Step into the grandeur of the Savoy court, where power and intrigue reign. Meet Nina, a humble servant, and Margherita, the first queen of Italy, two women from opposite ends of the social spectrum. Yet, they share a fierce determination—to break free from their gilded cages and take control of their own destinies. A captivating tale of strength, courage, and the fight for independence in a world where women are expected to bow down.

1868, NINA is an ordinary scullery maid serving Princess Margherita, who married the heir to the Italian throne a few months ago. For Nina, it’s a nightmare because she realises she is a pawn in a maze of intrigues. Her life changes, however, when she meets an elderly butler of the Savoy household. Nina learns to read and write, studies, encounters love and, over the years, crosses paths several times with the woman who is now Queen Margherita. But, one day, she is faced with a very difficult choice…

 

1868, MARGHERITA is ready to be the worthy and perfect wife of the Prince of Savoy. But as far as her husband Umberto is concerned, she might as well not exist. She soon discovers that her marriage is pure fiction and that her only duty is to give birth to a male heir. And yet Margherita has no intention of being sacrificed to the crown. She will be the one to conquer the hearts of the people and become an icon of her time: the first queen of Italy… until that fateful day in July 1900, when her entire world will capsize in just a moment.

English introduction available

At the dawn of the 1800s, on the banks of the River Adda, the Crespi family achieved an ambitious feat: they founded Italy’s first worker village. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hopes, drama, mystery, revenge, and love come together to form a grand historical fresco that encompasses fifty years of Italian history.

River Adda, 1877. Cristoforo Crespi sees a small triangle of land bounded by the river as the future and the chance his family needs to make an indelible mark upon this world. Thus, the son of a simple tengitt, a dyer, builds an avant-garde cotton mill and a village to house its workers. Italy has never seen such a thing: the village has its own church, school, and comfy homes with gardens. Cristoforo bets everything he has on this dream. His money, his reputation, and even his relationship with his brother Benigno, who has succumbed to the temptations of the high life in Milan and by the prestige of owning a newspaper. For Cristoforo, what matters most is to create something concrete and to change the life of his workers for the better.

Young Emilia’s life changes the day she moves into the new village. The daughter of one of Crespi’s most loyal workers and a woman tormented by dark premonitions, Emilia witnesses, from this side of the river, the creation of a self-sustaining world. She experiences the small and large events of Italian history: the 1989 bread riots, the First World War, the labor insurrections. But as fate would have it, her path soon crosses that of Silvio Crespi, heir to the company and to his father’s vision. Despite the socio-economic chasm that separates them, they develop a special relationship that stands the test of life and time.

The saga of the man who would become Julius II, the warrior Pope. He was the “enemy of the Borgias”. He lived among intrigues, forbidden love affairs and murders. Everything for a single objective: to become Pope.

For the readers of Matteo Strukul’s international bestseller “The Medicis”

August 1471. A young friar arrives in Rome and joins the rest of the population outside St Peter’s. Only he is not just anybody. He is Giuliano della Rovere, the nephew of the new Pope. And this is the first day of his new life, a day that will mark his fate: after witnessing the solemn coronation of his uncle, Giuliano is involved in a crazy whirlwind of celebrations in the city taverns, then risks death in an ambush before finding safety in the arms of an irresistibly alluring girl. This is Rome’s welcome to this humble young monk, who quickly learns his lesson. Only the strongest and most determined survive in the quagmire that is the Roman Curia. And so begins the ascent of Giuliano, who discovers that he has a burning ambition, equal only to his attraction for Lucrezia Normanni, the woman who will remain at his side for years to come, even bearing him a daughter. Years spent confronting his great adversary, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, and secretly plotting against the Florence Medicis. And all that to prepare for an inevitable event: the death of his uncle, the Pope, and the opening of the conclave. Here comes the opportunity to acquire absolute power. But Giuliano will discover that for the moment, destiny has other plans for him…