The saga of a great Sicilian family who, in just over a century, experienced fame, wealth and power, but was also engulfed in love affairs and betrayals, dark secrets and cruel acts of revenge. A story both epic and intimate, bathed in the colors of the Mediterranean and sparked by overwhelming passions. An extraordinary story, told by an extraordinary writer.

From the 1800s to the 1930s, the Florios are the «uncrowned kings of Sicily»: restless and ambitious, single-minded and determined to be richer and more powerful than anybody else. They start as grindingly poor spice sellers, but they quickly move on to tuna fishing, to foundries and finally to the Marsala wine that conquers the world. Shrewd businessmen and entrepreneurs, the Florio men are also stubborn, arrogant, philanderers and slaves to passions and they often find themselves forced to choose between ambition and sacrifice. Strong and resolute, the Florio women may be caring mothers, alluring mistresses or wounded wives, but they always strive to find their place in the world. From Vincenzo, the founder of the Florio empire, to Ignazio, his grandson, who squanders the family fortune on legendary parties; from Giovanna, iron-willed but love-starved, to the legendary Donna Franca, idolized by kings and poets, the author draws on history with both hands, dispels the mists of time and restores the Florios’ extraordinary, contradictory and fascinating vitality.

pp.448

The book contains more than 300 black-and-white pictures of various sizes, from half a page to an eighth of a page. Some will be real images – places, events, historical characters – but most of them will be suggestively evocative, like those in 19th-century illustrated novels. This option respects the format of the novel and allows the reader who has already read the book to re-imagine the events. In addition to the illustrations there will be two maps: a large, colour one of Palermo and a full-page black-and-white one of the Via dei Materassai district.

pp.448

The second and concluding part of the saga, which reveals in full the myth of the Florios, making us relive an era, a world and a destiny that has no equal.

The Florios, the Lions of Sicily, have won. Gone are the days of the modest putìa in central Palermo, the sacks of spices, of Paolo and Ignazio, who went there to escape poverty, with determination as their only wealth. Now, they own buildings and factories, ships and tonnaras, silks and jewels. Now, the entire city looks up to them, honours them and fears them. And young Ignazio fears no one. The destiny of Casa Florio has been his destiny since birth, it runs through his veins and drives him beyond Sicily, to Rome and political intrigues, to Europe and its courts, to the naval dominion of the Mediterranean, to buying the entire Aegadian Islands archipelago. Ignazio has a dazzling empire but a heart of ice, because, for the glory of Casa Florio, he had to give up the love that would have capsized his destiny. A love whose shadow never leaves him, even to the very end…

His son, Ignazziddu, on the other hand, is afraid when, at just over the age of twenty, he inherits all his father has built. He’s afraid because he doesn’t want to be enslaved to a name, to sacrifice himself on the family altar. He does his best, however, facing a world that’s changing too fast, shaken by new, violent and uncontrollable powers. He does his best but realises that having Florio blood isn’t enough to stand out. He needs something more, something his grandfather and his father had but which he lacks. But where, how has he gone wrong?

The Florios win everything, then lose everything. And yet this is only a part of their extraordinary story. Because this father and son, so different, so remote, have at their sides two women who are also very different and yet both exceptional: Giovanna, Ignazio’s wife, hard and fragile like crystal, filled with passion but starved of love, and Franca, Ignazziddu’s wife, the most beautiful woman in Europe, whose gilded life is shattered by the blows of a cruel fate.

It is these two women who trace the true trajectory – exciting and dreadful, glorious and tragic – of a family who, for a long instant, lit up the world. It is they who will make us understand why, after so many years, the Florios live on, unique and unforgettable, as the heartbeat of an island and of a city.

pp.688

The best-selling book of 2021 returns, enriched with vivid illustrations, for an immersion into the atmosphere and customs of that era.

The book contains nearly 400 black-and-white pictures of various sizes, from full page to an eighth of a page. Some are authentic images – places, events, historical characters – but most of them are suggestively evocative, like those in 20th-century illustrated novels. This option respects the format of the novel and allows the reader who has already read the book to re-imagine the events.

pp.undefined

Before the empire, before the legend: the prequel to the bestselling saga The Lions of Sicily.

Based on the true story of the Florios, Sicily’s history-making titans, this sweeping novel traces their roots and reveals the struggles and ambitions that would one day build an empire – and shape history.

Calabria (South Italy), end of the eighteenth century. Vincenzo Florio lives by the sea: with his wife Rosa and their children, he is free to gaze beyond the horizon, towards Sicily, yet nothing could ever pull them away from their home. In Bagnara, a strip of land crowned by mountains but shaped by the sea’s power, Vincenzo works with iron, has a respectable family, and is proud of his name and the hard work that built it. It seems the Florios’ story could repeat itself, generation after generation. But the rebellious, dreamy nature of his son Paolo, who discovers the allure of freedom, opens the door to a new idea, a new obsession. Then, suddenly, the harsh, unforgiving land trembles, and in an instant, an earthquake destroys homes and claims lives.

From the ruins, a new dream is born for the Florios: a dream that crosses the strait between Calabria and Sicily, carrying Paolo and Ignazio Florio to Palermo, leaving behind their strict father and a world frozen in time. They depart from the despair of those who have lost everything, uncertain of what the future holds, yet fully aware of who they have been – a consciousness that will shape the history of the Florio family from beginning to end.

And this is the beginning.

pp.undefined