Einaudi, 1962.

(The Wood of the Capercaillies)

“Il bosco degli urogalli” is a collection of short stories published since 1958 in various magazines. The echoes of World War II still shine along the glimpses of nature, the seasons, the hunts, the small daily events. These pages are animated by the desire, almost a natural requirement for Rigoni Stern and other survivors, to tell life, to give meaning to human history and its fragility.

Published by the initiative of Italo Calvino, the anthology was read with interest by Primo Levi, who wrote his impressions to the author; hence their friendship was born. The book earned the Puccini Sinigaglia prize of one million lire, with which Rigoni Stern bought a small field in Val Giardini, close to that of Ermanno Olmi, where in later years he would have built his house.