Discover award-winning contemporary Italian authors with our curated book club series. Featuring celebrated titles available in English translation, each selection brings you inspiring stories set against Italy’s rich cultural and historical landscape. Join us for meaningful discussions and a deeper connection to Italian literature and culture.

In honor of the Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, we selected The Naked Mountain (La Montagna Nuda), the finest book by the greatest living mountaineer: Reinhold Andreas Messner. Look at his six museums in the Italian Alps, including Corones by Zaha Hadid.

Messner is an Italian climber renowned for his extraordinary achievements. He completed the first solo ascent of Mount Everest, became the first person to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders without supplementary oxygen, and carried out unsupported crossings of Antarctica and Greenland, as well as a solo crossing of the Gobi Desert. He is widely regarded as the greatest mountaineer of all time.

The book takes readers far from Italy to the Himalayas and recounts a life-changing expedition. During this climb, Messner’s brother, Günther, was lost and presumed dead—an event whose memory would never leave Reinhold Messner. The tragedy and the decisions made during the expedition subjected him to intense criticism and controversy, giving rise to one of the most bitter and protracted disputes in modern mountaineering history. The conflict generated numerous lawsuits, public attacks and counterattacks, and Messner’s relentless efforts to recover his brother’s remains and defend his name. Only thirty-five years later, when Günther’s body was discovered, confirming Messner’s account and clearing his reputation, did Messner decide to recount his version of the events in full in this book.

LOCATION: In person in Honolulu. Registered guests will receive an email with address prior to the event. You must have read the book to participate.

TIME: 4pm mingling; 5pm book discussion.

RSVP: A week prior to program.

NOTE: The Friends of Italy Society of Hawaii is not responsible for any liability, cost, and damages which could arise from the programs; and does not provide any refunds, except if it cannot deliver the program, for instance in the case of insufficient enrollment.

QUESTIONS: Email us at info@friendsofitalyhawaii.org.