Naples May 8 1959. Renato Caccioppoli a mathematical genius prodigious pianist captivating storyteller highly cultured and multilingual believed to be the grandson of the anarchist movement founder Mikhail Bakunin takes his own life by shooting himself in the back of the head in his residence at Palazzo Cellammare.Adored by students and colleagues a symbol of freedom and nonconformity for an entire generation Caccioppoli enchanted not only some of the most celebrated intellectuals of the century Andr Gide Pablo Neruda Eduardo De Filippo Benedetto Croce Alberto Moravia Elsa Morante but also and above all the people of Naples who have always regarded him with amazed admiration. Persecuted by the fascist regime afflicted by what the writer and friend Paola Masino would describe as the friction of life his death permanently places him in the citys history.This meticulous and welldocumented investigation tells us who Caccioppoli truly was and offers us an unstereotyped and in some ways unprecedented portrayal of a legendary Naples.