From an old mentor’s tale and an unexpected missionary doctor’s manuscript, the story of a numerous family belonging to the southern middle class takes shape.
  In the timespan of one hundred years, the fortunes of men and women belonging to the same dynasty become ‘an incredible story, which is true like the fury of the wind, like the Maestrale voice.’ And in the background, a magnificent Sicily and Africa, that is closer than we could ever imagine.

    The story of this novel is inspired by real events. This tale also represents the only trace left about an epic which goes beyond the Sicilian boundaries; in it we can find both notable personages and less famous faces, which give authenticity to the story.
  This is the most recent story of the Italian pasta, whose origins go back to the Kingdom of Sicily and to King Roger II.

    I wish someone would decide to visit Eritrea in the future and, once in Keren, turn where the Afabet crossroads is, reaching the St Maryam Deari Chapel, which lies in a baobab tree. There, hanged at the bark of the tree, there’s a typewritten tale. And I also wish this traveler would go on top of the hill which overlooks the whole city, crossing then the threshold of the Heroes’ Cemetery. He would be received by an old Askari, who was a child seventy-five years before; now he lives there and will show the traveler the tree-lined roads of the small war memorial. On the right, there are the natives’ graves; on the left, the Italians’. In the middle lies an Italian brigadier general and his soldiers. Above those heroes, the Italian and Eritrean flags fly in the savannah wind.

   The novel reveals the desire of giving voice to the best part of the southern people. These persons are the men and women who, with their lives, have left to the new generations a positive message, starting in fact the agroindustry and the most famous Made in Italy.

   At the same time, the protagonists live their loves and disillusions, their successes and defeats, according to their personal ideals. The Maestrale voice descends on the events like a soundtrack, pushing life towards those values and virtues that make of it a sacred good.

   The baron of Mezzocannolo, the main character and hero of this story, beat the evil and pushed it away. And this is why he was happy and free

The Maestrale Voice talks about the ancient time of Sicily, hidden between the magnificence of the countryside and the blue sea. Totò Musumeci grew up listening to that voice, and he came to know the ancient stories that became legend. Now, a mysterious force calls him to be part of a secret adventure, while the wind tries to cover up everything with its raging howl.

   Totò is the grandchild of the baron of Mezzocannolo, who was killed by the Mafia. He is also an industrialist. The pasta factory he inherited belongs to the tradition, and he must protect it against the prince of Granata’s duress, like his grandfather did before him. The prince of Granata funded that village, and he rules it all.

   But times change, and the baron’s dynasty dies out, although the evil done is still the same. The Sun on Earth disguises himself, hiding behind charming semblances, and has become more and more dangerous.

   Totò will fight against him till the end, sure that after him someone else will follow in the past generations’ footsteps. And, that day, the Maestrale voice will be the cry of a people who gains their freedom.

Nunzio Russo’s The Maestrale Voice could be defined as a painting, rather than a novel. The author’s delicate pen gently describes a century of Sicily, specifically the part of the island that gave birth to the product that most represents Italy: the pasta. His vivid descriptions include all aspects of the reality of those days, never forgetting the wonders of that land. So its colors, its perfumes, its sunsets, but also its people’s faces and their moods, their behaviors, their real essence: all these elements emerge on the surface of a canvas made of words.

This novel is not only the story of a pasta plant, but also the story of the families that gravitate around it; the background of a country that went through war, governed by the Fascist Regime which, in that land kissed by the sun, has merged its interests with the ones of an obscure power: the Mafia. But besides all these events, what mostly delights the reader’s minds and eyes are the images of a 20th century Sicily, cradled by the immense blue sea, caressed by the intense Maestrale.