Synopsis – Casa Paradiso
Casa Paradiso – 300 Years in the Life of a House
Lombardy, Northern Italy, 1637
Cristó Lovetta, a skilled stonemason, arrives in the rural village of Pieve Santa Clara to work on a nobleman’s house.
Haunted by a tragic past, Cristó wonders if he will ever find happiness again. However, as he immerses himself in his work, the warmth of the community and the beauty of the landscape convince him to begin a new life there.
Cristó designs and builds his own house, which he names Casa Paradiso. Over the centuries, Casa Paradiso becomes home to many generations, standing testament to lives beginning and ending, and witnessing the everyday challenges and triumphs of its inhabitants – from love lost and found, to the tragedies of war, the far-reaching consequences of political decisions made by powerful men and the evolving role of women in Italian society.
Casa Paradiso – the fourth instalment of the Paradiso Novels – is a shining, evocative saga spanning three hundred years in the life of a very special house, and a book that explores the enduring strength of the human spirit, contrasted with the transient nature of life itself.
Author Bio
Francesca Scanacapra was born in Italy to an English mother and Italian father, and her childhood was spent living between England and Italy. Her adult life has been somewhat nomadic with periods spent living in Italy, England, France, Senegal and Spain. She describes herself as ‘unconventional’ and has pursued an eclectic mixture of career paths – from working in translation, the fitness industry, education and even several years as a builder. In 2021 she returned to her native country and back to her earliest roots to pursue her writing career full time. Francesca now resides permanently in rural Lombardy in the house built by her great-grandfather which was the inspiration for her Paradiso Novels: Paradiso, Return to Paradiso, The Daughter of Paradiso and Casa Paradiso. Her novel The Lost Boy of Bologna was also published by Silvertail Books.
Social Media Links –
Twitter @francescascana2
Guest Post
Venturing Beyond the Comfort Zone
To date, my historical go-to period has been the early to mid-20th century. This era, with its rapid technological advancements, social changes and world wars has provided a rich tapestry of human experience that I’ve woven into my previous books, and in particular into the first three Paradiso Novels – Paradiso, Return to Paradiso and Daughter of Paradiso. However, for the fourth book in the series, Casa Paradiso, I have stepped out of this familiar era. Casa Paradiso spans not just a few decades but three centuries, beginning in 1637.
The research process for this book was at times daunting, and I hold up my hands and admit that I was wholly ignorant about certain events which were pivotal in Italy’s history. I knew nothing about the Spanish or Austrian occupations of Lombardy, for instance, and my knowledge about the unification of Italy from a collection of separate republics, kingdoms and duchies to a single country under one government was piecemeal at best.
Information on politics, wars and revolutions is readily available online, but it’s more difficult to find accurate details concerning how these events affected those living under their shadow. The histories of everyday people often leave no written trace, in particular when going back several centuries, when literacy was reserved for society’s upper echelons. The characters in my books are not kings and queens, or the powerful and famous. They are farmers, tradesmen, domestic workers, housewives and ordinary folk, striving to exist amidst the changes, and often the chaos, brought about by the decisions of far-off rulers.
It is in the gaps where historical documents fall silent that imagination and storytelling take over from research, and there’s no harm in that because historical fiction is, after all, fiction. Despite differences in time and context, there is always an underlying universality of human experience. Whatever might be happening politically, the fundamental concerns of ordinary people remain consistent. Just as people do in the modern day and have done since the dawn of humanity, they fall in and out of love, experience joy, loss, disappointment. Sometimes they fail, other times they succeed – generally, they manage to survive.
I am mindful of not overloading my novels with excessive amounts of history, so rather than writing exhaustive background explanations, I put myself into the minds of the characters who are obliged to live through its effects. In the opening chapter of Casa Paradiso, set in 1637, Cristó the stonemason is stopped at a checkpoint by Spanish soldiers, who give him no grief as he is accustomed to answering their questions. A farmer he meets grumbles that those who’ve ‘got into bed with the Spanish’ haven’t been taxed like those who won’t, and mentions that non-payment will result in his crops being torched. As we shift from Spanish to Austrian occupation, Carolina reflects on the changes the new occupying forces will bring. Later, during the period of the Napoleonic wars, Marianna cannot understand what business Napoleon has in Lombardy and exclaims, ‘How much land does one man need, for heaven’s sake?’. During the time of Italian unification, we witness a generational difference of opinion. Ulisse argues that homogenizing all the disparate regions into ‘one jigsaw puzzle nation’ will not work and that he will always consider himself a Lombardo, never an Italiano. His young nephew, on the other hand, sees the positives and hopes that Il Risorgimento will bring an end to the incessant spats between the regions. In the final chapters, which take place in between the world wars, Augusto and Pietro allude to Mussolini’s regime. Augusto admits his ignorance of the political situation, but sees the benefits of Mussolini’s policies because now there are railways and a free health service. Pietro, who is more informed, isn’t so convinced and says, ‘Time will tell’.
Casa Paradiso has challenged me to delve into unfamiliar territories. Through the lens of everyday characters, I sought to capture the nuanced impacts of historical upheavals on those left out of the history books. This journey has reinforced my belief in the enduring relevance of human stories, underscoring that whether in the past or present, the struggles and resilience of people remains universally resonant.
