Il tempo dell’incanto

An old aluminum canteen is entrusted by Cesare, a disillusioned partisan, to Luc, a young and passionate far-left militant: he faces an uncomfortable night of surveillance, needing something to drink and a lot of courage. Diana has learned to dip her feet in the waters of the Lustrola to chase away bad thoughts: her grandmother Fiammetta taught her this, who once roamed those mountains with messages and bullets hidden inside elder branches. There is a red thread that connects the partisan struggle with the demands for equality and social justice of the long Italian Sixties. In this novel, old stories and the battles of many young people for “a freer and happier world” speak to each other over time: it is here that the lives of Luc, the old people of Poggio Lustro, Diana, and the other companions intertwine, committed to building their destiny as free and aware women with anger and effort. In the background, the remnants of the Gothic Line, among whose chestnut trees and streams ancient secrets still hide.