Home of The Naughty Stories Series
The trattoria was a small family affair, tucked away in the shade of a narrow lane in the old Jewish quarter. I sat down at a table on the pavement and ordered pasta with clams. The padrone brought me a carafe of white wine. For the second course I ordered frittura, little baby octopus fried …
In the first block of flats where I lived for two months while everything else was arranged or, as they like to put it here, sistemato, was a wonderful old gated lift. The lift had wooden panelling and glass windows decorated with deco motifs. At the back of the lift there was even a little …
The school used to give us a cheque, every month, to cash in the Banca Commerciale. By the end of the month I was always a bit short of cash. Although I kept something back in an envelope that slotted into the upright desk in my room (I trusted Katarina and Amelia implicitly), that month …
Guy had just been taken on as lettore, or reader, in the faculty of literature and foreign languages when he was asked to be part of the commission for the new research post. One of the candidates was a young woman. She entered the room on towering heels and made a big show of tucking …
It is a well-known conceit of Italian life that both husband and wife are happy to take a lover or a mistress, but neither are willing to contemplate divorce, since neither wishes to upset the equilibrium in which the other lives. The case of the lawyer Pelligrini, esteemed colleague of Avvocato Cassa, who had arrived …
Margherita, who is a friend of my friend, Doctor Tom Tom, was on her way to the hospital when she received a call from one of her patients. “Valentino,” she said, “Cosa vuoi? What do you want?” “Dottore, can we speak confidentially?” “I’m on my way to work,” said the doctor. “What can I do …
Brothers Nicola and Michele Campanile were neighbours of Guglielmo’s cousin, Dino. They lived down a woody dirt track several kilometers from the local town in a shared farmhouse. On one side of the house, Michele lived with his wife; Nicola lived on his own on the other side of the house. Early one morning, when …