Signor Dido

This collection, the acclaimed Savinio’s last completed work before his death in 1954, places itself at a disadvantage by featuring the title character in most of the selections, making for a degree of monotony. Still, these low-key, subtly humorous stories manage to offer muted joys of their own. In “The Bearded Gentleman,” Rinaldo, the son of Signor Dido, has an adventure while skiing. In “The Little Plate,” Tresbisonda, the Dido family’s maid, oversees Signor Dido’s special diet—one about which he has strong reservations. In one of the stronger stories, “Five Trees,” Signor and Signora Dido are in their country house in the Apuan Alps and have to deal with the fondness some German soldiers have for a painting. The most fully realized story, in narrative terms, is “The Pizza,” which finds Signor Dido traveling from Syracuse to Rome by train on Christmas, with a particularly amusing scene in a dining car. There are no epiphanies here and we don’t know vastly more about Signor Dido at the end than at the beginning, but the feeling that one is actually sitting next to him on a train or across from him at dinner makes this a worthwhile read nonetheless. (Jan.)