HEAVEN AND EARTH (Il cielo e la terra) by Carlo Coccioli

Written in Florence between 1948 and 1949 Il cielo e la terra (Heaven and Earth) has
been translated into seventeen languages. Henry Daniel-Rops enthusiastically
reviewed it: “Proof of an exceptional talent (the author is thirty years old), this
novel is a testimony of a specifically
metaphysical question which places Coccioli on the same line of
Kierkegaard and Léon Bloy”.
A prophetic value has been recognized in the story of Don Ardito Piccardi, written
when the Vatican II Council had not took place yet. Episodes like the possessed girl
or the hallucinating “God challenging” on the snow-covered valley and troubled and
dramatic characters such as the suicidal young homosexual, the publisher Giuliano
Fant or the German captain, make this story an exciting and profound novel which has
passed the test of the years and can be considered a classic of our contemporary
literature.
Published for the first time in 1950, it has been a huge international success
especially in France, with hundreds of thousands copies sold over the years, making
Coccioli a famous writer both abroad and in Italy. After decades, this great novel
is back in the bookstores.