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Tolu, Giovanni, 1822-1896 Books
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Enrico Costa
Giovanni Tolu, vol. 1/2 : $b Storia d'un bandito sardo narrata da lui medesimo
"Giovanni Tolu, vol. 1/2: Storia d'un bandito sardo narrata da lui medesimo" by Enrico Costa is a narrative non-fiction work written in the late 19th century. It presents the life of the famed Sardinian bandit Giovanni Tolu as a first-person confession, framed by the author-editor’s historical notes on banditry in Logudoro. The focus is on Tolu’s character, codes of honor, and the social forces shaping outlawry, with intersections to other notorious figures of Sardinia’s bandit tradition. The opening of the volume recounts how an elderly visitor reveals himself as Tolu to the author, asking to correct myths by dictating a candid, unvarnished life story; Costa agrees and vows to publish the confession faithfully, adding only brief notes. Before Tolu speaks, Costa inserts a sweeping historical sketch of banditry—from biblical and European precedents to centuries of Sardinian cases—showing how feudal protections, state brutality, romantic legend, and political upheavals fostered and distorted the phenomenon. He contrasts the older “honor-bound” bandit with later criminal forms, positioning Tolu as the last representative of the former. The narrative then begins with Tolu’s childhood in Florinas: a large, once-comfortable family fallen on hard times, a strict and upright father, a twin brother, and years as a church sacristan before turning to hard agricultural work. After his father’s death he shoulders family responsibilities, labors across the Sassari countryside, buys a prized black horse, and keeps aloof from taverns and flirtations—sketching a diligent, self-controlled youth before any crime enters his life.
Enrico Costa
Giovanni Tolu, vol. 2/2 : $b Storia d'un bandito sardo narrata da lui medesimo
"Giovanni Tolu, vol. 2/2 : Storia d'un bandito sardo narrata da lui medesimo" by Enrico Costa is a historical novel written in the late 19th century. It presents the first‑person life story of the Sardinian bandit Giovanni Tolu, blending personal confession, local history, and the social world of Logudoro and the Nurra. Expect a portrait of honor, vendetta, survival, and temptation as Tolu navigates alliances with shepherds, feuds with rivals, and brushes with the law. The central figure is Tolu himself, a shrewd, reflective outlaw whose code and contradictions drive the narrative. The opening of this excerpt finds Tolu insisting on sobriety and caution after separating from his wife, warning that wine and women ruin bandits, yet slipping into a years‑long affair with the gleaner Maddalena, which he abruptly ends when she begs him to elope—after which she abandons her family with another man. He then exposes and eliminates a would‑be informant, the shepherd Salvatore Moro, luring him out by night and shooting him after concluding Moro was working with the carabinieri for bounty. Shifting to the Nurra, Tolu describes its terrain, shelters, and customs; his reading (Reali di Francia, Bible), and his role as a folk healer with striking anecdotes. A vivid episode follows a dream that prefigures a shipwreck at the Carazza Grande: amid storms he salvages wax bricks, confronts Alghero boats, and watches pistachios end up feeding pigs. The narrative next sketches the powerful Antonio Careddu—politics, vendettas, hired killers, and a tangled payment dispute—before recounting Careddu’s later murder over pasture rights and the skewed justice that follows. Finally Tolu reflects on the danger of love for outlaws, recounting discreet affairs with widows and wives, and the section closes as a young, grieving widow in an ovile becomes captivated by his stories.
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