Minimal stories, humble destinies, characters who have disappeared or been forgotten, leaving only the feeblest of signs on paper. Anselmi tells sixteen small tales, occurring between 1828 and 1892, featuring "small men" who were somehow involved in the history of 19th century Italy: crimes and misdemeanours, family secrets and village scandals, wasted lives. Anselmi continues, in each book he writes, to make the most of the basic melancholy underlying his morality, as he observes evil where it first arises: in the desperate meanness of men.

Sergio Anselmi used to teach Economic History at the Universities of Urbino and Ancona.