The Baron in the Trees

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The Baron in the Trees (1957, Il Barone Rampante) is an Italian novel by Italo Calvino. A metaphor for independence, it tells the adventures of a boy who will spend the rest of his adventurous life up in trees.

Characters

• Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo' (main character)
• Baron Arminio (Cosimo's father)
• Corradina (Cosimo's mother)
• Battista (Cosimo's elder sister)
• Biagio (Cosimo's younger brother)
• Abbot Fauchefleur (Cosimo and Biago's care-taker)
• Viola (the love of Cosimo's life)

Plot summary

The story is about a twelve-year-old boy named Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo', and is narrated by his younger brother, Biagio. It's set along the Ligurian Coast (the north-western coast of Italy, and commonly includes southern France because of the similarity in the scenery) in the eighteenth-century, in the town of Ombrosa. At the time, the regions of Italy haven't united yet, and the region along the Ligurian Coast isn't currently ruled by a legitimate king.

Biagio, Cosimo's brother and the narrator, provides the history of their family. Cosimo's father, Baron Arminio, married the General of the War of Succession (his mother), Corradina. La Guerra di Successione (the War of Succession) is a war between the Baron Arminio and an opposing family whom has equal rights to the throne. The parents who both have identical interests in claiming the throne agree to marry (even though they don't love each other) to give their children more rights to the throne.

The Baron, who is half-mad with a malicious streak, abuses his children constantly; and without the mother who is usually fighting in the war on horseback with the head general (Cosimo's grandfather), causes the children to run wild and become crazy.

In fact, Battista, the eldest sister of the three, used to be coaxed by Arminio to get married at a young age, so she decides to become a priestess, thus avoiding premature marriage. Without Battista, Arminio focuses on Cosimo (only twelve-years-old) and contrives a plan to betroth him to a grand-duchess he might find.

Battista is driven to insanity, and expresses this through her cooking. From toads to mice, rats to grasshoppers, Battista becomes the cook of the castle-like mansion in Ombrosa, and the Baron forces Cosimo and Biagio to eat the disgusting meals.

One day, when the Baron invites the Courts of France to lunch at noon, Battista arrives with her French cuisine new meal, snails. At the point where Arminio forces Cosimo to eat the snails, it becomes the turning point for him - the point where he can no longer handle his father's abuse.

Fleeing from the table, Cosimo uses his ability to climb up a live oak tree in the backyard - Cosimo and his eight-year-old brother Biagia often occupy their recreational time by climbing trees. Storming out of the house, with the other diners trailing behind, came the Baron scolding Cosimo for embarrassing him in front of the Court of France, who eats snails for a delicacy.

Excerpt from p. 15:

"Quando sarai stanco di star li' cambierai idea!" gli grido'.

"Non cambiero' mai idea," fece mio fratello, dal ramo.

"Ti faro' vedere io , appena scendi!"

"E io non scendero' piu'." E mantenne la parola.

English translation:

"When you are tired of staying there you will change your mind!" he shouted.

"I will never change my mind," said my brother, from the branch [of the live oak].

"I'll show you, now get down here!"

"And I will not come down, ever." And he kept his word.

With a spadino (little sword) and tricorno (cocked hat), Cosimo travels from branch to branch, and eventually reaches the boundary of his backyard, bordered by an enormous brick wall. On the opposite side live the Marchese (Marquis) and his family, with an enormous garden, like the Piovasco's, although with exotic plants from Asia, America (newly founded at the time), and apparently, even Australia (an imagined country at the time). Cosimo jumps from one of his trees to a foreign tree, Magnolia, into the D'Ondariva's garden. Cosimo slowly descends from tree to tree to the lowest branch, when he finally sees a blonde-haired girl on a see-saw (appearing ten-years-old).

From the branch, Cosimo uses his spadino (little sword) to pierce the apple in the girl's hand.

Ultimately, Cosimo finds a way to stay in the trees for most of his life.

Reception

While sometimes dismissed as a cute fable, this story finds its very strength in its ability to be read and analyzed on a number of levels: as a romance story, environmentally, narratologically, sociologically, and in questioning the role of the individual and the community. The novel received the Viareggio Prize in 1957. However, Calvino "refused the prize on the grounds that its acceptance simply helped shore up an outmoded institution, the literary prize!" ^[1]

Notes