A review by wahistorian
Marcovaldo by Italo Calvino

5.0

This little book was the perfect diversion from a universe of terrible news. Told in bite-sized discrete stories, the urban life of Marcovaldo is enlivened by every encounter with nature in the city. Whether he’s tracking feral cats or rescuing the company’s potted plant or taking his children out of town to see a forest, Marcovaldo is filled with wonder at the natural world; even when it disappoints, he learns something useful. Calvino’s language is magical at bringing the Italian city to life on the page and recreating how birds, trees, animals, and plants refuse to be crowded out by humans and their ways.