Ernesto is sixteen years old and ready for life to begin. His curiosity leads him into an affair with an older man – the first step on his journey to adulthood... Full of tenderness, humour and warmth, Ernesto is a beautifully rendered coming-of-age story set in fin de siècle Trieste.

Written in 1953, but not published until 1975, Ernesto is the great Italian author Umberto Saba's secret novel.