On Thursday, October 15, 2026, at 4:30 PM, at the conference hall of the “Stelio Crise” State Library (Largo Papa Giovanni XXIII 6, Trieste), dr. Elisa Donda will present the volume she edited: "Le “Novellacce” di Giorgio Fano: edizione critica di tre racconti filosofici inediti" (Giorgio Fano’s “Novellacce”: A Critical Edition of Three Unpublished Philosophical Tales), recently published by the University of Trieste Press (EUT, 2026).

The name “Novellacce” was chosen by the Triestine philosopher Giorgio Fano to playfully describe certain philosophical tales of his, which he used to send via letter to Giorgio Voghera and a small circle of friends.

The three novellas revisit the theme of subverting taboos surrounding the body: in *Mistificazione amorosa*, Baron von Maehrenfeld attempts to educate young people in sexual freedom, in defiance of a strict diet of bland foods; *Rompighiaccio* employs an ironic take on the author’s own biographical details to recount a love story between Professor Trentin and his former student Elena Demetrides, set against the bucolic backdrop of Draga Sant’Elia; finally, *Anacopridi* presents an intriguing question of authorship, having long been attributed to Umberto Saba, a childhood friend of Fano.

In addition to the short stories, the book contains a rich reconstruction of Fano's biographical events, the result of years of research among archive papers and interviews with family members.

Just over half a century after the death of the philosopher Giorgio Fano, the publication of the work, accompanied by a rich reconstruction of the biographical events of the philosopher, gives the possibility of shedding new light on the relationships between Trieste intellectuals such as Umberto Saba, Virgilio Giotti, Guido and Giorgio Voghera and many others, who were friends of the philosopher against the backdrop of Trieste in the first half of the twentieth century.

Elisa Donda, the volume’s editor, earned her doctorate from the University of Ferrara with a thesis titled "Edition and Commentary on the Correspondence between Giorgio Fano and Sebastiano Timpanaro." In addition to her research on Fano, she has focused on other authors such as Anna Curiel Fano—the philosopher’s wife—and Giorgio Voghera.

The event, which is free to attend, is organized as part of the "Giovedì Minervali" series.