Scattered and hidden in old newspapers, on the flaps of forgotten books, among papers jealously guarded by her dearest friends, amidst poorly archived radio scripts, and all - always - protected by various pseudonyms, these writings, now rescued from oblivion, cannot but surprise not only readers encountering Cristina Campo for the first time, her cult of perfection, her love for beauty and the mastery of her style, but also, and perhaps more so, those who already know her.

Because Cristina Campo, who liked to say of herself: "she wrote little, and wished she had written less," in reality did not write so little, at least judging by these new pages, which alter a now consolidated image. Pages that deal with the most disparate topics: figurative arts, liturgy, philosophy of religion, Persian carpets and Tibetan rituals, Florentine villas and French surgery - and, of course, literature.

Among the authors meditated upon, reviewed or annotated, some of her most beloved - Borges, D'Annunzio, Capote, Chekhov, W.C. Williams, Mörike, Shakespeare - as well as the "poetesses," women writers from every era and culture read with the aim of grasping the peculiarity of the female voice, a sound always varied and always recognizable beyond every boundary of space and time: Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, Djuna Barnes, Cécile Bruyère, Simone Weil.

Adelphi edition, in Italian.