Enrico Stabellini
L'ultima estate

LA RECENSIONE

This review could easily have a subtitle like this: the ultimate masterpiece of independent literature. It might seem strange, but The Last Summer, the second novella by Prof. Enrico Stabellini, my high school Italian teacher (now retired), is exactly that: an ultimate masterpiece. I don’t think I need to add anything else to introduce this book. That said, it is a bittersweet story about the carefree adolescence of four young people: Cico, Edo, Vin, Giorgetto, and Il Moro, who at a certain point find themselves having to grow up quickly because they have to face the harsh realities of life. Written in an extremely balanced and well-calibrated way, this is a read that should never be missing from the library of every lover of important readings that add something extra to our afternoons.

After The Last Summer, Prof. Stabellini wrote Deceptions of the Heart, a somewhat heavy and hard-to-digest novella, but it did not reach the stylistic heights, balance, and delicateness of his second novel.