Samnes - Amore e Guerra al tempo dei Sanniti


Author: Antonello Santagata
Rating: 2/5

I brought this book with me when I moved from Telese to Naples.
I picked it up because I’ve always been interested in history and customs of my ancestral people (I come from a small “new” town, that is located at the heart of the historic region that takes its name from the Saminte People), and therefore was excited at the idea of learning more about them.

Fun Fact: Telese’s name comes from the ancient Telesia a capital of the federation of independent tribes deep in Samnite territory

However, I have some problems with “fictionalization”, as the acute reader of this blog will remember.
And unfortunately this book reads like an easy novel, sprinkled with historical, but dangerously unverified facts about the events it depicts.

The book is divided in 17 chapters, each focused on a custom or an aspect of life in ancient Samnium. With this background it unfortunately presents the usual washed out “opposed love story” between two young lovers (there is also some steamy sex!).

It tries to tie everything together with some not-so-veiled winks at contemporary life in Samnium (for example the name of the wines), hinting at a sort of continuity between the proud communities of old and their “modern” inhabitants.
But in my opinion these links only water down the credibility of the story because it looks the book was written only for the sake of these connections.

In the end every twist is predictable and most of the characters don’t have any depth or development at all. However I must recognize that it would have been a good play, maybe staged in the belly of the amphitheater of the old Telesia, giving some life to the decrepit and abandoned ruins.

All in all I ready it voraciously, but the after-taste it left in my mouth was not good enough to warrant an enthusiastic review.

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