- aware, to
understand what is the script you are playing and ….to change character.
Rights sold: Spain: Paidos
Giorgio Nardone is the founder, together with Paul Watzlawick, of CTS (Center of Strategic Therapy). The Arezzo-based institute is
the only Italian clinic to be officially recognised by the Mental Research Institute (Palo Alto, California), where Nardone conducts
work as a Psychotherapist and Psychologist. He is one of the leading and most prestigious researchers at Palo Alto School and he is
internationally known as an extremely creative and at the same time rigorous psychotherapist. His wide-ranging and innovative work
has led to a new and evolved model of Brief Therapy. Among the numerous publications he authored, we list the following titles, all
published by Ponte alle Grazie and translated into several languages: Cavalcare la propria tigre; L’arte del cambiamento; Paura
panico e fobie; Correggimi se sbaglio; Il dialogo strategico (France/Satas, Spain/Herder); Cambiare occhi, toccare il cuore; La
Dieta paradossale (France/Satas); Solcare il mare all'insaputa del cielo (France/Satas).
The Prestigious Series of PSYCHOLOGY directed by Giorgio Nardone
STALKING
Alessandra Barsotti, Giada Desideri
Ponte alle Grazie, March 2011 – pp. 130
How to identify a stalker, how to deal with him (or her), how to prevent dangerous
behaviours, how to get out of difficult situations, how not to be harassed.
Stalking: the papers have been endlessly talking about it recently. Literally, it means ‘to
hunt’, ‘to shadow.’ But the word also indicates a phenomenon on which both media and
psychologists are focusing a great deal of attention: the refusal of being refused. Most
cases of stalking concern former couples: the left partner plagues the ex-partner with phone calls, shadowing,
threats, letters or small, constant harassing that can result in insults, assaults and even homicide. However,
stalking can be found in other kinds of relationships as well: at work, with neighbours and in the family.
Stalkers can be any age, gender and walk of life.
USCIRE DALLA TRAPPOLA (Getting out of the Trap)
Giorgio Nardone, Matthew Selekman
Ponte alle Grazie, May 2011 – pp. 256
It is not just anorexia. Bulimia and self-harm behaviours are the new prisons of the
body. How to get out of them?
The renowned psychologist and psychotherapist offers an analysis of the problem and an
effective therapy to deal with it.
Giorgio Nardone, a recognised Italian expert in anorexia and bulimia, joins forces with Matthew Selekman,
world’s leading expert in self-harming behaviours. This new title in the series dedicated to brief therapies
deals with an increasingly common pathology combining eating disorders – binge eating and vomiting – with
forms of self-harm that include deep scratching, burning or skin-cutting with blades. These are the three
compulsive behaviours that make up pathological self-harm: excessive eating, vomiting and self-inflicted
torture. No therapy is effective on self-harm apart from Brief Therapy. Up to the 85% of patients with eating
disorders treated by Giorgio Nardone and his team recovered within 8-14 sessions.
ATTRAZIONE E SCELTA (Attraction and Choice)
Camillo Loriedo, Maria Di Giusto, Giulia De Bernardis
Ponte alle Grazie, February 2011 – pp. 256
How do we choose our partners?
Opposites attract; likes attract; better wed over the mixen than over the moor; birds of a
feather flock together.
The book that finally unveils the mysterious laws of attraction, clearly and scientifically.
How to choose a partner is a crucial topic. We would all like to know more about it so as to avoid, as much
as possible, disappointment and pain, and to handle the complex tangle of our love life with the right attitude
and much-needed detachment.
Three renowned psychologists offer their knowledge and real life experience to provide a rich and varied
overview of key theories dealing with human laws of attraction, relationships and love. From evolution and
social theory to Freud’s idea of love, from Plato’s myth of the Androgyne to Jung’s theory; the book further
plores issues such as communication styles in couple functioning, handling intimacy or conflicts, marriage
myths, cheating and sexual satisfaction.
SELF-HELP
“MOLLO TUTTO E PARTO!”...ma prima o poi ritorno (“I’m out of here!”...but
sooner or later I’ll be back)
Riccardo Caserini
An extract of the book is available in English.
Vallardi, May 2010 – pp. 136
Have you ever just wanted to leave everything behind? It’s a tempting idea, but how
do you actually do it? Where do you get the money?
When is the right time to go, and how do you take a break from your job?
Most of all, how do you come back without ending up living under a bridge?
We’ve all dreamt of getting away from it all and taking some time for ourselves!
A sabbatical leave is an old concept: how you can do it is the topic of this book.
A true handbook, packed with practical hints for anyone considering such an opportunity, either to have
some time for personal development, to go volunteering or simply to have that longed-for adventure.
The author took sabbaticals himself, and he explains how anyone can do it as well!
“The Sabbatical Guru!”
Rai Tre
“The book is packed full of practical advice”
Corriere della Sera
“A manual for who is thinking about taking a sabbatical for personal growth, to help others or simply to
take a longed-for adventure”
Internazionale
Riccardo Caserini is an Economics and Business graduate with previous employment in the banking sector, now presently working
in human resources. To date, he has taken two sabbatical periods. Riccardo is the author of the website www.annosabbatico.it, and
has been hosted on several national television and radio programs.
RICOMINCIA DA TE (Restart with Yourself)
Paola Pesatori
Vallardi, May 2011 – pp. 160
Redundancy and unemployment are now a part of everyday reality. This handbook is
dedicated to all those who have lost, are about to lose or are afraid of losing their jobs:
because it is always worth betting on yourself!
Paola Pesatori worked at Pirelli Group between 1984 and 2009, becoming Human Resources Director. She was nearly 50, and at the
peak of her career, when she was made redundant: Pesatori decided it was opportunity to take a sabbatical and to reinvent herself into
a new career.
SENZA OFFESA, FAI SCHIFO (You are Rubbish, No Offence)
Ludovica Scarpa
Ponte alle Grazie, April 2011 – pp. 202
When criticism is appropriate, it can be good for others and makes you feel better as
well.
There seems to be only one way to criticise nowadays: blunt, offensive attacks that
generate further blunt, offensive attacks in response. In the name of freedom of criticism,
we insult. However, behind such aggressiveness, anxiety, weakness, mistrust and fear can
be found.
Criticism can be the starting point to build something new, and to do it together. This book teaches you how
to criticise kindly and how to accept criticism with grace and a positive attitude. After all, we can give our
best through criticism and self-criticism, and can help others do the same.
Ludovica Scarpa is Professor of Theory and Techniques of Communication at IUAV University of Venice and '
Doktor Der
Philosophie'at Freie Universität Berlin. Scarpa is the author of La Capra Canta (The Singing Goat) and Lo Zen Del Gatto (The Zen
of Cat), both published by Ponte alle Grazie.
PERSEVERARE E’ UMANO (To Persevere is Human)
Pietro Trabucchi
Corbaccio, January 2012 – pp. 180
Resilience is the capacity to resist stress and to remain motivated in the pursuit of
one’s goals: one can build, train and increase it with time.
With his previous book, I Resist, Therefore I am, Pietro Trabucchi introduces the issue of
psychological resilience, offering methods to improve it. His new book is inspired by his
experience of working with teams of professional athletes, especially mountain climbers
training to break the record for the world’s highest peaks. Here Trabucchi analyses, and undermines, a great
myth: the myth of talent. Trabucchi stresses how motivation is no longer the inner strength that drives men
and women; rather, it is more and more something that depends on outside and makes hard work seem
almost like a useless side-effect. On the contrary, a number of researches have demonstrated that great
performances, in any field from music to chess, from sport to art or literature, are the result of a lot of hard
work, preparation and practice rather than innate talent.
Pietro Trabucchi is a Psychologist specialised in sport performances. He follows the Italian Ski team and the Triathlon team. He
lectures and organises workshops in several universities and cooperates in particular with Trento University and the Research Center
of Bioengineering and Motor Sciences in Rovereto. He is a regular contributor to various specialised journals and magazines. With
Corbaccio he has published Resisto dunque sono (I resist, therefore I am) that has sold more than 25.000 copies (sold in Finland to
Juoksija-lehti)
HANDBOOKS/MANUALS
VENDERE E’ UN’ARTE (Selling is an Art)
Lorenzo Cavalieri
Vallardi, October 2011 – pp. 208
Selling can be an enjoyable and intellectually stimulating activity. Rediscover the value
of a mistreated profession.
Lorenzo Cavalieri has been a commercial director at two multinational companies for a long time. More
recently he has been a business consultant, training sales teams by working on increasing their motivation
and improving their selling skills.
CAMBIO CASA! (New Home!)
Andrea Castrignano with Rosa Tessa
Vallardi, November 2011 – pp. 256
Illustrated
From restyling to renovation: suggestions, tips and solutions from a celebrated
interior designer to create the house of your dreams
Castrignano’s professionalism and creativity are finally available to anyone: a helpful,
original and entertaining book, packed with suggestions to turn your house into a unique and personalised
space.
If what you want is a light restyling; if you are bored with your home but you are too lazy and you need a
little push to change it; if you want to update the look of your old house or you need to restructure the one
you’ve just bought, here is the book for you – always keeping your budget under control!
Andrea Castrignano was born in Milan in 1969. He studied interior design in Miami, where he started his career. Back in Milan in
1997, he opened his own agency, quickly becoming one of the most respected and sought-after estate agents.
HEALTH
LE RICETTE DEI MAGNIFICI 20 (Recipes with the Magnificent 20)
Marco Bianchi
Ponte alle Grazie, May 2011 – pp. 206
2 editions!
Combining inspiring food and healthy food is now possible!
From appetizers to sauces, from primi to desserts: over 200 recipes using the Magnificent
20. Let’s listen to Marco Bianchi and enjoy his irresistibly healthy recipes.
I MAGNIFICI 20 (The Magnificent 20)
Marco Bianchi
Ponte alle Grazie, April 2010 – pp. 192
5 editions!
The 20 precious ingredients that are so good for you: garlic, onion, cabbage, pulses
and… chocolate!
A very simple, informative reference book that helps you become aware of what you eat.
A comprehensive survey of all the types of food that we simply must have on our tables –
and why.
«Over the Counter cuisine right on your table».
La Repubblica
«The scientist meets the chef – and it’s love at first sight».
La Stampa
«A perfect match between the biochemist and the healthy chef: the latest researches in nutrition are
combined with a series of quick, simple and most of all tasty recipes» .
D – La Repubblica
Marco Bianchi was born in Milan in 1978 and is an expert gourmand. For the past ten years he has been working in IFOM (Institute
of Molecular Oncology), a section of the Italian Foundation for Cancer Research. He combines scientific research with lectures and
didactic activities in schools, private and public institutions.
COOKING
COTTO E MANGIATO (Cooked and Eaten)
Benedetta Parodi
Vallardi, December 2009 – pp. 250
1,300,000 copies sold
The formula for success of this first book by Benedetta Parodi is simple and timelier
than ever: easy, fast, healthy and economical recipes, always with an eye on the time of
completion and the wallet.
Her 243 starters, small plates, finger food, salads, main courses, side dishes and desserts
can easily be divided according to the occasion:
• With the family (the simple and most popular recipes in Benedetta’s family; those
marked with a smiley make her daughters go crazy);
• With Friends (to receive is an art ... for a successful dinner, it takes a good organization and a few tricks);
• Romantic for 2 (here a cook can express him/herself; think about it: to express one’s skills in the kitchen
can be very enticing).
Rights sold: Albania: Dituria, Spain: Espasa/Planeta
BENVENUTI NELLA MIA CUCINA (Welcome to my kitchen)
Benedetta Parodi
820,000
Vallardi, November 2010 – pp. 265
copies sold
For a year Benedetta Parodi noted in her diary not only hundreds of tasty new recipes
and easy to make dishes, but also a lot of thoughts, experiences and small events
regarding her daily life and family.
Welcome to my kitchen is the publication of her diary: it allows readers to spend twelve
months with her, rediscovering the pleasure of the cycle of the seasons, choosing dishes
to suit any time of the year:
• stimulating and invigorating for the spring
• light and refreshing for summer
• tempting and tasty for autumn
• worming and energetic for the winter.
225 completely new recipes divided by month, for guaranteed success.
Benedetta Parodi was born in Alessandria, graduated in Modern Literature at Milan Cattolica University. She is journalist and for
many years she has been working on various Italian TV networks. She is also an expert in cookery and conducts the most successful
TV culinary program '
Cotto e mangiato'.
NUVOLE DI DRAGO E GRANELLI DI COUS COUS (Dragons’s Clouds and
Couscous Granules)
Vittorio Castellani AKA “Chef Kumalè”
Vallardi, June 2011 – pp. 256
Easy recipes by a gastro-nomad who knows no borders!
The hands-on experience the author has gained in over fifteen years of travelling around
the world finally collected in one recipe book. 200 recipes from 32 different countries,
chosen because they are easy to reproduce while also fully respecting the original
character: a completely new approach to world cuisine considering that most recipe books currently available
propose dishes that have been at best adjusted or simplified, when not made up altogether.
A culinary journey through the five continents; thirty-two chapters, one for every country visited, each
preceded by a brief introduction to local food culture and cuisine.
Vittorio Castellani, also known as Chef Kumalè, the most accomplished Italian chef on the subject, is a successful author,
journalist, professor and consultant.His training in world cuisine comes from the melting pot of Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin and
thanks to his extensive travelling to the four corners of the world.He has written 19 books, and is co-author, together with Fabiano
Guattieri, of the four-volume series La Grande Cucina (Great Cuisine), which has sold 300,000 copies to date.
SFIDA AL MATTARELLO
Vallardi (2005 - pp. 125)
PANE E ROBA DOLCE
Vallardi (2003 - pp. 158)
LA BUONA CUCINA DI CASA
Vallardi (2009 - pp.176)
Sorelle Simili
over 90,000 copies sold !
Illustrated Reference Cookery
The '
classics'of Italian cooking by of the famous Italian twin sisters
who have taught in cooking classes a number of times both in US
and Japan.
Margherita and Valeria Simili, after a long experience with their cooking school in Bologna, famous in the whole world, have
decided to divulge the secrets of their cuisine holding lessons all over Italy and also abroad.
The PRESTIGIOUS AND SUCCESSFUL COOKERY SERIES
directed by Allan Bay
For a true Culture of Cooking - collecting the very best of Italian and
International gastronomic culture.
IL LETTORE GOLOSO (The Gluttonous reader)
More than 90.000 copies sold!
“From cookery books one usually expects to obtain ideas and recipes to prepare tasty dishes. But this is not
enough for the 'gourmand reader' : over and above the HOW he wants to know WHY." He wants good,
interesting, passionate books, rich with news, suggestions and atmospheres. In a word: culture: culture of
food and of all that food means, from the beginning of civilization to the four corners of the world.”
CUCINARE LE ERBE SELVATICHE (Cooking with wild Herbs)
Davide Ciccarese
Ponte alle Grazie, February 2011 – pp. 238
A book dedicated to spontaneous herbs nature offers us.
Today, spontaneous vegetation is more and more perceived as a vague presence,
aggressively and uncontrollably invading pavements and neglected flower beds.
You don’t need to be an academic botanist; a pinch of curiosity is all you need to discover
a wonderful world that can supply you with a tasty crop every day of the year. Without
hassle and within reach.
How to recognise wild herbs, where to find them and when, and how to best use them in the kitchen.
All the secrets to create delicious, and deliciously free, dishes.
IL GRANDE LIBRO DEI DOLCI (The Great Book of Desserts)
Giuliana Lomazzi
Ponte alle Grazie, December 2011 – pp.320
All the great classics of pastry arts from the four corners of the world: over 250
recipes, including all national and international sweet treasures.
Culinary arts are many and varied: pastry arts are the most difficult, fascinating and also
the most practiced ones. A wide-ranging books encompassing cakes and cookies,
puddings and pies, pancakes and baking: sweet dreams that come true in our skilful hands!
Much more than a simple recipe book, The Great Book of Desserts is a journey through the world’s most
amazing pastry arts.
CANNELLA E ZAFFERANO (Cinnamon and Saffron)
Lorenza Pliteri
Ponte alle Grazie, June 2011 – pp.250
Recipes, anecdotes, myths, legends and curiosities: all you’ve always wanted to know
about the magical world of spices. All this and much more in this new title, packed with
plenty of information and, of course, recipes.
ENCYCLOPEDIAS/REFERENCES
le garzantine the World Famous Compact Encyclopedias
Constantly updated
Highly illustrated
Millions of copies sold
A unique, practical, easy, inexpensive instrument to have all human knowledge at
hand.
ENCICLOPEDIA UNIVERSALE (Universal Encyclopedia)
- 1952 pages
- 6 Appendixes
- 54.000 entries in alphabetical order
- Highly illustrated
- 96 colour plates
- 3000 titles of world famous works of literature and music.
- main characters of literature and music masterpieces
ENCICLOPEDIA DELLA CUCINA (Encyclopedia of COOKING)
edited by Allan Bay
- 1088 pages
- 2 index in alphabetical order and divided by ingredients
- 3.000 entries
- 3.000 recipes
and the thematic encyclopedias:
LITERATURE - MUSIC - ART - PHILOSOPHY - ANCIENT WORLD - ARCHITECTURE
CHEMISTRY - CINEMA - LAW AND ECONOMY - FLOWERS AND GARDEN - GEOGRAPHY
TYPICAL GASTRONOMIC PRODUCTS OF ITALY - PEDIATRIC NURSING
SCIENCES - SPORT - MIDDLE AGES - WINE ....
And more to come....
Viviana Vuscovich
Translation Rights Manager
Gruppo editoriale Mauri Spagnol
Via Gherardini, 10
20145 Milano (Italy)
Tel: +39 02 34597-391
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.maurispagnol.it