The Stabia Teatro Festival – Annibale Ruccello Award 2025 continues to attract public interest and favor thanks to its rich and varied program of events.
Just a few days ago, the event, which takes place every year in Castellammare di Stabia to pay homage to fellow citizen Annibale Ruccello, a playwright who died prematurely in 1986, hosted the writer Giuseppe Petrarca with the presentation of his new book “I bambini di nessuno” , published by Solferino, at the Mondadori Bookstore in via Santa Maria dell'Orto.
Professor Carmen Matarazzo, President of the Achille Basile Association – Le Ali della Lettura, the event's longtime organizer and a cultural focal point for the city for over twenty years, hosted the event. Journalists Annamaria Cafaro and Emanuela Francini also participated, and they engaged in a conversation with the author.
Giuseppe Petrarca is known as a writer of social noir – those novels that, starting from the mystery inherent in the genre, observe and focus on reality, highlighting the ills of society hidden under a blanket of hypocrisy, superficiality, or, worse, connivance.
The author himself clearly expressed the intent of his literary production when, asked about the plot of "No One's Children , " he stated : " Evil does not come from outside man: evil is born within us. We must deal with evil. There is no clear line of distinction between executioners and victims, between good and bad. There are millions of nuances, and each time you have to delve into the situations to reason and make a judgment. That's why I chose to tell the story of society's evil through noir, the detective story, which remains intriguing and readable, but which always carries a thread of hope . "
"No One's Children" recounts the sad and inhumane conditions of children who populate Venezuela's shantytowns, similar to our own slums. These neighborhoods are rife with crime, plagued by a lack of services and precarious sanitary conditions that expose them to serious diseases.
This book offers a glimpse into the dramatic current situation of that region caught between political conflict, economic crisis, and external military threat. Above all, the title raises awareness among the reader of the plight of thousands of children around the world who are forced into hardship and deprivation, subjected to violence and abuse. It is no coincidence that the author emphasizes the term "nobody": a word that becomes an entity, a symbol of abandonment, a lack of identity, and a sense of belonging.
"Nobody" isn't just a pronoun: it's a destiny. Those children are children of absence. Their images reach us from war zones, but also from neighboring territories. They are unaware inhabitants of a void that tragically dominates. Everywhere. Emphasizing this very aspect, the author clearly stated: " This new book, written some time ago, doesn't belong to just one place in the world. In reality, it is a collective wound. It concerns us all. In every part of the world there are 'Nobody's Children '."
Giuseppe Petrarca, with his trademark passionate verve, generously offered his time to the public, delving into the details of the book's genesis. To address the sensitive topic of abused childhood, he brought back Commissioner Cosimo Lombardo, the protagonist of the noir saga written between 2017 and 2020, which, in addition to reader acclaim, earned him prestigious literary awards.
After a break dedicated to novels that looked, respectively, at the city of Naples in the difficult time of the earthquake – “La città puntellata”, published by Cento Autori (2022) – and at a dystopian protagonist, the voice of a society without values and without hope – “La lunga notte di Christian Berger”, published by Cento Autori (2023) – Petrarca felt a strong pull towards his character. Lombardo, a symbol of resilience and civic commitment, was the only one to whom he could entrust the challenge of saving the children.
The author didn't just describe the plot, but also offered a deeper interpretation, tied to the characters and their collective redemption. " It's a story of characters seeking redemption, wanting to find a form of resurrection. After the death of the society I described with Christian Berger, here I glimpse a small seed of light, of hope, of rebirth . I hope it touches all of us, present and absent , as an invitation to redeem ourselves from our struggles, from our daily weaknesses, from our daily failures. A powerful redemption that, within this book, becomes extraordinary thanks to the figure of Father José, a figure, in my opinion, emblematic of the entire narrative. "
All these characters traveled with the heart and imagination of Giuseppe Petrarca, arriving in the "somewhat dense, somewhat humid Venezuela," the author stated. With his sensitivity, Petrarca manages to enter the lives of others, almost appropriating their identities.
This is what emerges from the images and scenes described with meticulous skill and the perfect characterization of the characters. A unique experience that, in this latest literary work, offers the reader an immersive narrative journey, capable of generating empathy and emotion. Reading "No One's Children" shakes and enlightens consciences. But "No One's Children" is also a novel that is experienced as you read it.
