The Mass of the Unarmed Man is an ensemble story whose masterful prose and evocative power recall the finest tradition of the historical novel, in the vein of Manzoni, Bacchelli, Fenoglio and Eugenio Corti.
It is a ‘world novel’ set in the Po Valley, torn apart by the Second World War; the story is told through the clear voice of Franco, a novice who leaves his abbey prematurely. Franco will bear witness to the tragedies following the armistice of 8 September 1943: the German advance, the round-ups, the partisan struggle, the blood of the innocent; he will meet unforgettable characters; and he will learn, like all his friends, how difficult it is to remain human in the face of the extreme choices imposed by war.
The Mass of the Unarmed Man is also a genuine literary phenomenon, circulated ‘from friend to friend’ in a self-published edition between 1989 and 1995 before finally finding a home with the publisher Sironi in 2002. It is a lyrical recollection of a rural world that no longer exists, of mists and fields stretching as far as the eye can see, of streams and farmhouses, of gentle, hard-working people; but above all, it is the epic and highly topical story of men who believe in freedom and compassion even when the world seems shrouded in darkness.