Rossella Milione on her novel-in-stories 'Il primo desiderio' and the state of Italian short fiction

Rossella Milione, a writer and founder of Cattedrale, an observatory dedicated to short stories, discusses her latest book 'Il primo desiderio' (Neri Pozza, April 2025) and the current state of short fiction in Italy. The book is a 'short story cycle'—a hybrid between a novel and a collection of stories, more common in the Anglo-Saxon tradition. Milione explains that this structure allows her to maintain the autonomy of each story while connecting them within a broader framework, mirroring the elusive nature of the protagonist Isabel. She notes that short stories in Italy have historically been marginalized compared to novels, but have seen a resurgence in the last four to five years thanks to dedicated publishers and blogs. However, she perceives a recent decline. Milione also addresses recurring themes in her work: animals (informed by her father being an ethologist and zoologist), physicality and the body, fragility and salvation, and the tension between uprootedness and belonging. She credits Anna Maria Ortese for teaching her how to write about Naples, though she identifies as 'Vesuviana' (from San Giorgio a Cremano). The interview touches on the impact of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine on her writing, as well as the current decline in book sales in Italy (down 3.6% in the first four months of 2025, according to AIE data).