Bread and Wine by Ignazio Silone is a political fiction novel based on a story of Pietro Spina. Spina sneaks back into Italy as a socialist and his former teacher Don Benedetto learns that he has become a radical revolutionary. After getting back to Italy, Spina is helped by a doctor called Nunzio Sacca to lie low in a village where he disguised as a priest. During this time, he learns about the resignation and hopelessness of the villagers. Villagers perceive Spina as a spiritual adviser but he is unable to radicalize anyone. Later he goes to Rome undisguised and found students backing Mussolini and the war. Spina creates a friendship with a disillusioned student who is killed while preparing a bomb to vandalize a church. As a result, Spina tours Rome jotting graffiti with anti-war sentiments. He is discovered by an individual who threatens to reveal his identity.
In general, the author is trying to caution people about the risks of oppression. He ponders questions about the sufferings, resistance, and religion of the Italian working class. As a result, a great deal of this book can be considered philosophical. The philosophical portions are typically heightened by the characters used to populate the narrative. The novel is full of humor. It brings to life students and revolutionaries, simple girls and desperate women, priests and peasants in a clear drama of a single individual struggling for betterment of his country.
