The View From Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani
The View from Lake Como is Adriana Trigiani’s 21st published book. Whether you have faithfully followed her from debut novel Big Stone Gap (2000) or are just joining those devoted readers — the self-described evangelical acolytes who celebrate each word, clever phrase and humorous heart-warming tale of families that often harbor deep secrets — be prepared for another soul-satisfying experience.
Trigiani is a consummate, spellbinding storyteller who, without a modicum of exaggeration, will likely remain celebrated a century from now as one of the truly great authors of the 21st century. Her works of both fiction and non-fiction are consistently on best-seller lists, and she has garnered an impressive number of awards along with consistent, well-deserved praise.
Stories with a Strong Sense of Place
Trigiani’s childhood home in Big Stone Gap, a tiny valley town formerly dependent on coal and located in Wise County, Virginia, influences her writing, celebrating the riotous blending of Italian American and Appalachian heritages.
Love and laughter abounded there, along with great meals made and consumed with three generations of family members. Wisdom, unsolicited advice and folklore were passed down from living elders. The author’s keen ear and impeccable sense of comedic timing join with an ability to turn sorrows and challenges into superb writer’s rich fodder.
A strong sense of place and belonging is at the core of each book, with careful attention to detail in the descriptions of the places used as settings. In The View from Lake Como, they center on the family enclave along the shore of diminutive Lake Como, New Jersey, contrasted with the breathtaking vistas and charming historic villages dotted along Lake Como, the third largest glacial lake in Lombardy, Italy. The settings are real and as integral to the novel as the characters and storyline.
Trigiani is not only a powerhouse novelist and memoirist but also a successful playwright, television and film screenwriter and producer, as well as philanthropist who promotes and supports fellow authors and other friends in related industries. In 2012, she co-founded The Origin Project (TOP) with Executive Director Nancy Bolmeier-Fisher, which fosters a love of reading and writing in 17 underserved Virginia schools. Their mission “seeks to inspire students to find their voices through the craft of writing about their Appalachian roots.”
Breaking Free from a Disappointing Life
The View from Lake Como mixes the bitter with the sweet, yielding one of the best novels published in the summer of 2025. If only human hearts were as strong as the Carrera marble used in the Capodimonte and Baratta family business, they wouldn’t shatter with the hammer blow of harsh words coated as constructive criticism or bald-faced lies.
Is there anything worse than the bland oft-made statement, “We always treated you the same and love you just as we do your siblings,” repeated to a gullible child who grows up to gradually discern the reality of this mistruth?
Protagonist and narrator Jess Capodimonte Baratta has been living a disappointing life of broken dreams, unfulfilled ambitions and failed expectations. She is a people pleaser, subsumed by duty and the burden of putting others first without complaint.
This has taken a toll, draining the color and dampening her zest for life as she has taken to wearing all black clothing, making her resemble one of the unsmiling elderly crones who attend daily morning mass at Saint Catherine Church and perpetually keep their rosary beads close to hand. Uncle Louie calls her wardrobe “Depression Central.”
Henry David Thoreau wrote: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
Jess is ready to break out, reinvent herself and, with determination, find her purpose and express her unspoken passion for architecture. Thus, she has signed up with “Thera-me”, an online therapy program combining journaling with counseling sessions that promote “Keys to Contentment” with advice that includes: “make your own happiness, follow your heart and listen to your inner voice.”
Jess wants to embrace and celebrate life and escape blue-collar Lake Como, New Jersey, a town that had been lyrically renamed in 2005 from South Belmar in an effort to enhance its image. North Boulevard is dotted with homes belonging to various Capodimonte and Baratta family members, including the vacant “Lake Como Museum” home of her grandmother, kept clean and maintained exactly as she left it when she died.
A Family’s Italian Legacy — and Secrets
Jess has had a passport since she turned 18, periodically renewed and ready to be stamped, but sadly unused. She longs to visit Tuscany and the original Lake Como in Lombardy, view great art, as well as see first-hand the vast Carrera marble quarries from whence Uncle Louie’s several-ton slabs are excavated before shipment to America.
She has heard many stories from Louie’s time spent 50 years ago living and working in those quarries and knows of his secret romance with a beautiful girl named Claudia. Jess can clearly envision the Apuan Alps in northern Tuscany, which appear snow-covered in the distance, but which is, in reality, covered in the brightly shimmering world-renowned white Carrera marble.
The billion-dollar-per-year industry began in the time of the ancient Roman Empire when it was first used for building roads, sculptures and as construction material. Uncle Louie’s firm has created countless bathroom fixtures and built or remodeled kitchens with this luxurious stone. Jess dreams of drawing and creating innovative designs in situ.
Uncle Louie and Aunt “Diamond” Lil’s home was always a refuge for Jess. This childless couple welcomed their goddaughter into their home and later into the Capodimonte Marble and Stone family business established in 1924.
Louie is the dapper boss who hired the talented Jess for her artist’s keen eye and accurate technical drawings rendered as his draftswoman. He proclaims his business is built on “Italian craftsmanship and American elegance.” His less legitimate cash-only side business will later leave major headaches for his beloved niece.
Familial Betrayal and a Doomed Marriage
Jess had the misfortune of being saddled with a nearly unpronounceable name, Giuseppina Capodimonte Baratta, after a formidable maiden great-aunt, guaranteeing a lifetime of teasing. Her older siblings, Joe and Connie, received other advantages; Joe, as the firstborn and only son, was the little princeling, and Connie, the adorable princess. Subject to panic attacks since kindergarten, Jess was consistently overlooked.
She was always the reliable, good kid who somehow instinctively knew there was something more to life outside of family. Jess had her heart set on attending Rutgers University to study with the goal of becoming an architect.
From early childhood, she worked and saved nearly every dollar made from babysitting, mowing lawns, clearing snow and various summer jobs as well as cash gifts received for Holy Communion, birthdays and Christmas. She entrusted these savings to her parents. Jess also studied as hard as she labored, graduating at the top of her class with stellar SAT scores, and for this was rewarded with an acceptance letter from Rutgers.
She was assigned a roommate and had her suitcases packed to depart the next morning when her parents matter-of-factly stated her savings were gone “in a market crash.” Her mom advised it was not too late to enroll in community college and continue to live at home. It was years before Jess learned the full extent of their betrayal. Meanwhile, golden boy brother Joe graduated from law school and Connie had received an elaborate wedding.
Jess continued to excel in her studies and became a talented and meticulous draftswoman. The logical next step was to marry Bobby Bilancia, whom she had known since kindergarten. He was gorgeous and owned a successful family butcher shop, making her the envy of every girl in the neighborhood. Too bad she didn’t really love him; plus he failed miserably at communication.
Instead of a honeymoon in Italy, he insisted on Las Vegas, which to anyone from New Jersey is just a glitzier, more expensive Atlantic City. They had sufficient funds for a down payment on a house, but he opted for a sterile flat decorated in stainless steel, black and silver. The color was still missing in Jess’s life.
To the shock of all, she divorced him and moved back into her parent’s home where she resumes her role as family drudge; the handmaiden who cooks, cleans and entertains the many relatives who descend for Sunday dinner while continuing to work and pouring her heart out to her journal and the rotating staff of Thera-me.
A Can’t-Miss, Multilayered Family Saga
After a shocking loss and revelation of some disturbing family secrets, Jess courageously packs a suitcase and travels to Carrera, Italy, on a one-way ticket. She is 34 years old and no longer willing to settle for lost dreams. Her Italian may be Jersey-tinted and hardly fluent, but she has marketable skills, experience in working with marble, distant family ties in her ancestral land and determination to remold her life.
The mountains of Tuscany and sophisticated Milan enchant her, as do the stunning beauty of Lake Como, along with the incredible foods and wines. It all feels oddly familiar, and this may be her true home. Jess will meet a gifted artist, Angelo Strazza, who works in gold — but don’t expect a trite, typical romance. This young woman is now living on her own terms. Giuseppina Capodimonte Baratta did not move 3000 miles away just to repeat a previous mistake!
The View from Lake Como is a multilayered, nuanced story of three generations of an Italian American family still linked to old country relatives who have been virtual strangers for nearly half a century. Blood ties are strong, and these people have endured a great deal and will continue to laugh, live, love and quarrel with a vengeance. Jess’s mom is notorious for holding a grudge, but ultimately, family is at the heart of what is most important, and grievances can eventually be forgiven.
Adriana Trigiani has written a believable, relatable story of courage, hope and tenacity that will entertain and delight. She has the magic touch that might just inspire some readers to pursue their own passions. When’s that next flight?
If you only read one novel this summer, this reviewer heartily recommends The View from Lake Como. For those who enjoy audiobooks, Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino, a genuine Italian-American Jersey girl, narrated the audio version.
About Adriana Trigiani:
Adriana Trigiani is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one books of fiction and nonfiction. Her work has been published in thirty-eight languages around the world. An award-winning playwright, television writer/producer, and filmmaker, Trigiani wrote and directed the major motion picture of her debut novel, Big Stone Gap, adapted her novel, Very Valentine, for television, and directed the documentary, Queens of the Big Time, among others. In 2023, President Sergio Matterella of Italy awarded Trigiani the Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia. The Library of Virginia bestowed their highest honor, the Patron of Letters degree, to Trigiani in 2024. She received the 2025 Ellis Island Medal of Honor for her significant contributions to literature, culture and community. Trigiani grew up in Appalachia, in the mountains of Virginia, where she co-founded The Origin Project, a year-round, in-school writing program that has served over 25,000 students since its inception in 2014. Trigiani is proud to serve on the New York State Council on the Arts. She lives in Greenwich Village with her family.
