The Foundation recommends

The Eternaut

It all begins with a snowfall in Buenos Aires. But this is no ordinary snow, for it is phosphorescent, and kills on contact. An alien invasion is under way, and it will go on to wipe out much of the world’s population. The survivors are herded into the River Plate Stadium by the military, who attempt to mount a defence. A siege begins, with relentless attacks by insect-like creatures and hallucinations caused by mysterious substances. The Eternaut of the title is the protagonist, Khruner—his name meaning “wanderer of infinity”—a time traveller who tells the story to a comic book writer in an extended flashback. He ultimately escapes by boarding an alien spacecraft, only to become lost in time and in parallel universes. As his story comes to an end, a single question lingers: did it unfold in another dimension, or is it a glimpse of what is about to happen? Written by Héctor Oesterheld and illustrated by Francisco López, The Eternaut has become a landmark in comic book history, also for its troubled publishing history. First serialised between 1957 and 1959, the chilling scenes—civilians rounded up in stadiums, and Krol aliens symbolising military oppression—proved disturbingly prophetic. Just two decades later, similar horrors played out in Argentina under the military junta, and before that, in Uruguay and in Chile under Pinochet. Oesterheld himself, along with his daughters, vanished during this dark period, among the roughly 30,000 desaparecidos in Argentina, all trace of whom is lost. Nearly seventy years on, the story has lost none of its narrative power, and remains a symbol of defiance in the face of every dictatorship. It remains a classic, etched in the collective memory, and has recently been adapted by Netflix for an upcoming TV series.

The Eternaut
Hector German Oesterheld, Francisco Solano Lopez;
Fantagraphics Books, 2015

A Matter of Money

Lolita Lobosco has gained renown through her TV series Le indagini di Lolita Lobosco, aired on RAI 1, with Luisa Ranieri in the lead role. In this new novel, the commissioner finds herself entangled in a perplexing case that has some deeply disturbing personal implications for her. The victim, Margherita Colonna, is a strikingly attractive bank manager. But what leaves Commissioner Lobosco most shaken is an eerie detail—Margherita looks remarkably like her, almost as if they were doppel-gängers. At first glance, it appears she jumped from her balcony, but the suicide theory is swiftly dismissed. As Lobosco delves into the victim’s past, a web of ill-fated relationships, murky connections, insatiable greed, and an obsession with luxury shopping begins to unfold. The investigation leads the commissioner to discover that lots of people may have had a motive. It may be a crime of passion or, indeed, “a matter of money”. Once again, the novel is set in the mesmerising city of Bari, with its rich culinary heritage and, of course, its famous spaghetti all’assassina.

Una questione di soldi
Gabriella Genisi
Sonzogno Editori, 2025

The Problem of Human Time

The factory libraries introduced by Adriano Olivetti from the 1940s onwards, along with the Cultural Centre in Ivrea, were truly revolutionary, bringing culture into the workplace. This paradigm shift reimagined the spaces of production, recognising workers’ time and transforming these settings into real community centres, fostering cultural exchange and interaction. Olivetti’s vision challenged the notion of culture as a privilege for the elite, interpreting it as a form of common knowledge to be shared. Although company libraries were not unheard of—a notable precedent being the Pirelli library set up back in 1928 for members of the company’s recreational club—Olivetti’s innovation lay in placing books and culture at the heart of a broader reflection on time and human development. Chiara Faggiolani’s book retraces the story of the Olivetti libraries, underscoring the idea that books have the power to change lives. Such was Olivetti’s conviction that he included culture and education as part of the factory’s social services, viewing it as an essential part of workers’ overall remuneration. The author questions the power that this idea may, or may not, have on the present as well as on a future in which we may still plan and design libraries as spaces for our curiosity, imagination, dialogue, and reading. The Pirelli libraries, now present at the Bicocca headquarters and in the factories in Settimo Torinese and Bollate, are present-day examples of company libraries in Italy. These are currently enjoying a renaissance, and are part of an on-going discussion about the work-life balance—a theme on which Olivetti was a pioneering spirit.
Il problema del tempo umano. Le biblioteche di Adriano Olivetti: storia di un’idea rivoluzionaria
Chiara Faggiolani
Edizioni di Comunità, 2025

What I Know About You

When Nadia Terranova finds herself in front of her new-born daughter, a profound realisation strikes her: she can no longer afford to go out of her mind. It is not a thought unrelated to her experience, but something that happened to her great-grandmother Venera, who was hospitalised for a time at the Lorenzo Mandalari psychiatric hospital in Messina, following a bout of depression caused by the loss of her third daughter during pregnancy. These thoughts lead her to delve into her family’s past, into a mythology made up of stories that are handed down and that recount a narrative that ultimately becomes commonly accepted but that is actually full of unreliable details. Quello che so di te is a poignant and intimate novel, a work of autofiction in which the author confronts memory and the delicate boundary between reality and imagination. Digging into the Mandalari archives, she pieces together the fragments of Venera’s life, creating a continuous dialogue between past and present, where historical records, recollections, and inherited narratives all intertwine.

Quello che so di te
Nadia Terranova
Guanda, 2025