Isabella Santacroce

The Profile

Isabella Santacroce is an Italian novelist active since the mid-1990s, associated with the ‘Cannibali’ wave of contemporary Italian fiction.

Known for lyrical, decadent prose and intense themes including desire, death, family trauma, and power dynamics. Notable works covered on DeBaser include La Divina, Magnificat Amour, and Zoo.

Reviewers praise Santacroce’s visionary, musical prose and her stark themes. La Divina frames BDSM as a sacred rite and an existential plunge. Zoo turns the family into a “zoo” of pain, abuse, and bitter intimacy, written raw yet poetic. Magnificat Amour explores beauty, vanity, and entwined destinies in crystalline, sibylline language.