From Servabo: A Fin de Siècle Memoir, first published in Italian in 1991, and included in Memories from the Twentieth Century, edited by Alberto Toscano, a collection of three of Pintor’s books out next month from Seagull Books and reviewed in New Books in this issue. Pintor, who died in 2003, was a founder and editor of the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto. Gerarchi were officers of the Italian Fascist Party. Translated from the Italian by Gregory Elliott.

When the war entered the city, I was still incredulous. It entered furtively, with bursts of gunfire in the suburbs and…