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2) Graziella’s role as a healer is a somewhat reluctant one. Would you say she is ultimately successful?
3) Pippo the plane, known only in Northern Italian oral history, was one of our greatest discoveries in the course of researching the novel. Ask anyone in the north of Italy about their wartime experience and they will inevitably mention Pippo. It had a distinctive buzz, was never seen from the ground, was suspected of dropping bombs, and only took wing at night. No one ever knew if it was friend or foe, its allegiance changing from village to village. Many years later, scholars surmise that it was a British surveillance plane and that the pilots who flew the model never had any idea they were terrorizing parts of the Northern Italian population. What role does Pippo play for the characters in Ciao Bella?
4) Before writing Ciao Bella, we held many preconceived notions about World War II. Yet in the course of research, we learned that its events and people were not quite as black and white as often presented in school. Note where these nuances of right and wrong, of heroes and villains, of good and evil, come through in the story.
5) How does Enza’s story fit with the ideas presented in Question #4?
6) What decisions does Frank the American soldier make in the course of the story and does he make the right ones? Could different decisions have radically changed the novel’s outcome?
7) Discuss various issues of fertility and infertility throughout the story. How much do these issues sway the course of events?
8) How do you feel about the ending? Are you satisfied? Does the epilogue influence your feelings at all?
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