The latest addition to my website is Diego Marani‘s La città celeste (The Celestial City). This is a humorous, colourful, (semi-)autobiographical account of a young Italian man going to Trieste to study translation and interpreting and his time there. His main motive is to escape his strict, domineering father. However, in his various activities – studying, partying, falling in love, smuggling (Trieste is next to the then Italy-Yugoslavia border), journalism and growing up, he discovers not just Trieste but lots of different Triestes and soon realises that Trieste is not just an Italian city but a Hapsburg and Slovenian city as well. Marani tells his story very well, with lots of colour, lots of growing up and, of course, the occasional slip-up. It is great fun to read and you will learn a lot about Trieste and its different sides.