Political satire and choral novel meet in a merciless exposé of our broken power systems in a biting portrait of provincial political life
It's election time again in our small town that could be anywhere but is in fact among the dying olive groves of Puglia. Everything is about to kick off. Lines are being drawn, ‘us’ and ‘them’ are taking their positions, and alliances are being made in the shake of a hand, the wink of an eye or over the chink of an espresso cup in the bar on the piazza. The ‘hopliticians’ are massing in their phalanxes once again.
This scorching political satire by one of Italy’s most thrilling new writers is a choral novel that follows the personal and public vicissitudes of a cast of wannabe politicos and absurd party factions, as they scrabble for power with the lesson of that great Italian masterpiece The Leopard apparently foremost in their minds: for things to remain the same – for power to stay in place – everything must change. The book was a finalist for the Premio Italo Calvino 2023 and winner of the Premio Campiello Opera Prima 2025.
Antonio Galetta was born in Ceglie Messapica, Puglia in 1998. He studied Italian literature and is currently undertaking doctoral research on the contemporary novel between the Univeristy of Pisa and the Sorbonne. His work explores power, politics and collective behaviour, through formally innovative narrative voices rooted in southern Italian settings
Political satire and choral novel meet in a merciless exposé of our broken power systems in a biting portrait of provincial political life
It's election time again in our small town that could be anywhere but is in fact among the dying olive groves of Puglia. Everything is about to kick off. Lines are being drawn, ‘us’ and ‘them’ are taking their positions, and alliances are being made in the shake of a hand, the wink of an eye or over the chink of an espresso cup in the bar on the piazza. The ‘hopliticians’ are massing in their phalanxes once again.
This scorching political satire by one of Italy’s most thrilling new writers is a choral novel that follows the personal and public vicissitudes of a cast of wannabe politicos and absurd party factions, as they scrabble for power with the lesson of that great Italian masterpiece The Leopard apparently foremost in their minds: for things to remain the same – for power to stay in place – everything must change. The book was a finalist for the Premio Italo Calvino 2023 and winner of the Premio Campiello Opera Prima 2025.
Antonio Galetta was born in Ceglie Messapica, Puglia in 1998. He studied Italian literature and is currently undertaking doctoral research on the contemporary novel between the Univeristy of Pisa and the Sorbonne. His work explores power, politics and collective behaviour, through formally innovative narrative voices rooted in southern Italian settings
Origin: ITALY
Author: CHIARA VALERIO
Translation: AILSA WOOD
Print Length: 235 pages
