The Mill on the Po: Nothing New Under the Sun (Book Three)

The Mill on the Po trilogy tells of the birth of Italy as a nation; its central figures are Lazzaro Scacerni and his family, their mill on the river Po, and the river itself—stately, savage, source of both life and death.

And so we arrive at the encouraging truth that quarrels and wars and all the most violent human passions, when there is good will on the part of God and man, actually contribute to the achievement of unity among men and the profit of civilization. (Riccardo Bacchelli)

Nothing New Under the Sun centers on Cecilia Scacerni and her children as they continue to eke out their living on Saint Michael’s Mill. As the twentieth century dawns, the family is drawn into the social unrest and upheaval of Italy’s struggle for self-assertion and sovereignty and brought to the very brink of ruin. Bringing the story of the Scacerni family to its explosive ending at the battle of the Piave River in the First World War, Nothing New Under the Sun magnificently concludes Bacchelli’s capacious and passionate masterpiece, The Mill on the Po.