Graziella

Graziella, can you feel this name? Here in Procida it moves like a soft breeze through colorful houses. Kraak! It’s a novel from 1852 written by Alphonse de Lamartine, inspired by his journey to Italy between 1811 and 1812. A story that started far away, but found its heart right here on my island.

The story begins with a storm. The sea, when it decides, changes everything… and Lamartine ends up stranded on Procida. That’s where he meets Graziella, daughter of a Neapolitan fisherman — from Naples.

Between them grows a pure love, simple like the sea on a calm day. Criii! They spend a few happy months together, side by side, like two boats sailing the same route.

But the course shifts: the poet must return to France. And from there, a letter arrives… Graziella is ill, struck by a deadly disease.

This novel is one of the most vivid expressions of French Romanticism — a way of writing full of emotion, feeling, and deep involvement. It is Lamartine’s most famous prose work, suspended between literary ideals and true emotion, like the line between sky and sea.

And did you know this story didn’t stay only on paper? Squa-squa! Graziella became a symbol here in Procida: a woman who is radiant, simple, and beautiful. So much so that every summer, during the local summer festival — a traditional celebration — there is a beauty contest named after her.

Since 1939, every year a “Graziella” is chosen, wearing the traditional Procida costume. Have you ever seen those dresses? They look like colorful sails telling our story.