Don Camillo

Including conversations with God.

To listen to The Little World of Don Camillo is to travel to the valley of the River Po, Italy's widest and most fertile plain, with its unique atmosphere, culture, and natural history. It is to do so in the incomparable company of a cast of fictional characters who testify to the exquisite humor and humanity of their creator.

In the Little World, eternal forces grapple with the absurd drama of everyday life, and hilarious and unearthly things can happen.

If you keep this in mind, you will have no difficulty in getting to know the hotheaded village priest, Don Camillo, and the equally pugnacious Communist mayor, Peppone. Nor will you be surprised when a third person watches the goings-on from a big cross in the village church, and not infrequently intercedes....

In story after story, Don Camillo and Peppone confront each other, sometimes in a serious and violent manner. But when the priest unburdens himself in the village church, a voice from above the high altar responds, and Don Camillo’s conversations with God begin.

Shrewd, insightful, compassionate, and gently humorous, the good Lord leads the stubborn priest to discover the inner man beneath the politics and prejudice so that eventually, and to the great benefit of the local community, he and Peppone can, however begrudgingly, develop respect for one another.

It is then we see the ideas and values of Don Camillo's little world are true for all times, the world over....

In this new, authorized edition of Giovanni Guareschi's enchanting classic, 19 stories never before translated into English are published for the first time. The Little World of Don Camillo has been enjoyed by millions of folk from 10 to 100, not only as a book, but on film, TV, and radio, and now as an audiobook.