Event Details

In partnership with the Nuovo Cinema Italiano Film Festival, and in anticipation of its return to Charleston this November, we are pleased to host St. Lawrence University Professor Alessandro Giardino for a creatively-charged discussion on his debut novel The Caravaggio Syndrome moderated by College of Charleston Professor Rebekah T. Compton. Staying true to his Italian heritage and academic background, Giardino’s multi-dimensional narrative follows a student-teacher pair on their journey to research the Italian masterpiece The Seven Works of Mercy by painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Using elements from a number of cultures, he pushes the mold of contemporary literature while also incorporating the academic teachings of Caravaggio’s style and the signature impact of his work in the history of Baroque art.

About the Book

Leyla is a headstrong Brooklyn-born art historian at a prestigious upstate New York college. When she meets feckless young computer technician Pablo at a party, she quickly becomes pregnant with his child. There’s only one problem: she can’t stand him. And one more problem: her student Michael wants Pablo for himself. Amid this love triangle, the objects of Leyla and Michael’s study take on a life of their own. Trying to learn more about Caravaggio’s masterpiece The Seven Works of Mercy, they pore over the journal and prison writings of maverick 17th-century utopian philosopher Tommaso Campanella, which, as if by enchantment, transport them back four centuries to Naples. And while the past and present miraculously converge, Leyla, Michael, and Tommaso embark on a voyage of self-discovery in search of a new life.