Marco Balzano

A powerful, understated novel sweeping us through much of the twentieth century. Trina tells her story to her daughter, who's missing, and stays missing. She lives in Curon, in the German-speaking Italian Tyrol, and witnesses Mussolini's attempts to Italianise it and stifle its German heritage; the impact of the Nazis and war on their lives; and finally sees their community destroyed by the building of a - it turns out - inefficient dam which drowns Curon and surrounding villages. Important moments of history are told here through the lives of ordinary people, few of whom are described, other than as, for instance 'the fat woman', 'the old man' - they become ciphers for us all.. That is what makes this book, so simply told, so potent.… (more)

It's an old story. Governments just won't leave you alone.

In “I'm Staying Here” (2018), Italian writer Marco Balzano lets a woman named Trina tell her story. Her people live in Curon, a tiny and seemingly isolated mountain village so far north in Italy that everyone speaks German. Trina, a teacher, is among the few who can actually understand their own country's language.

Trina addresses her story to Marica, her beloved daughter, whose disappearance seems to trigger all the trials that follow, almost as if it were all her fault. In the 1930s the people of Curon are being pulled in two different directions — by Mussolini and the Fascists in the south and by Hitler and the Nazis in the north. Some of the people are lured north, where at least others speak their language. Some of Trina's relatives are among them, and they secretly take Marica with them.

While the Nazis prepare for war, the Fascists talk of building a dam and flooding the valley in which Curon sets. When war breaks out it swallows up Erich, Trina's husband, who is forced to fight for the Fascists, while their son, Michael, idolizes Hitler and eventually joins the German army. When Erich returns from combat with injuries, he vows never to fight again when he recovers. Yet his war isn't over.

To escape both the Fascists and the Nazis, the two of them flee into the Alps to wait out the war with a few others. When the war ends and they are finally able to return to their farm, however, they find that the dam project remains very much alive. The novel is based on reality, and the cover illustration shows the church's bell tower that still today juts out of the lake covering Curon.

Even translated into English, Bolzano's graceful prose shines through. This is both a beautiful novel and a powerful one with a message so many of us can identify with: Why can't they just leave us alone?… (more)

Per conoscere parti della nostra storia poco nota (almeno per me), niente di meglio che un romanzo di questo tipo, che racconta la storia da dentro, per voce dei protagonisti.
Il paese di Curon, in Trentino, è tra le mete dei miei viaggi italiani: la curiosità di vedere un campanile che emerge da un lago. Leggendo la storia che ha portato a questo ormai frequentato luogo turistico, se ne percepisce il dolore, lo sradicamento, la rabbia e l'impotenza di chi questo lago artificiale lo ha vissuto sulla propria pelle.
In un tempo di guerra, terrore si somma a terrore, rabbia si somma a rabbia, e sia in un caso (la guerra) sia nell'altro (il riempimento di un bacino artificiale), nulla sarà più come prima.
Il racconto di una vita che attraversa la storia, locale, nazionale e mondiale, narrato dal punto di vista di una donna (ma è scritto da un uomo) che nonostante tutto si fa colonna granitica di memoria.
Un bel libro coinvolgente.… (more)