Elixirul viselor: Povestea familiei Campari

Silvia Cinelli follows the Campari family’s rise in the drinks trade. They build their firm in Milan in the nineteenth century. The tale runs into the start of the twentieth century. This family saga set in the past blends business and love. It deals with grief and rivalry, too. It suits readers drawn to family ties strained by wealth.

Gaspare Campari opens a café near Milan’s main church, its cathedral. His bitter drink helps him build a fortune. Writers and those who write music meet at the café. They include Puccini, Verdi and D’Annunzio. Electric street lights and new factories change the city. Yet progress brings unrest as well as hope.

Gaspare dies without warning. Letizia must then care for five children and run the firm. His guarded book of recipes holds the family’s craft. Their eldest son, Giuseppe, plans to become a priest. Letizia sends Davide to Bordeaux to learn to make liqueurs. He leaves behind his love for Quintillia. In Paris, he falls for the singer Leda Baroni. His younger brother Guido arrives, drawing him back to Milan.

A second strand goes back forty years to Gaspare’s youth. It traces his training in Turin and his café in Novara. There, he meets Letizia after losses in his private life. Later, in Milan, he develops the drink that bears his name.

Davide makes new drinks and registers brands. He also makes the café larger. But his drive to grow the firm strains his bond with Guido. Milan’s unrest in May 1898 deepens their rift. Failed love and family tragedy show what business success cannot solve. Davide must face the harm he causes by trying to control others.

Cinelli writes novels and scripts and has worked in television. She has also worked with Rizzoli and Endemol. Her closing note sets out which facts come from history. It also makes clear which private lives she has imagined. Roxana Panaite translated this edition from Italian.