Rome in the 1960s is a constantly evolving kaleidoscope, fertile ground for an extraordinary explosion of creativity that involves artists first, but then every other sector of society. With the effects of the economic boom, the face of the entire country was in fact being redefined, and the city, already steeped in persistent contradictions, is filled with a fascinating duality. On the one hand, we can feel the echo of its millenary roots which in everyday life sometimes translates into indolence or compliant cynicism. On the other hand, the unstoppable drive towards change emerges which, fueled by the incipient consumerist vortex, redesigns neighborhoods and social and class identities.
Rome, apparently immutable in its timeless beauty, thus becomes a lively and chaotic laboratory where attempts are made to preserve the link with traditions but, at the same time, releases disruptive energy made up of new ideas and aspirations.
In this pulsating scenario of real life, overflowing with nuances and contrasts, Ernesto Di Gianni moves, a character born from the imagination of Giuseppe Del Ninno and protagonist of The Black Widow (Bietti, p.194). A handyman of the Italmondo detective agency, he is described by Stenio Solinas in the introduction as an «overweight and out-of-shape forty-year-old bachelor, with a perpetually empty refrigerator, just as his relational life is empty».
A literary figure who, despite everything, manages to embody the spirit of those times, acting almost as a filter through which to observe the city and its increasingly varied human fauna. With an apathetic and almost completely disillusioned look, Ernesto faces reality with an impenetrable irony which, however, emerges in the dry and hilarious dialogues, close to the best Italian film comedy. Through him, Del Ninno not only unfolds the plot, but explores the distinctive features of the new social contexts being formed, bringing into focus inconsistencies, obsessions and distinctive traits of a nascent bourgeoisie.
Translator, journalist and writer, Del Ninno boasts a long and prolific collaboration with magazines and periodicals. And these connections between multiple levels of interests also feed on his great passion for cinema, which led him to create in recent years a substantial trilogy composed of Ecce Alien, With the screen off And Lead, dreams and celluloid. Works in which he delves into artistic symbolism and the way in which cinema and literature describe changes in society and our complex relationship with an ever-changing reality. A similar sensitivity that also emerges in The war on uswhere Del Ninno crosses the twentieth century, between the two wars, intertwining family memories and collective memories trying to dig, beyond the blanket of everyday life, the dynamics that shape human experiences.
The Black Widow it is a work built over time, like a mosaic that is enriched with details, and tells the story of a woman grappling with the mystery of her husband’s fate, between death, presumed or real, and an inexplicable disappearance but an investigation that it also refers to the investigator’s existential doubts.
Above all, a book that highlights Del Ninno’s ability to create an unstoppable narrative flow, with a rapid and essential style. Vivid images that abandon all formality and have an immediate and dynamic register. As the pages scroll by, the reader’s interest grows in a completely natural way and then, to put it with an expression taken from the world of cinema, and so dear to the author: “Good first one!”.