On Monday, August 24, Simone Azzu will be in Alghero to present " Albergo Savoia ," his debut novel published by Il Maestrale. The event is part of the Llibres Libres series, a series of talks with the author organized by the Itinerandia association in collaboration with the Cyrano bookshop. Azzu will be in conversation with writer Alessandro De Roma. The talk is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. in the Cyrano bookshop's outdoor area.
Playwright, director, and performer, Simone Azzu wrote and directed the plays Il Pubblico Bene , performed in several European countries , and Petter: Prigioniero Politico , which won the 23rd edition of the Museo Cervi Prize – Teatro per la Memoria. Founder of the Torgeir Library at the Teatro Ridotto in Bologna, he has also created audio productions for Rai Radio 3 and RSI – Swiss Radio and Television. He is a professor of literature and a doctoral student in comparative literature at the University of Sassari.
With "Albergo Savoia," Azzu enters the world of fiction, crafting a choral novel set in a Sardinian seaside town , divided not only by a main street but by two opposing social worlds. On one side, the Albergo Savoia, a meeting place for the local bourgeoisie, professionals, politicians, and their ambitions; on the other, the Bar Delfino, hidden among the alleys, a refuge for the unemployed, defeated dreamers, and men and women who seem to have given up everything except the habit of meeting every day.
The lives of Dino, Maria, Gianni, Vittorio, and Giulia intersect between these two worlds: those who have lost their jobs and with it a part of their identity, those who seek a possible escape in love, those who chase success without being able to fill their emptiness, and those who dream of leaving the provinces . In the background, a community moves, observing, judging, and remembering, almost transforming itself into a collective character. With a writing style that alternates irony and harshness, the novel explores social illusions, desire, failure, and the difficulty of change, composing a contemporary tragicomedy on the fragility of lives and the stubbornness with which, despite everything, we continue to live them.
