Continental, classy and chic, Paradiso by Michele Masneri is an entertaining read. Federico Desideri, a young, underpaid, disillusioned journalist from Milan, is sent to Rome by his editor-in-chief at Comic Sans — “a niche magazine desperately seeking to survive the mass extinction of print publishing” — during a “Saharan heatwave”. He is instructed to track down and interview an elusive Oscar-winning film director who has become a national sensation.
In Rome, Federico finds himself at a party hosted by the omnipresent politician, Willy Vanetti. He fails to meet the director but instead encounters fast-talking, seductive Barry Valpolicelli, the alleged inspiration for the protagonist in the Oscar-winning film, America Latrina.
Intent on finding the director, Federico heads to his flat the next day, and is greeted instead by Barry who assures him he will help him get the interview, and quips, “I thought writing was a hobby these days, like sewing, or yoga, or foraging for mushrooms”. Barry shows Federico around the fading grandeur and social labyrinths of the Eternal City en route for Paradiso, driving them in his Californian Rolls. An exclusive, dilapidated, private estate of villas and dilapidated bungalows amidst the concrete sprawl of the Lazio coast, Paradiso is a lush relic of the past. This enclave is inhabited by an oddball group of aging jet-setters, nonchalant grandees and eccentrics.
Professor Lazzari is a retired gynecologist who breeds ornamental chickens and shoots on sight at night to protect his clucking treasures from predatory martens; Prince Gelasio Aldobrand who suffers from “mystic-heraldic” anxiety cruises the local public beach; an old ambassador is obsessed with finding special offers at supermarkets; Helga and Olga, a lesbian couple, are nostalgic about days they were invited to the Vatican by the then Pope.
Barry’s two ex-wives coexist in a state of rivalry: flashy, fleshy Rita, mother of addict, Edoardo, and gorgeous promiscuous Gaia; and American Mavie who cooks feasts for them all who is married to gay Prince Gelasio whose family estate is Paradiso. Rita is keen to write her memoirs, but lacking the skill, she inveigles Federico to ghostwrite them for her, offering him a generous sum of money far beyond his journalist’s salary. When a superstar influencer arrives on her yacht, invited by Mavie, everything changes: “Tania Finazzer: blonde, beautiful, Milanese, the symbol of thrusting modernity, her brand and her face splashed across a good number of objects most desired by Italians.”
The satire, drama and lush scenery mask a core of darkness. The decadence hidden beneath the cultural posturing and nostalgia create a surreal mix of beauty and grotesque decay. Paradiso offers an incisive social commentary on wealth, class and power dynamics, past and present. It perfectly captures old-school jet-set glamour, now eclipsed by the faux glitz of modern influencers who operate as multi-million-dollar brands.
Evocative of a Federico Fellini film colliding with “The White Lotus”, Paradiso is peppered with cultural references, from Giorgione to Antonioni and Pasolini, Niki de Saint Phalle and Ferlinghetti. Richard Village’s translation captures the sharp comedy and manic energy of the novel, balancing soul-crushing tragedy against the ridiculousness of human vanity.
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