The Madonnina - Tapa dura

This is a short but well-written novel portraying a human relationship with universal problems. The title of the book refers to the name of the mountain from which the statue of the Virgin Mary can be seen on top of Milan Cathedral.

Severina is waiting for her husband Massimo to return home after a year long fling with a barmaid from Milan. At the beginning of the story he pulls on the cable stretching from the village up to their remote hut, announcing that he will be there in half an hour, so that she knows to expect him. During his climb, the background to their story is told; we learn of the past ten years or so of their marriage, the death of their only child, Severina's grief, verging on madness, Massimo's desertion of her and her reaction to it; she has refused to talk while he has been away, causing many of the villagers to consider her mad. The last quarter of the book is taken up with their subsequent coming to terms with each other until they are ready to make a new start.