Enzo: Il sogno di un ragazzo

by Enrico Brizzi

Modena, 1899 . Il secolo romantico delle rivoluzioni e delle scoperte sta per lasciare spazio a un’epoca nuova, ma la città festeggia come sempre il santo patrono fra chioschi da fiera e profumi antichi di vino e salumi. Stretto al petto della madre, il neonato Enzo sonnecchia in quell’atmosfera da incanto. All’improvviso, un gran trambusto, delle urla, una fiumana di persone in dietro di loro un veicolo stupefacente, un borbottante carro che avanza senza cavalli. La prima automobile mai vista a Modena. Alla guida c’è Fredo, il padre di Enzo.
L’emiliano Enrico Brizzi accorda la voce fuori dal tempo dei cantastorie al passo dei grandi romanzi contemporanei, per raccontare la giovinezza di un mito della sua terra, Enzo Ferrari. Enzo – Il sogno di un ragazzo , primo volume di una saga dedicata al “Signore delle Rosse”, vibra della musica che accompagna il viaggio fra l’infanzia e l’età il calore e la fatica della vita in famiglia, il disvelamento di una vocazione, il primo amore, le sfide e le difficoltà.
Accanto al giovane Ferrari vivono in queste pagine personaggi indimenticabili, a cominciare dalla madre Gisa, istintiva pioniera dei diritti delle donne, e Dino, il fratello imbevuto di suggestioni letterarie e nazionaliste; fino al Negus, l’amico teppista dal cuore d’oro, e a Norma, la sola ragazza capace di far intendere a Enzo la lingua della speranza. Protagonisti e comprimari si muovono nell’affresco epico di un Paese in fermento per il Futurismo e gli scioperi socialisti, lo stile decadente di D’Annunzio e gli infiammati comizi d’un Mussolini ancora rivoluzionario. Ad attendere al varco Enzo e l’Italia intera, la prova terribile della Grande guerra.

421 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 16, 2023

Reviews

[Uhtred · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because both the title, the cover design and the sentence on the back cover made me think of a fictionalized biography of Enzo Ferrari, from his childhood to his successes with the legendary red cars. Instead, there is only one piece of the story, and precisely is missing what the cover suggests, namely the rise of Enzo Ferrari in the world of cars and racing. In essence it is about the life of Enzo Ferrari from his birth until the end of the First World War, when Enzo returns from the war and has to start from scratch, with his dead brother, his dead father and Gisa, his mother, who has lost a bit the reason. We therefore experience Enzo's childhood, his first friendships, his first love, Norma, and his experience on the war front. We experience the embryo of his first love for cars, passed on to him by his father Fredo and his brother Dino, with the first cars in Modena at the beginning of the 20th century; the book in fact begins in Modena in 1899, when little Enzo sees his father Fredo whizzing by driving Modena's first car, alongside his slightly mad friend, Count Leonida di Ripafratta. It is from this experience that we understand that Enzo's passion for working in his father's workshop and the many adventures related to cars with his brother Dino will be born. However, it is not a book about cars, but is the story of a stubborn boy, even if frail, who however wants to test himself and take risks. It is also the story of Gisa, a woman who is a feminist inside, without even knowing what feminists are. It is a book that also touches on Futurism, with the ideas of modernity that are beginning to circulate among people, who still find them strange. It is a book about war and how it changed the lives of many and everyone's awareness.
It is a very pleasant book to read, certainly very fictionalized and not very biographical in the strict sense of the word, but still a beautiful book, well written and which immerses you in the world of the beginning of the last century. Of course, there is still some regret about a title and a cover that voluntarily allow us to imagine another content, but we are now used to these editorial tricks. Unfortunately.

[Gardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

La famiglia Ferrari dovrebbe omaggiare Brizzi con una Ferrari per la bellezza di questo libro.

[Alba Kossuth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quando esce il secondo?!?!