The Day the War Ended

Smuggling and the Resistance,
history, the magic of the mountains,
an adventure of growing up.

1945. From his boat, young Arturo looks at the fog that covers the heart of Lake Como and which took away his father, a smuggler. Now that he’s gone, Arturo wants nothing more than to be like him, even if his job was a dangerous one.

But nothing is more dangerous than war, which one day comes knocking on his door, asking him to carry out a gesture worthy of the Ghost of the Lake, as they called his father: to transport a girl and her grandfather fleeing from the Nazi-fascists to the other shore, so they can reach Switzerland and get to safety.

In one long night, the fifteen-year-old’s story will intertwine with history in the making, and between Mussolini’s capture, the strenuous resistance of young partisan heroes and the end of the war, Arturo will find a new route to return home and become a man.

  • A coming-of-age story during the end of the war, between resistance and fascism, in the heart of the smuggling saga on Lake Como.

  • The knowledge of woods and herbs, proverbs and sailors, the art of observing and understanding nature.

  • The territory of Lario, its people, its life, the historical events of the end of fascism.

  • A young man of action, not a book lover (for once!), who only dreams of taming the lake and racing in a boat under the sky, like his father.

GENRE Adventure, Historical
TARGET 12+
FIRST PUBLISHER Il Battello a Vapore (Italy), 2023