Il lusso della giovinezza

Irreverent, passionate and irreverent return with a new adventure the two involuntary investigators, Saverio Lamanna, jobless journalist, sarcastic and realistic, and Peppe Piccionello, his sidekick, confidant and mentor. Between irony and sarcasm, a detective story loaded with social and human reflections.

The old and the young. On this underlying motif Gaetano Savatteri builds the investigation, full of comic energy, of “unemployed, successful journalist Saverio Lamannna” and his sidekick Peppe Piccionello. Steve, an American millionaire determined to invest in Sicily, dies. He was not just a businessman, he was an idealist who wanted to contribute to a salutary shake-up against Catpardesque immobility. Around him was a team of enthusiastic young people who came from all over. Among them is Suleima, Xavier’s beautiful companion who, having gone to console her, happens to be poking around in the activities of the recently deceased entrepreneur. Steve fell off the side of a road, but it is not known how, and it is also not clear how he got there. For Lamanna, too many things do not add up, and he begins to suspect that this was not an accident.

It is also known that two characters, like dark shadows in contrast to the brightness of the young collaborators, loomed over the victim’s life and business path, old Don Cesare and powerful businessman Nicodemo. They look like the old mafia of the countryside and the new mafia of business. Or is it just an appearance?

The setting, in this new installment of the series, is not the azure blue sea of Màkari. But we are in the Madonie Mountains of the ancient town of Castelbuono, which, although only a few kilometers from the sea of Cefalù, is in the mountains in the middle of the snow.

The entire novel is shot through with some crucial questions.

Is it possible in Sicily, Italy’s social laboratory, to have a turnaround in which young people are the protagonists? Is it possible in this glimpse of the millennium for a young person to stay in our country, establish himself professionally and contribute to its development?

Above all, is a dialogue between generations still possible?

Faced with these questions Saverio Lamanna appears totally bewildered; in fact, he crosses the middle age, the one in which tickets are paid full price, with no reductions for either young or old.


Gaetano Savatteri was born in Milan in 1964 and lives in Rome.
He is a journalist and writer.
He began his journalistic career at Giornale di Sicilia, then moved to Rome where he collaborates with Tg3 and Tg5.
His books include La congiura dei loquaci (Sellerio, 2000), La ferita di Vishinskij (Sellerio, 2003), I Siciliani (Laterza, 2005), Gli uomini che non si voltano (Sellerio, 2006), La volata di Calò (Sellerio, 2008), Uno per tutti (Sellerio, 2008), I Ragazzi di Regalpetra (Rizzoli, 2009), Strani Nostrani. Storie di Siciliani fuori dal comune (Novantacento, 2010), La fabbrica delle stelle (Sellerio, 2016), Non c'è più la Sicilia di una volta (Laterza, 2017), La congiura dei loquaci (Sellerio, 2017), Il delitto di Kolymbetra (Sellerio, 2018), Il lusso della giovinezza (Sellerio, 2020), Quattro indagini a Màkari (Sellerio, 2021) and I colpevoli sono matti (Sellerio, 2022). In 2022 he edited, also for Sellerio, the volume L'isola nuova. Trent’anni di scritture in Sicilia. He has also published several short stories in anthologies published by Sellerio.
He has published essays and surveys on Cosa Nostra.
In November 2015, the novel of the same name Uno per tutti was made into a film directed by Mimmo Calopresti.

In 2021, the TV series Màkari starring Claudio Gioè, based on the novels and short stories featuring journalist and investigator Saverio Lamanna, premiered on Rai 1 in prime time. The series has met with great critical and audience success and reached its third season in 2024.

arrow-uparrow-down