Questioni di sangue

English synopsis and sample available

When death strikes a man hated by most of People of “La Sanità”, one of Naples’s most fascinating and conflict-ridden districts, the local parish priest can’t help wonder whom amongst his flock could be the killer.  However, the search for truth leads him to his own brother, the brother he was torn from by the social workers when he was a young child.

A masterful exploration of the power of blood ties and the complexities of the human soul and its contradictions.

The Sanità district is an island, divided from the rest of Naples by a long bridge. It is here that, after forty years, two brothers meet again. Raffaele, given up for adoption as a child after his mother’s death, returns there as the parish priest of the basilica of Santa Maria alla Sanità. Peppino, on the other hand, is the local mafia boss. The two men couldn’t be more different, and yet they are united by their inescapable bond of blood – a bond that is a source of danger and torment for both. When death strikes and the body of Raffaele Capace, a corrupt policeman and loan shark who kept the entire district hostage, is discovered in a local apartment, the enquiry follows a single lead offered by an unreliable witness. And yet Father Raffaele is not easily satisfied:  the murder comes as a relief for to many people, he therefore directs his attention and his knowledge of the human soul to explore his own people, even if that means taking a look at someone very close to him – perhaps too close to him.. He is fully aware that his investigation could upset a balance that relies on unwritten, though mandatory rules – but he has to push ahead. This is because la Sanità is an island and in order to sail in its surrounding waters you need courage, passion and a different notion of the truth.