Carlo Morriello presents his debut novel

A novel set in late 19th-century Naples that, between sacred and profane, allows us to experience the lights and shadows of a story enveloped in mystery.

Michele Castaldo is a twenty-seven-year-old painter from late 19th-century Naples, searching for a professional turning point in his career. He carries with him not only grand dreams of life but also a deep desire to fight for their realization, firmly convinced that he will not give in to the first difficulties.

He has recently lost his mother Rita when he is entrusted with a prestigious commission: to create a large fresco at the monastery of Santa Chiara in just three weeks. This commission will mark the beginning of a series of unexpected and unforeseen events, among superstitions about artists who have lost their reason and intrigues that surpass his imagination. His certainties soon begin to crumble when a shadow from the past re-emerges, revealing quite a shocking truth.

Accompanying him on this quest will be the people closest to him, who seem to know aspects of his life that he himself has never suspected.

CARLO MORRIELLO Carlo Morriello, born in 1969, is from Naples but has lived in Veneto for over thirty years.

He graduated in Modern Literature and specialized in secondary education, having undertaken various jobs including a career as a non-commissioned officer in the Air Force, before realizing his dream: since 2015 he has been a teacher of literary subjects in secondary schools.

He has always nurtured a love and passion for writing, collaborating with some local magazines for the news, culture, and in-depth sections on social issues.

For the Montedit publishing house in Milan, he published a series of short stories in 2000. Beyond the Shadow of Colors is his debut novel, the result of three intense years of research, work, and drafting, with which he was among the 300 finalists in two separate editions of the national competition Io scrittore. The novel was also a finalist in the Mazio Luzi international literary prize edition 2025 and received a merit mention at the “Premio in giallo Giuseppe Ciabattini – II edition.”