“The View from Lake Como”, by Adriana Trigiani which Dutton will publish in hardcover on July 8, 2025, is everything an immersive summer read should be – fresh, funny and heart-wrenching, with perfectly imperfect characters that readers will feel deeply connected to. With its vivid depiction of the complexities of familial relationships, this contemporary novel is a love letter to big Italian American families, Old World roots, and daughters who learn to live life on their own terms.
Readers will meet and quickly fall in love with Jess Capodimonte Baratta, a recently divorced young Italian American woman who’s had to move into the basement of her parents’ home in Lake Como, New Jersey, to hide, heal and dutifully care for her outspoken and overprotective parents, who don’t understand why her marriage to Bobby Bilancia, “the catch of Lake Como,” didn’t work out (it’s complicated). Jess is also a talented draftswoman working in a marble business run by her dapper Uncle Louie, who believes she can do anything (once she invests in a better wardrobe).
When the Capodimonte and Baratta families endure an unexpected loss, Jess gathers the courage to take a solo trip to her ancestral home of Carrara, Italy. From the shadows of the majestic marble-capped mountains of Tuscany, to the glittering streets of Milan, and on the shores of enchanting Lake Como (the other one), Jess begins to carve her own place in this new/old world. During her travels, Jess uncovers a startling truth that will rock the very foundation her family has relied on. Regardless, she’s determined to finally start living the life she’s always dreamed of.
Adriana Trigiani is the New York Times bestselling author of 21 books of fiction and nonfiction, including “The Good Left Undone”, “The Shoemaker's Wife” and “Lucia, Lucia”. Her work has been published in 38 languages around the world. An award-winning playwright, television writer/producer, and filmmaker, Trigiani wrote and directed the major motion picture of her debut novel, “Big Stone Gap”, adapted her novel, “Very Valentine”, for television, and directed the award-winning documentary, “Queens of the Big Time”, among others.
Adriana grew up in the mountains of southwest Virginia, where she co-founded The Origin Project, a year-round, in-school writing program that has served over 25,000 students since its inception in 2014. In 2023, Adriana Trigiani was named Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia by President Sergio Mattarella of Italy. In 2024, The Library of Virginia awarded her the Patron of Letters degree, their highest honor. A sought-after speaker, Trigiani is as engaging on the stage as she is on the page. She regularly speaks to book clubs, classrooms, libraries, literary festivals, and conducts writing workshops with women’s groups across the country. She has made regular appearances on NBC’s Today show and Good Day New York with Rosanna Scotto, and has been profiled by publications around the world, including The New York Times, Virginia Living, Publisher’s Weekly, and Writer’s Digest. Trigiani is honored to serve on the New York State Council on the Arts. She lives in Greenwich Village with her family. Listen to Adriana and the luminaries of our times discuss the books that built their souls on the You Are What You Read podcast, available everywhere. Adriana Trigiani will be embarking on a national tour this summer, with more details to come as to where she’ll be appearing.
Adriana Trigiani
Recently, Adriana spoke with La Gazzetta Italiana.
La Gazzetta Italiana (LG): Where in Italy does your family trace their roots?
Adriana Trigiani (AT): The Bonicelli and Spada families on my mother’s side are from the Lombardy region: Bergamo, Vilminore di Scalve and Schilpario; on my father’s side: his mother is from the Perin family from the Veneto and his father, the Trigiani family, is from Roseto Val Fortore near Foggia in Apuglia.
LG: Can you tell us a bit about your background and what inspired you to become an author?
AT: I come from a large, close knit Italian family on both sides. My mother’s and father’s families were so different, yet they shared common values. Hard work and faith are the foundation of everything we do. We have a deep pride in our heritage, and it has been the honor of my life to write about the people I come from – and celebrate their craftsmanship, sacrifice, humor and longing.Anyone who is of Italian descent, or married to someone of Italian descent understands the bond that binds us. There is an unspoken understanding of what matters- how to comport oneself and how to move through the world with integrity. I also find my people among the most hilarious in the world! We know that comedy comes from intelligence, emanates from it, feeds it. So, our people are clever. I grew up in Appalachia, a small town in southwest Virginia called Big Stone Gap, which is also the title of my debut novel and the movie I wrote and directed based upon it. My Appalachian roots feed my Italian sensibility and often it’s the other way around!
LG: When and why did you decide to research/write this book? What inspired this subject matter?
AT: When I was five, I visited the Jersey Shore for the first time with my grandparents. There were six of us (my two brothers and four sisters) at that time (about to be seven!). Our grandparents Michael and Viola Trigiani took us to Atlantic City to swim in the ocean, walk on the boardwalk and ride the Ferris wheel. I have happy memories of the Italian American Riviera (that’s what we call it) and wanted to set a novel there.
In the years since, I have had wonderful times on the Jersey shore, so it called to me. And, if you talk to any of our friends and cousins in Ohio, they can draw a line back to the Jersey shore, as they remember visiting family back East on the union holiday week – usually the first week of July. These family gatherings live in my memory and bring such joy. It was all fabulous! The zeppoles (included in “The View from Lake Como!”), the music, the rides, the fun. Our uncles smoking cigars and our aunts dressed up in high heels and sundresses. And we always went to Mass on the Sunday morning together. Glorious memories of beautiful times!
LG: How has being an Italian/Italian American influenced your writing?
AT: I would say that it’s my genre. I write a great deal about family dynamics, craftsmanship, and romantic love in the sphere of the Italian American experience. Of course, that includes the vast sphere of other ethnicities that are part of the stories. There are secrets and mysteries in every family that often play out against a historical backdrop wherein the world is in peril. The stories can be intimate or wide in scope, but the essential elements remain. I am interested in the family as a building block of a good society and the success and failures of the institution and how it plays out in the lives of its members.
LG: Have you ever received feedback from a reader that impacted your perspective or future writing?
AT: I have been the beneficiary of many helpful ideas and criticism. A packet was waiting for me when I returned home from a book event, filled with letters from students at Jericho High School on Long Island, NY. Their teacher, Trish Gulitti, gathered them and they mean the world to me. Our students in Virginia, in Appalachia, in our Origin Project (an in-school writing program started 15 years ago by the late Nancy Bolmeier-Fisher and me) is thriving. We publish an annual anthology with the work of the students as they celebrate their Appalachian roots, their Virginia home against the backdrop of their family experience. We bring authors to Virginia to talk to the students and guide their work. This has an ongoing impact on my work – to see young writers write their stories. Writing is a talent we all need in every walk of life.
