Gwem Romagnoli, The Bicycle Runner

Start: 10/13/2009 7:00 pm

"With the heartache and ravages of war as its backdrop, this beautiful memoir is foremost a paean to the innocence, optimism, and lessons of youth: carving out a role in the family, celebrating the loyalty of friends, reveling in the intimacy and mystery of love, dealing with the jarring pain that accompanies sadness and disappointment."

Stephen Puelo, author of The Boston Italians

"Personable, gently humorous memories of adolescence under Mussolini...It was a heady, dangerous time for the youth, and his portraits of these local heroes and villains form an invaluable depiction of a historically significant time and place. Heartfelt sketches of a deeply troubling era in Italian history."

Kirkus Reviews

G. Franco Romagnoli cohosted the first American television program on Italian cooking, The Romagnolis' Table, for which he coauthored two very successful companion books. He taught seminars on Italian culture and cuisine at Boston University and wrote several books and articles on Italian culture including Italy, the Romagnoli Way and A Thousand Bells at Noon: A Roman Reveals the Secrets and Pleasures of His Native City. The author passed away in December 2008. We will be joined for this event by his widow Gwen Romagnoli.