Abstract

The article offers an analysis of Italo Calvino’s novel A Plunge into Real Estate (1957). Through the semi-autobiographical story of the construction of a building during the economic boom of the 1950s in Italy, the author examines many aspects of the Italian society at the time. Calvino chooses a prescribed construction model and focuses on the representation of the building site and the personal and professional relationships that revolve around it. Thus, through a comparison between the perspective of the protagonist Quinto, an ex-Communist intellectual, and that of Caisotti, a rather dishonest entrepreneur and builder, Calvino addresses themes such as the rise of the new bourgeoisie and the legacy of the Resistance