HISTORY
HUMOR
ITALY

Historical novel • Italian-style comedy • Family saga

DAMN IT! WHERE'S THE SEA?

Leaning Toward the Future

A historical novel. An Italian-style comedy. Eight centuries of genius and disaster.

The story of a family and a city that lost the sea, messed up its foundations, got slapped around by History... and somehow beat everyone anyway. Because sometimes, to stay upright, all you need is to lean the right way.

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A city can lose the sea. Not the habit of inventing a future.

Between mud, marble, stranded ships and stubborn families, Pisa turns every flaw into a story worth telling.

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Free extra content

Unlock Chapter Zero.

Before the Tower, before the grass under the ships, before the vanished sea: there is a kitchen in Kinzica, a broken captain, and a woman who understands before everyone else that losing well is an art.

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Did you know...?

Pisa is a national story. And a great Italian comedy.

It is not only the story of a city. It is a piece of Italy told like a film: harbor and mud, Tower and construction sites, Dante and curses, Pride and rights, Internet and the future. Every scene is a chapter of a country that stumbles, gets up crooked, and keeps going.

Who stole the harbor?

In 1290 Pisa wakes up without a sea. Ships remain in the mud. Captains become ghosts on dry land.

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Medieval construction site of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Why is the Tower shaped like a banana?

Because straightening it would have been banal. Keeping it standing while it fell was much more Pisan.

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Did Dante want to drown Pisa?

Yes. Then the Pisans carved the insult in marble and turned it into tourism.

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The first Italian Pride?

Pisa, 1979. When the future looked crooked, someone decided to cross the Ponte di Mezzo.

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The first Italian “ping”?

Pisa, 1986. A computer as big as a refrigerator and a tiny message: OK.

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Inside the book

Eight centuries. One crooked city.

The sea disappears, mud advances, the Tower leans, Dante curses, the future crosses a bridge and then passes through a computer as big as a refrigerator.

Stranded ships under the Leaning Tower of Pisa

1284

The Art of Losing Well

Meloria opens the wound. Bernardo comes home, Bice does the math, and someone realizes the Genoese want to steal the water.

1290

The harbor disappears

Ships remain stranded where the sea should be. And here the most absurd question begins: how do you survive without water under the keel?

1173–1272

The stone banana

The Tower sinks. Pisa does not hide it: it turns it into the most famous brand in the world.

1310

Dante curses

The Supreme Poet would like to drown Pisa. The city takes the insult, carves it into marble, and builds tourism and memory on top of it.

1979

The future crosses the bridge

Pisa becomes a stage for rights, courage and identity while Italy is still looking elsewhere.

1986

Ping. OK.

A huge computer opens Italy’s door to the Internet. The sea is gone, but Pisa has found another route.

Four secret gems of Pisa

Hover, click, and the card turns.

Outside the book, the city is already a novel.

The Devil’s Claws

CLICK OR HOVER

The legend: on the side of the Cathedral, marks in the marble are said to have been left by the Devil, jealous of the church’s beauty. Try counting them: tradition says the number changes every time.

The THREE Leaning Towers

CLICK OR HOVER

She is not the only one leaning: in Pisa, San Nicola and San Michele degli Scalzi lean too. Here even the vertical line seems to have picked a side.

The Two-Tailed Lizard

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University good-luck charm: a small student legend lives on the Cathedral: touching it is said to bring luck in exams. Anxiety, superstition and worn bronze.

New Year in the Future

CLICK OR HOVER

March 25: in Pisa, the New Year begins when a ray of sunlight enters the Cathedral. For centuries, nine months ahead of everyone else. Naturally.

Quiz

How Pisan are you?

10 random questions to find out if you really know Italy’s most famous crooked story.

✓ 10 random questions

✓ 4 answers for each question

✓ Instant answer and explanation

Question 1 of 10

Press “Start the quiz” to begin.

The Wall of Pisan Spirit

Leave your “crooked” memory of Pisa

Every memory is reviewed before publication. Approved contributions may appear publicly on the Wall and become part of the project.

“In Pisa I understood that even crooked things can become monuments.”
— Marco

“The best evenings happened on the Lungarni, with the most unbelievable stories.”
— Giulia

“I arrived to study. I stayed to live.”
— Lorenzo

“In Pisa you fall, get back up, and make a joke about it.”
— Silvia

Send your memory

Monthly artistic recognition

Tell your Pisa memory. The most original one may become a creative project.

Every month we select the most original, funny or surprising contribution published on the Wall of Pisan Spirit and turn it into a 3D / interior design concept based on photos requested from you, through www.associazionelidar.it.

Free artistic-editorial initiative. No purchase required. It is not a prize contest: it is a monthly artistic selection connected to the cultural project.

Leave your memory Discover XTra Produzioni

Personaggio di BOIA in un salotto storico reinventato in 3D - XTra Produzioni

3D project from photos

International editions

Pisa starts here. But it can go far.

DAMN IT! WHERE'S THE SEA? is already available in English and is opening its wider international journey. Use this area for active and upcoming language editions.

English Edition

The English edition is available now. Share it with international readers, friends abroad and English-language press contacts.

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Edición en español

Una comedia histórica italiana sobre una ciudad que pierde el mar y encuentra otra forma de mantenerse en pie.

Édition française

Une comédie historique pisane: la mer disparaît, les bateaux restent dans la boue, et la ville apprend à pencher du bon côté.

Press office & press kit

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Leave your contact details: you will immediately receive the official press kit by email, with cover, author photo, synopsis, bio, editorial angles, ready-to-use headlines and materials for articles, interviews, presentations and features.

✓ Official evergreen press kit

✓ High-resolution cover

✓ Author photo and bio

✓ Short and long synopsis

✓ Headlines and editorial angles

✓ International edition updates

Preview of the DAMN IT! WHERE'S THE SEA? press kit

“Anyone can build straight cities.
We prefer to stay upright while leaning.”

Buy the book now
and lean toward the future.

Also available as an ebook.

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DAMN IT! WHERE'S THE SEA?