Serao:Der Bauch von Neapel

A cholera epidemic raged in Naples in 1884, claiming thousands of victims in just a few weeks. In the narrow, dirty streets of the densely built-up historic centre, the poorest population in particular suffered from the unsanitary conditions. Under pressure to act, the king and prime minister paid a visit to the city and decided to thoroughly renovate the old streets - at the expense of the poorest population. The young journalist and newspaper founder Matilde Serao kept a close eye on this project. In her columns, Naples comes to life, the smell of the kitchens and the stinking alleyways, the clamour of the people, their moaning, laughing and shouting. You sympathise when mothers have no milk for their newborns, you shake your head at the city's absurd projects and building plans. Over a period of twenty years, Matilde Serao collected her valuable literary and historical columns and compiled them in the volume The Belly of Naples - a remarkable testimony to her solidarity-based commitment to improving human living conditions. The first German translation is part of the PERLEN series, which presents great Italian authors of the 20th and 21st centuries.