The Abruzzo Trilogy: Fontamara / Bread and Wine / The Seed Beneath the Snow

The Abruzzo Trilogy #1-3

by Ignazio Silone, Alexander Stille (Foreword)

The impoverished, desolate mountain regions of the Abruzzo during Mussolini's reign provide the backdrop for the three greatest novels by Ignazio Silone, one of the twentieth century's most important writers. In Fontamara, Bread and Wine, and The Seed Beneath the Snow - presented together for the first time in English to mark the centenary of the author's birth - Silone narrates the struggles of the cafoni, the farmers and peasants of his native Abruzzo, against poverty, natural disasters, and totalitarianism.
The first novel in the series, Fontamara, is a political fable that portrays the bitter trials of the villagers of Pescina as they battle with landowners who have appropriated their only source of water. First published from his exile in Zurich in 1933, and banned in his own country, the novel was translated into twenty languages and won Silone instant international literary fame.
Silone's masterpiece, Bread and Wine, introduces the semi-autobiographical character Pietro Spina, an anti-Fascist revolutionary who returns to his homeland after fifteen years in exile. He seeks refuge among the Abruzzo peasants by posing as the priest Don Paolo Spada.
Pietro's story continues in The Seed Beneath the Snow, Silone's personal favorite in the trilogy. Pietro Spina flees again and, with the police in close pursuit, is taken in by his grandmother Donna Maria Vincenza. Though comfortably settled in Italian bourgeois society, she jeopardizes her own life in order to protect him.

Genres: Fiction, Italy, Historical Fiction, Novels, Italian Literature, Literary Fiction, Classics

800 pages, Paperback

First published February 11, 2000

About the author

Figlio di una tessitrice e di un piccolo proprietario terriero, perde assai presto il padre e la madre, nel terremoto che nel gennaio del ‘15 distrugge gran parte della Marsica. Interrotti gli studi liceali, si dà alla politica quale socialista attivo e prende parte alle lotte contro la guerra e al movimento operaio rivoluzionario; nel 1921 partecipa a Livorno alla fondazione del Partito Comunista (che rappresenta a Mosca, con Togliatti, nel Komintern), ma se ne stacca nel 1930, in disaccordo con le purghe staliniane. Antifascista, resta in esilio in Svizzera dal 1930 al 1945, anni durante i quali matura la sua vocazione di scrittore. Pubblicato in traduzione tedesca a Zurigo nel 1933, “Fontamara” è il suo romanzo d’esordio, che lo impone all’ attenzione generale: oltre ad essere una straordinaria analisi della cultura centro-meridionale, “un documento su una civiltà ormai definitivamente morta” (Fofi), è pure con ogni probabilità il più bel libro sui contadini italiani che sia mai stato scritto. Il successivo “Pane e vino” del ‘36 riprende, in una chiave più sentimentale, meno ironica, i temi del fortunato predecessore, laddove “Il seme sotto la neve” (1942) sembra stazionare tra manierismo e ritualità. Frattanto, nel periodo 1932-'34 egli è redattore del mensile in lingua tedesca, edito a Zurigo, «Information», cui collaborano artisti ed intellettuali del calibro di Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, Robert Musil. Fiorente, pure, la sua attività saggistico-culturale, che annovera il saggio “Il fascismo, le sue origini e il suo sviluppo” (1934) ed il trattato di filosofia politica “La scuola dei dittatori” (1938). Nel 1944, rientrato in Italia, si stabilisce a Roma, ove aderisce al Partito Socialista Italiano di Unità Proletaria. La sua produzione letteraria continua con il lavoro teatrale “Ed egli si nascose” (1944) e con i romanzi “Una manciata di more” (1952), “Il segreto di Luca” (1956), “La volpe e le camelie” (1960): meno originali dei precedenti, più legati ad un modello di letteratura tardo-ottocentesca, esprimono una sorta di conversione del nostro, che approda qui ai lidi di un socialismo ibridato col cristianesimo. Di grandissimo interesse, invece, “Uscita di sicurezza” (1965), raccolta di saggi politici in cui egli racconta il doloroso travaglio che lo condusse infine a distaccarsi dall’ ideologia comunista, e “L’avventura di un povero cristiano” (1968), sua ultima fatica apparsa in vita, un intrigante romanzo - saggio incentrato sulla figura di papa Celestino V, in seguito trasformato in testo teatrale. Ebbe a dire di lui Albert Camus: "Guardate Silone. Egli è radicalmente legato alla sua terra, eppure è talmente europeo".

Reviews

[DROPPING OUT]

Silone's trilogy is here presented for the first time between two covers. Fontamara deals with the increasingly dehumanization of the landless peasantry of Abruzzo at the hands of the Fascists during the 1930s and radicalization. Bread and Wine (perhaps his best known work in English) is about Pietro Spina, an exiled Italian Communist's return to Italy and his hiding in disguise as a priest sent to the countryside for his health. The Seed Beneath the Snow (Silone's favorite) contains the continued saga of Spina, as he is hidden by his grandmother, who represents the impoverished gentry.

Pietro Spina begins as a Communist agitator, goes through disillusionment and detatchment, comes to understand and accept the "ordinariness" of the downtrodden, which ends in a spiritual awakening and voluntarily accepting a certain death so that someless fortunate than he can live.

The plots are as high in melodrama as they are in atmosphere. The gritty, hard-scrabble lives of the cafone (landless peasants) are set in a vividly described a countryside deeply steeped in conservative tradition.

In the end, Silone's hero's defense of these people truly downtrodden by a Totalitarian regime in far-away Rome presents a profound depth of Tumanity.

I cannot say that Silone was one of those 20th century authors disrespected by the Nobel Prize Committee, but his Abruzzo Trilogy must stand as an iconic example of Humanity's struggle against Totalitarianism in the 20th century.

[Aj Van]

Thus far I'm finding enchanting prose, and realistic characters facing life changing events with a wide range of emotions but very little drama.Its a large volume that could quickly intimidate, but I find that instead of beng overwhelmed, I can hardly wait to turn the page.

[Tommy]

I read the first book, Fontamara, for a history class. It was so good I read the next two for pleasure. Professor Ritter knows how to pick 'em!

[Eric Kortschak]

FONTAMARA - 5 / 5. Poignant critique of the exploitation of how authoritarianism empowers the already powerful and disenfranchises the already disenfranchised.

BREAD AND WINE - 3.5 / 5. An interesting look at the uncompromising nature of ideological extremes with a couple subplots that are a bit too central to feel as extraneous as they do.

THE SEED BENEATH THE SNOW - Unfortunately, I ended up dropping this book, which was too deep in the specifics of rural Italian upper class social dynamics, increasingly feeling like to sort of thing I needed to be taking notes on to fully follow. Perhaps worth a revisit when I have more time to fully digest and pick up what it’s putting down.

[Andrew]

I read the first two of the trilogy, Fontamara and Bread and Wine, and they were great reads. It helps to know a little early 20th century Italian history.

[Kristine]

I studied Italian Literature in college...good to reconnect with this brilliant writer now that I visit Abruzzo quite often.

[Ryan Mishap]

Sorry, but The Seed Beneath the Snow wasn't available anywhere else. The other two have their own review.

I had to borrow this book through inter-library loan because no one had it around here. Looking on thi site, it looks like Silone's books are alive and well in Arabic, which is awesome, but not so much in English.

This novel is somewhat of a sequel to Bread and Wine and I'm having a difficult time remmebering it...but it wasn't quite as good as the others. Still, a must read if you have read Bread... and Fantomara.

[Ali]

Murica (Fontamara); Revolution is not a try for removing lonliness, but a try to stay together and not fear”.
در مورد آثار ایناتسیو سیلونه، لطفن اینجا را بخوانید؛
http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...

[Andrew]

I found it dull at times despite great writing. The last third of the book picked things up a bit.

[Richard Ingram]

Most of the way through Fontamara. Imagine Zola's Germinal, but based on the lives of a desperately poor peasant community faced with voracious capitalism backed by a fascist regime.

[Rosanne Vogel]

Sad, but rings true to life.

[Peggy Lacorazza]

Very good stories but book was too long overall. Some events seemed repetitive. It was worthwhile.

[Chrissy B]

IDK. I wanted to read "Fontamara" but got a copy of the complete "Abruzzo Trilogy" through inter library loan, with "Fontamara" being the first book in the series. I didn't even know it was the first book, part of a trilogy. The whole trilogy is 927 pages! I think that might be worthwhile if these were first edition books from the mid 20th century. But IDK. I read a 2016 edition of "War and Peace" and thought it was probably a waste of time because all of the exciting or controversial parts of the book were edited out to appease modern audiences. I think W&P was over 1000 pages and it was good, but not great. I suspect a first edition of W&P might be great, though, actually. I don't think I'm going to waste my time on modern editions of classic books from decades or centuries ago.

So, I don't think I will waste my time reading an AD 2000 edition of the entire "The Abruzzo Trilogy". I think I will stick to my original plan and just read the first book, "Fontamara". I'll see how it goes, though. If the first book in the AD 2000 edition is fantastic then I might read the other two books as well. IDK yet.

Fontamara :

Chapter I : The old "sign on the dotted line, or else" trick! Youth should be educated as to the consequences of signing a document with tricky verbiage or even word salad or even a blank document. As well, we all use the internet and constantly agree to terms we don't bother to try to understand. So, I guess we're all wittingly victims of this scam, sometimes every day, multiple times per day, in this new, modern, digital era. When will the scammers ever learn to act like human beings and stop scamming? When will we victims learn that dangerous, criminal people have selfish, bad intentions? It's not "paranoia". It's fact! Such crimes are called chicanery and are against God's Law!

Scammers must cease and desist their crimes and find legitimate means to support themselves financially within the bounds of God's Law. Seriously, it's AD 2026. Use some brains and brawn. Figure something out for yourselves, scammers. Enough already!

Chapter II : It's AD 2026 and most people in this modern age still don't seem to understand jurisprudence. Laws are supposed to be for the health, safety, protection and well being of every member of society. Laws are to ensure justice is served. Laws are not to be tools for self-serving grift.

"Fontamara" is supposed to be a cautionary tale against grift, crime, corruption and injustice. It wasn't meant to be an instruction manual for committing grift, crime, corruption, and injustice. So far I'm finding "Fontamara" to be a terrific piece of work by Silone. What does everyone else think?

[Andy Sutton]

Very beautiful prose. POV is a little confusing as it’s told from multiple POV but this isn’t explained to the reader (took me about half the book to figure out). Otherwise, very solid storytelling. Sad ending (Fontamara).

[Darren]

Awesome!