Where the Light

Twice winner of the Selezione Campiello award, Pellegrino’s new novel revisits an enigmatic genius, the economist Federico Caffè whose sudden disappearance is still a mystery.

Rome, April 1987. Professor Federico Caffè, a leading figure in economics and an advocate of socialism and the weaker classes, disappeared off the face of the Earth. What if he made a conscious decision to be homeless, far from the capitalist tendencies he foresaw, perhaps in a small, abandoned village in Southern Italy?
Following this hypothesis, the author reconstructs the Professor’s last days, his demise, and the plight of the entire country as it soars through a decade of economic boom, defined by corruption and division.

But the question remains: what really happened to Federico Caffè?

Winner of The Bridge Book Award 2024