The Bishop's Villa

Tuscany, November 1943. The village of Le Case is miles from any big city and remains rooted in an earlier century. Seen from Le Case, even the war looks differentmostly a matter of waiting, praying, and mourning. As a fierce winter threatens, an ominous order is issued by the local Fascist authorities: all Jews must be rounded up and detained in the bishops villa to await deportation. Ren is the towns cobbler. A loner, his only friend is the widow Anna, a woman with whom he has been secretly in love for years. When Annas son joins the Resistance but is soon killed by the Wehrmacht, the grieving woman vows to continue her sons mission. Ren later learns that a group of Resistance fighters has been ambushed and the survivors are imprisoned in the bishops villa. A woman is among them, they say, a grieving mother and former inhabitant of Le Case. Ren can no longer stand by and watch as his town, his country, and his one great love become victims of the Nazis and their Fascist enablers, and he decides to take action. Perhaps for the first time in his life. Based on the true story of a nefarious collaboration between the Catholic diocese of Grosseto and the Fascist authorities, The Bishops Villa is a masterful weaving together of fact and fiction by one of Italys most exciting young writers.