Massimo Canuti was born in Piombino in 1971. He graduated in Architecture and started working in the world of communication in 1999. At the same time, he dedicated himself to what he loves most: writing stories. In 2011, he published with Gianluca Belmonte the illustrated book Al buio vedi for Franco Cosimo Panini, which was translated in China. In 2013, he published his first novel, Contro i cattivi funziona (Instar), on the difficult topics of disability and bullying, which led him to work in close contact with children. In October 2016, again for Instar, he published Io, il Cinema, an unauthorised autobiography of the seventh art. In March 2017, his second novel Le coincidenze dell’estate was published by e/o. In 2022, for Corriere della Sera, he produced the volume on the women of the resistance in the series ‘La storia delle donne’, edited by Barbara Biscotti.
He lives and works in Milan as a freelance copywriter.
THREE FINGERS (Uovonero, 2025)
Nado is eleven years old, has three fingers, and talks to God. Or rather, he tries to, because God doesn’t seem to want to listen to him. In Bettolle—the small village in the middle of Tuscany where he lives—and in the rest of Italy, there is war: it is 1943, and the Germans have just arrived in the village. Since their arrival, little Nado’s life has changed. School has been closed, his days have become boring, and worst of all, his best friend Civetta seems to have stopped paying attention to him. But suddenly, a mysterious word echoes in the air: resistance. Who should he resist? Nado wonders. The Germans are his friends: one of them even saved his life by taking him to the hospital when a bomb exploded, taking away his left hand and most of his right. Nado doesn’t really know what this resistance is, but it could turn out to be an interesting game, since the war has stolen the most fun ones from him. However, he will soon realize that this new word is anything but a game…
A coming-of-age novel set during World War II. The narrative, imbued with irony and melancholy, follows the story of the boy’s family and his young friends in an Italy occupied by the Germans. The accident becomes a symbol of his struggle to grow up and find meaning in a world ravaged by war.
