Avevamo pensato che potevamo costruirci un sommergibile con il bidone del rusco piantato davanti alla chiesa, che era il più grande del paese, ma una volta fatte le misure era saltato fuori che non ci si stava neanche morti.
Casola Valsenio, Romagna. In viale Neri ci sono le case popolari. Ci abitano il Mago Mammola, con le gambette arrossate e piene di lividi; e Mone, che non vuole che lo guardi quando scende le scale. E Noemi la matta, che le porta da mangiare la panda dell’assistenza sociale. Ci abita soprattutto Bastiano Casaccia, detto Bla.
Di babbo si sa poco o nulla, mamma è una tigre che nasconde un agnello, nonna e la gatta giocano a fare i soprammobili.
Una peste, Bastiano: un dolce pirata, un po’ ingenuo ma pieno di grinta, e leale.
Sfreccia per il paese con la sua bicicletta – la Turboberta – come se cavalcasse una pallottola.
E stupirà tutti, ne è convinto, costruendo un favoloso sommergibile, alla faccia di Mirko Contoli, piagnone e riccastro rivale in amore.
Ma nel mondo grandioso di Bastiano si nasconde un’insidia.
Qualcosa annidato dentro di lui.
Un ostacolo oscuro, un nemico assoluto che occorre affrontare.
Feeling Great
Casola Valsenio, Romagna.
Viale Neri, at the top of Viale delle Rimembranze, where the Council Houses are.
The wizard Mammola lives there, with his reddened and bruised little legs. And Mone, who doesn’t want you to stare at him when he is coming down the stairs, lives there too.
And Noemi, the lunatic, fed by a social worker who gets there driving a Fiat Panda.
Above all, Bastiano Casaccia, also called Bla, lives there.
Little is known about daddy; mommy is a tiger who hides a lamb, and granny and the cat play pretending to be ornaments. Bastiano is a scamp: a sweet pirate, a bit naive maybe, but really determinated and loyal.
Bastiano has clear thoughts, but his heart beats for uncle Paolo’s misdeeds, who’s escaped in Germany after a sensational furs theft. He rides his bike the country – his Turboberta – riding it as a bullet. And he is sure he will rock everyone by building a wonderful submarine, Mirko Montoli, a whiner and rich love rival, will eat his heart out. But a trap is hiding in Bastiano’s wonderful and fascinating world, something that is inside him. An obscure ostacle, an enemy who has to be faced.
Cristiano Cavina was born in Casola Valsenio (Ravenna) in 1974. He grew up with his mom and grandparents in a “shabby flat” in the Council Houses. Listening to stories in bars, he develops a great passion for tales, and then books end up being his second home. Cristiano does not have to travel a long way. Across Europe and America has enjoyed a lot, but his adventure is every day there, in his town.
He has won major literary awards: Tondelli Award, Castiglioncello Award, Vigevano Award, Francesco Serantini Award, and has entered the selection for the Strega Prize 2009.
The more severe literary critics consider him one of the best Italian writers of the new generation. He bakes delicious pizzas in his family’s restaurant and plays with his son Giovanni.
