BOOKS – Promises of love in Italy post-World War II

Set in postwar Italy, Certe promesse d’amore (Some promises of love) is one of the most poetic works by Turin writer Aldo Zargani (1933–2020). While his acclaimed For Solo Violin: A Jewish Childhood in Fascist Italy, published in English in 2002, focused on his childhood under antisemitic persecution, this 1997 novel, an ideal continuation, depicts the “supermarket of utopias” in the postwar resurgence. The narrative centers on the Zionist dream of rebuilding Jewish sovereignty in Mandate Palestine, soon to become the State of Israel.
The story follows young Aldo and a girl named Dlilah, or Dalila (like Samson’s Delilah), a “pale Jewish girl from Trieste” with whom he shares the intense but illusory hopes of this era between beach outings, camping, discussions, and stolen kisses. Originally published by Il Mulino, Certe promesse d’amore returns to bookstores through Bibliotheka Edizioni in an updated version.
This revival is itself a promise, a gesture of love, driven by Zargani’s daughter Lina and his wife, Elena Magoia. Recently deceased, Magoia was a renowned actress and voice artist. “It was worth the effort,” she writes in the introduction, “to try to bring back to the public this delightful tale of an adolescence marked by a prematurely adult childhood, yet rich in passions, dedication, love, and illusions destined to clash with reality.”