The Crime of Giovanni Venturi

Giovanni Venturi, a successful restauranteur in Rome, finds his business under threat from the dreaded, country-wide chain eatery URITI (Unico Ristorante Italiano ed Internazionale). His dear friend and next-door neighbor, the Bookseller, hatches a wacky scheme to keep Trattoria Da Giovanni afloat. Along with the Bookseller's mildly wacky neighbor, Signora Pandolfi, the plan is put into effect and the Trattoria becomes more successful than ever. Oh, along the way, Venturi becomes a leading authority on Tuscan antiquities.

Clifton Fadiman, then writing for *Holiday*, called it "A sly fable that must have been written just for fun and can be read in no other spirit." I call it an hilarious comedy.