“Marine Feet and Vesuvian Eyes”: The Volcanic Aesthetics of Maria Orsini Natale

This volume intends to fill a gap in the critical reception of a remarkable Southern Italian woman writer. A journalist, a poet and a writer, Maria Orsini Natale (1928-2010) lived and worked at the foot of Vesuvius, and began writing at age 69, receiving several literary recognitions. Her novel, initially written as Ottocento Vesuviano, then entitled Francesca and Nunziata, and published for the first time in 1995, was also made into a 2001 film directed by Lina Wertmüller, starring Sophia Loren and Giancarlo Giannini. The book earned her a semifinalist’s place in the Strega Prize, the most prestigious Italian literary award, and features a family from Amalfi, dedicated for generations to the white art of pasta making. More than fiction, it illustrates what in Neapolitan is called a ‘cunto’, part historical account and part allegorical tale, derived from a reservoir of collective as well as personal memories.