THE NEW DON CAMILLO

A gang of Hells Angels rips through the village, bringing mayhem and a generational shift to traditional enmities between Don Camillo and Peppone. The year is 1966, a time ripe for rebellion, for overturning conventions - a time, above all, to be young. Meanwhile, beset by the third young progressive leftwing priest with a mandate to steer him into the modern world, Don Camillo digs in and finds a surprise ally in Peppone as he fights to save the three-metre high figure of il Cristo through which he conducts his famous conversations with God.

These are the last Don Camillo stories ever written. Two years after they are set, on July 22, 1968, the author died in Cervia on the east coast of Italy, where, due to ill health, he had taken to spending the summer months.

'Guareschi's was one of the most prescient and perceptive voices of the twentieth century.' Tobias Jones, author of The Dark Heart of Italy.

'Let's get rid of that worst part of ourselves that is lurking inside each of us and awaits a ring, a hymn, a waving of the flag to take off your jacket, roll up your sleeves and make the new history of Italy... If politicians all possessed a sense of humour! Trouble! Trouble! There would be no more wars in the world!' Giovannino Guareschi, Ritorno alla base

'Guareschi's tales are absolutely delightful in their satirical swipes at human weakness.' Paul Merton