When Eugenio and Michelangelo meet in the alleys of the university district of Naples, they are in their twenties, with one foot in adult life and the other still caught in adolescence, and they don’t know that those glances exchanged lightly are the beginning of their first, true love story. They spend a season of pure happiness, in which they discover that they are very different and that they complement each other perfectly: Eugenio, fresh from his medical degree, is ambitious and rational, used to never standing still, while Michelangelo on the other hand “resembles an animal in hibernation”, clumsy and contemplative, spends his days finishing his thesis in philology and basks in the dream of writing. Their families, friends and the city welcome them naturally, and together they feel so invincible that they can overcome any obstacle, even Eugenio’s departure for his specialization in England. “And if I came with you?” Michelangelo ventures. Six months later they share a room in a suburb south of London. The City an hour away by train, grueling shifts in the hospital for Eugenio, a shoddy language course for Michelangelo, patients who turn up their noses at the Italian accent, the disheartening feeling of being the last to arrive: seen up close, the English dream soon reveals the first cracks, and it is when it is about to shatter that Michelangelo receives a proposal from Milan. It is the beginning of a love chase that unfolds between three cities and infinite flights, in an attempt to bridge a distance that widens day after day. (Source: mondadori.it)
he is an Italian writer, teacher
