The Bishop's Villa - Sacha Naspini with Pope Francis’s Italian roots

with Pope Francis’s Italian roots and his ancestors’ courageous migration to Latin America

A poem-tale collection from the early Heian period

Unwilling to relinquish their tender bond

Translator: Ann Goldstein

Kazue departs to follow her impulses wherever they might lead

The Bishop's Villa - Sacha Naspini with Pope Francis’s Italian rootsTuscany, November 1943. The village of Le Case is miles from any big city and remains rooted in an earlier century. Seen from Le Case, even the war looks different mostly a matter of waiting, praying, and mourning. As a fierce winter threatens, an ominous order is issued by the local Fascist authorities: all Jews must be rounded up and detained in the bishops villa to await deportation. Ren is the towns cobbler. A loner, his only friend is the widow