L'Opera Italiano

Author Frank De Felitta has written a novelization of the tumultuous life of his father - the brilliant painter but terrible husband, Pasquale Autori. "L'Opera Italiano" is an epic love story about Pasquale's life as a Don Juan, his uncontainable sexuality, and the broken promise made by two childhood sweethearts to love each other forever. It's also about Pasquale's career as a struggling artist in America, and chronicles what life was like for immigrants in New York in the early 20th century.

The tale begins with Pasquale's birth in Italy and the birth of a baby girl in the same town named Nina. Pasquale and Nina become childhood sweethearts and pledge themselves to each other for eternity. Yet Pasquale immigrates to America in 1903 to seek a fortune and quickly falls in with the Tammany boss of Little Italy. He marries the Boss' youngest daughter, Jenny. The two have a loveless marriage, yet start a family. The story includes a harrowing account of the author's own birth, which he nearly didn't survive. When childhood sweetheart Nina follows her beloved Pasquale to America, she attempts to destroy his marriage and kill the author's mother Jenny. It's about family resentments, eternal love, passion, art, and the quest for forgiveness.