In Piombo e latte (Bompiani), Luca Mastrantonio revisits a real-life mystery from 1978 on the island of Cavallo, where a young German man was fatally wounded—and the extraordinary chain of events that followed, including a supposed miracle cure for cancer developed by the victim’s father.
What begins as a personal story becomes a collective one, unfolding across decades of Italian history—from the Years of Lead to the present day—and crossing into various corners of Europe. It weaves together the “milk” of innocence and the “lead” of true crime, while grappling with the weight of memory and the shifting line between fiction and falsehood.
At its core is an exploration of magical thinking—the human impulse to explain the inexplicable, to seek meaning in the face of unjust death or illness without answers. Through the prism of fiction, Mastrantonio renders these events not as fact, but as something more elusive: believable.
In conversation with Viviana Mazza, Corriere della Sera.
INFORMATION
Free admission, subject to availability.
Please note that dates and times may be subject to change.
All real-time updates are available at www.taobuk.it.
