The Road to San Giovanni

Assembled and published posthumously, The Road to San Giovanni offers Calvino’s reflections on his own life and work. These five elegant “memory exercises” provide a varied and revealing portrait of a writer who was deeply wary of autobiography: from the title essay’s moving evocation of the author’s relationship with his father — couched in a lyrical sketch of Calvino’s childhood home — to a charming account of teenage years spent in the glow of the cinema screen, to Calvino’s declaration of purpose as a writer in the final essay’s visionary fragments. Heartfelt, affecting, and wise, The Road to San Giovanni will appeal to Calvino’s existing fans and win new ones.