The Friction of Life

Naples, May 8, 1959. Renato Caccioppoli, a mathematical genius, prodigious pianist, captivating storyteller, highly cultured and multilingual, believed to be the grandson of the anarchist movement founder Mikhail Bakunin, takes his own life by shooting himself in the back of the head in his residence at Palazzo Cellammare. Adored by students and colleagues, a symbol of freedom and non-conformity for an entire generation, Caccioppoli enchanted not only some of the most celebrated intellectuals of the century – André Gide, Pablo Neruda, Eduardo De Filippo, Benedetto Croce, Alberto Moravia, Elsa Morante – but also, and above all, the people of Naples, who have always regarded him with amazed admiration. Persecuted by the fascist regime, afflicted by what the writer and friend Paola Masino would describe as "the friction of life," his death permanently places him in the city's history. This meticulous and well-documented investigation tells us who Caccioppoli truly was and offers us an un-stereotyped and, in some ways, unprecedented portrayal of a legendary Naples.