Italiana - Giuseppe Catozzella

 

I'm an Italian historian who long ago stopped reading academic books on Italian history. 

This isn't an academic book, but rather a (thinly) fictionalized account of the life of Italy's most prominent female brigand around the time of the country's unification. It's commendable in its intent, being pretty much the only novel touching on the topic of brigandage that I can think of (well, there are the Roman passages of The Count of Montecristo, but they probably don't count!). 

Yet, the retelling of a historical tale is both praiseworthy and the most significant weakness of the novel. Despite the unique angle given to the book by the lives of these outlaws, Catozzella is hardly the first person to look at the poverty of the Italian South in the late 19th century, and many others have done it better. 

Happy I read it, but as far as books on outlaws are concerned, The True History of the Kelly Gang is in another league.