In a four-day festival spanning from the San Francisco Bay Area to the UC Davis campus, College of Letters and Science students and faculty celebrated and discussed Italian literature alongside some the country’s foremost authors.
Award-winning Italian writer Carlo Lucarelli spoke with students about what makes crime fiction work and how fictional stories can reveal truths about difficult moments in history. He also discussed his latest novel, L’inverno più nero, or The Darkest Winter, (Orenda Books, 2025).
“Literature is more than a form of entertainment, it's a way of opening up new worlds,” said Michael Subialka, associate professor of comparative literature and Italian. “There's no better way to experience a foreign culture than to interact directly with a brilliant author who has helped create a part of its vision of the world.”
Lucarelli’s on-campus talk was “standing room only,” Subialka said.
"Working together with partners from across the Bay Area to draw in some of the most exciting literary figures from Italy, UC Davis' collaboration with La Piazza Italian Literary Festival enriched campus life and serves as a reminder that UC Davis is at the forefront of connecting California with the cultural currents of the whole world," added Subialka.
The La Piazza San Francisco Italian Literary Festival was presented by the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco and by the Italian cultural association Librai in Corso, La Piazza. Running from April 10 through April 13, it was the first Italian literary festival in San Francisco dedicated to bringing renowned Italian writers to Bay Area audiences, according to organizers.
"It was such a pleasure to see our students interacting with a world-famous giallista (author of crime fiction or mystery novels)” said Eric Louis Russell, professor of French and Italian. “This brought contemporary Italian culture to Davis in a way that was engaging and sparked interest beyond what we can normally do in class."
The next iteration of the festival is being planned now and expected to take place April 16 - 19 during the spring 2027 quarter.
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