From 9 February, 6pm
Book Club 2026 with Paolo Nelli
In Italian.
Following the success of the 2025 edition, this new series of Book Club meetings curated by Paolo Nelli will include two separate sessions for each selected book, which will allow the ever-growing number of members to participate and will make the discussion among readers as smooth and enjoyable as possible.
The Book Club events are held in person at our Institute and participation requires having read the book in question.
The topic for the 2026 edition is Teachers at School, Teachers for Life.
Literary and artistic mentors, schoolteachers, and teachers for life form the common thread linking this year’s novels. As with every edition, the books may be vastly different from one another in style, period, themes and, of course, in the lived experiences of their authors. Beyond their literary value and the strength of their content, they also share the ability to inspire opinions and spark discussion—something that, as always, will not be lacking during the evenings of our literary circle.
To register for one of the meetings, please write to library.icilondon@esteri.it kindly clearly indicating the date and time you wish to attend.
We will begin on Monday 9 February at 6:00 pm with Io, Jean Gabin by Goliarda Sapienza.
Below you will find the 2026 calendar with titles, days and times:
- Io, Jean Gabin, Goliarda Sapienza (published posthumously) 2010, Einaudi:
Monday 9 February, 6pm
Monday 16 February, 5pm
Goliarda Sapienza’s The Art of Joy achieved posthumous success that placed the author at the centre of literary attention. In I, Jean Gabin, the young protagonist of this autobiographical novel finds in the French actor not only a personal myth, but a true mentor who shows her how to navigate life’s situations.
- La ricreazione è finita, Dario Ferrari, 2023, Sellerio Editore.
Monday 2 March, 6pm
Monday 9 March, 5pm
With Recess Is Over by Dario Ferrari, we are introduced to the behind-the-scenes world of academia in a novel that exposes a system through irony. While not autobiographical, the author’s familiarity with certain academic dynamics clearly stems from personal experience.
- I beati anni del castigo, Fleur Jaeggy, 1989, new 2021 Adelphi edition
Thursday 16 April, 6pm
Monday 27 April, 5pm
In The Blessed Years of Punishment, a title with powerful evocative force, Fleur Jaeggy takes us into a girls’ boarding school, where we follow the protagonist’s formative years in a novel marked by striking language and intense lived experience.
- Domani interrogo, Gaja Cenciarelli, 2022, Marsilio.
Tuesday 12 May, 5pm
Thursday 21 May, 6pm
Gaja Cenciarelli, an English teacher who also teaches in Rebibbia, a district of Rome, is the protagonist of her novel Tomorrow I’ll Test You. She speaks honestly and forcefully about today’s school system and the relationships between students and teachers.
- Il nome della rosa, Umberto Eco, 1980, new 2023 edition by La Nave di Teseo.
Tuesday 23 June, 6pm
Tuesday 30 June, 5pm
In keeping with the tradition of our Book Club, this year we will also discuss a crime novel. For this edition, we have chosen a classic: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. In this medieval thriller, the novice Adso of Melk recounts the story of his mentor, the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, and how he succeeds in uncovering the culprit behind a series of murders in an abbey.
- Destinazione errata, Domenico Starnone, 2025, Einaudi.
Wednesday 16 September, 6pm
Wednesday 23 September, 5pm
Domenico Starnone taught in secondary schools for many years, and themes related to education recur frequently in his novels. For this reason, he features in this edition with his most recent book, Wrong Destination, a novel in which he masterfully explores the delicate threads that can either hold couples together or pull them apart.
- I piccoli maestri, Luigi Meneghello, 1964, various editions available, including Rizzoli 2013
Thursday 15 October, 6pm
Thursday 22 October, 5pm
Luigi Meneghello, best known for his masterpiece Libera nos a Malo, returns in The Small Masters to his experience of the Resistance many years later. He recounts it through the eyes of a city student, doing so without rhetoric and often with the irony that has always distinguished his writing.
- Artemisia, Anna Banti, 1947, latest edition 2023, Mondadori.
Thursday 26 November, 6pm
Monday 30 November, 5pm
Artemisia is widely regarded as one of Anna Banti’s finest novels. In this book, she not only reconstructs the life of the artist Artemisia Gentileschi, but presents her as a historical model—admired for her artistic greatness, courage, and life choices.
The meetings will be chaired by Paolo Nelli, Lecturer in Italian Language and Culture at King’s College London. Based in London for several years, he has published short stories and novels, including his debut La fabbrica di paraurti (1999), Golden Boot (2012), Trattato di economia affettiva (2018), Il terzo giorno (2020, La Nave di Teseo), and the recent Sindrome da assicuratore (2024, La Nave di Teseo).