Baron Lamberto is 93 years old, owns 24 banks and suffers from 24 maladies. He lives in a villa on the island of San Giulio, in the middle of Lake Orta (a real lake near the birthplace of famed Italian children's author Gianni Rodari). Lamberto is served by his faithful butler who always carries an umbrella, and when the two of them visit Egypt, an Arab fakir in the shadow of the Sphinx confides to them a secret of the pharaohs: "The man whose name is spoken remains alive."
In light of this secret, Lamberto hires six people to continually chant his name in the attic of the villa, working in shifts, with board, lodging and all the hard candy they can eat. Tiny microphones are installed everywhere, so at any time he can hear them chanting: "Lamberto, Lamberto, Lamberto." And soon Lamberto begins to change. Two new hairs appear on the top of his bald head. The baron's wrinkles start smoothing out. Within a few weeks, he looks like a 40-year-old, straight, tall, blond and athletic, swimming around his island every morning to stay in shape.
Then 24 bandits lay siege to the villa and kidnap the baron. Inspired by the real-life kidnapping of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigade, Rodari has his terrorists demand a fortune from Lamberto, and to show they mean business, they slice off the baron's ear and send it to his bankers in an envelope. A sliced-off finger follows. Fortunately, since this is a fairytale, the severed body parts grow back, as long as the six singers in the attic keep up their chant.
The island is surrounded by the police and besieged by photographers and news reporters. Lamberto's hostage situation boosts the local economy. Restaurants stay open all night. But the bandits aren't the only enemies stalking the baron. His nephew and heir, Ottavio, has lost a fortune playing skittles, and needs funds to support his voracious soda pop habit. He's determined to get what's coming to him from his increasingly healthy old uncle, and tricks the chanters into gobbling a soup mixed with sleeping pills.
Making a comedy out of a terrorist kidnapping is tricky stuff, but this book for both children and adults is a daring high-wire act that works. In the tradition of Roald Dahl's shocking humor, this hilarious Italian fairytale is peppered with scuba-diving suits, submachine guns and custom sports cars. At times antic with goofy buffoonery, at times grisly with uncomfortable realism, Rodari has a sense of comedy that smacks of the Marx Brothers, but with a darker edge.
Before Rodari wraps up his tale, there's a nighttime escape in a hot air balloon and Boy Scouts to the rescue. The story toys with several endings before settling for a completely unconventional one, which the author then defends. Since the book was published after his death in 1980, Rodari's last words remind you that by far the most charming element of the entire story has been his delightful, gleefully chuckling, honestly childlike voice. --Nick DiMartino
Shelf Talker: An ancient Egyptian secret allows elderly Baron Lamberto to begin aging backward, until he's kidnapped by bandits in this fairytale by Italy's premier children's writer.