I’m Staying Here by Marco Balzano📖

Summary of I’m Staying Here

“I’m Staying Here” is a novel that explores how international tensions and Italian nationalist policies impacted the lives of the German-speaking population in South Tyrol from the 1920s to the 1950s. The story is narrated from the perspective of Trina, a German language teacher who loses her job and resists the ‘Italianisation’ policies of Mussolini and later of the Italian Republic. As the Nazis rise to power in Germany and Austria, her daughter migrates to Germany, and her son joins the German army.

Reasons to read I’m Staying Here

“I’m Staying Here” brings to light the discriminatory measures against the German-speaking population of South Tyrol, a lesser-known chapter of 20th-century Italian history. The novel was inspired by the inundation of the village of Curon Venosta (Graun im Vinschgau), where the ancient bell tower still emerges from the lake today. Marco Balzano is a celebrated Italian writer. His novel “I’m Staying Here” won many literary prizes, including the Premio Bagutta and the Prix Méditerranée Étranger.

Setting: Curon Venosta, South Tyrol (Italy)

Original title: Resto qui

Year of publication: 2018

Nr of pages: 304