Lia Levi’s L’Albergo della magnolia (2001) takes place in the 1930s in Rome and tells of the love story of Dino and Sonia.  Dino is Jewish and not strongly political and Sonia is from a Catholic and fascist family.  Told from Dino’s point of view, the reader follows along as events bring him to humiliating and painful compromises.  The story is told in a straightforward manner and presents a compelling portrait of bourgeois life in pre-war Italy.