CATANIA (Italy) – Snow, Sea, Wind. In Italian: Neve, Mare, Vento. These are the titles of the three novels that Federica Nardo, a young Italian writer, dedicated to her “great love”: Napoleon Bonaparte. A love that has lasted for twenty years, even though Federica is just thirty-one.

In fact, she was around 11 years-old when she saw a drama dedicated to the Emperor on the Italian television Rai Uno: a real love at first sight for that little girl born in Avola in the province of Syracuse, Sicily, and raised between Pachino and Catania in he beautiful Italian island.

“I immediately became passionate about the events of this man who had built himself and who, thanks to the sole force of his genius, became emperor of half of Europe”, are the words from Federica herself.

From there, the decision to learn French and study in France (at the “Sorbonne” in Paris) to then be able to dedicate herself to the painstaking study of Napoleon.

Ten years of investigations and research have allowed Federica to tell, in three novels, the Napoleon “you don’t expect”: not the general, nor the emperor, but the man.

The last of the three volumes is “Vento” (Wind), released this year. With the previous “Neve” (Snow) and “Mare” (Sea), it composes the Saga of the Seasons of the Empire published by “Ianieri Edizioni”.

“The story starts from Neve (2014) and follows the events of Napoleon’s life and the adventures of Nives De Morin during the year 1805, ending with the battle of Austerlitz; it then continues with Mare (2019), which talks about the fall of the Empire and of the first exile on the Island of Elba. Lastly, in Vento (2023) we follow Bonaparte in his escape from the Elba island, in Italy, then moving on to his last Hundred Days of Glory, up to Waterloo”, she explains.

This year, in addition to your novel, Ridley Scott’s film “Napoleon” was also released… what do you think?

“I was already horrified by the trailer, but I decided to put aside my prejudices and go to the cinema, also to have a more complete vision of what had been announced and sponsored as an Oscar-winning biographical adaptation. When I left the theater I felt frustrated and disappointed: it could have been a wonderful opportunity to tell the true face of Napoleon, delving into his human side and recounting his loves, his ambitions and his fragilities. It didn’t go like that…”.

What’s wrong with the movie?

“Ridley Scott’s feature film is essentially a regency dark-romance of the lowest level, poorly scripted and poorly acted. It is a film that in no way resembles a historical blockbuster, much less a biographical film on Napoleon, it is a film that aims to ‘entertainment by making the battles spectacular, but which ultimately turns out to be confusing and boring.”

Did you expect a different ‘cut’?

“I certainly wasn’t expecting a documentary-style film, it is right and legitimate for a director to take artistic liberties and novelize some parts to make the viewing more enjoyable for the viewer. However, here the question is very different: we are not talking about cinematographic licenses , but of a story written from scratch with a protagonist who is the result of Scott’s visionary imagination and who in no way resembles Bonaparte who, on the contrary, is portrayed as a crude and vulgar individual with an Oedipus complex, misophonia and a problem with relationships hasty intimates”.

Who, then, is the real Napoleon? How would you have described him?

“Over the years I have delved deeply into Napoleon’s human side, trying to probe the most murky fault lines of his soul, and the male Napoleon is very far from the one played by Joaquin Phoenix. Someone said that Ridley Scott followed the English propaganda of era, but I think that the most avid British detractors of the time had much less vulgar ideas about Bonaparte than those put together in this film. Added to all this is a fragmented, summary and historically incorrect narrative from top to bottom. Overall, a big disappointment.”

Let’s go back to your novels. Will you follow up “Vento”?

“I would certainly like to write a fourth, final volume of the Seasons of the Empire Saga to close the series on a high note.”

Other projects in the future?

“I would like to dedicate a novel to the enigmatic and fascinating figure of the Iron Mask. The mystery surrounding his identity and his imprisonment arouse curiosity and speculation, offering fertile ground for narrative exploration. I have already sketched out some ideas, perhaps I will write it during 2024”.

The book “Vento” by Federica Nardo, as well as the other books by the same writer, is available on Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/egUTZSF