--- product_id: 15059547 title: "Marcovaldo: or the Seasons in the City" price: "90.24 DT" currency: TND in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/15059547-marcovaldo-or-the-seasons-in-the-city store_origin: TN region: Tunisia --- # Factory sealed DVD Classic Italian literary masterpiece Stories spanning 1950s-60s urban Italy Marcovaldo: or the Seasons in the City **Price:** 90.24 DT **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 📀 Unlock the magic of Italy’s past — where city grit meets countryside dreams! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Marcovaldo: or the Seasons in the City - **How much does it cost?** 90.24 DT with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/15059547-marcovaldo-or-the-seasons-in-the-city) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Cultural Escape:** Relive the seasons and stories that capture the essence of mid-century Italian life and imagination. - • **Urban-Rural Contrast:** Dive into vivid tales of city life clashing with rustic dreams in post-war Italy. - • **Timeless Italian Classic:** Experience the genius of Italo Calvino, hailed as the greatest Italian writer of the 20th century. - • **Factory Sealed Authenticity:** Brand new, untouched DVD ensures premium quality and collector’s value. - • **Emotional & Thought-Provoking:** A perfect blend of humor, melancholy, and fantasy that resonates with modern urban professionals. ## Overview Marcovaldo: or the Seasons in the City is a factory sealed DVD adaptation of Italo Calvino’s acclaimed collection of linked stories. Set in 1950s-60s northern Italy, it follows Marcovaldo, a humble worker whose rural dreams clash with urban realities. This timeless classic blends humor, melancholy, and fantasy, offering a nostalgic yet fresh cultural escape for discerning viewers. ## Description A charming portrait of one man’s dreams and schemes, by “the greatest Italian writer of the twentieth century” ( Guardian ). In this enchanting book of linked stories, Italo Calvino charts the disastrous schemes of an Italian peasant, an unskilled worker in a drab northern industrial city in the 1950s and ’60s, struggling to reconcile his old country habits with his current urban life. Marcovaldo has a practiced eye for spotting natural beauty and an unquenchable longing for the unspoiled rural world of his imagination. Much to the continuing puzzlement of his wife, his children, his boss, and his neighbors, he chases his dreams and gives rein to his fantasies, whether it’s sleeping in the great outdoors on a park bench, following a stray cat, or trying to catch wasps. Unfortunately, the results are never quite what he anticipates. Spanning from the 1950s to the 1960s, the twenty stories in Marcovaldo are alternately comic and melancholy, farce and fantasy. Throughout, Calvino’s unassuming masterpiece “conveys the sensuous, tangible qualities of life” ( New York Times ). Translated from the Italian by William Weaver. Review: Funny and sad at the same time - I happened upon this book doing a crossword puzzle. It seemed intriguing so I bought the Kindle version. We get a series of adventures of Marcovaldo, a poor man living in a northern town of Italy. He gets into scrapes because he is from the country and poor. [Spoiler Alert] One of the early ones is that he steals a rabbit from the hospital, but it full of a disease they are researching and could kill anyone who eats it. Review: I wish I could always feel this way... - This was an incredibly nice break after working my way through The Idiot (Everyman's Library) . (about which I have still been unable to write) Calvino, as always, touches the innermost feelings that make all of us who we are. While we do follow the main character throughout the seasons and the years, this is still a collection of slice-of-life stories that really do not rely on the specific characters at all. I thought, briefly, that I would be able to follow the growth of Marcovaldo's eldest, Michelino, as he grew up throughout the stories, but that really wasn't something for which this book was striving. It just wants to put us in the center of an elegantly and thoroughly described Italy. It was nearly fantasy... I felt like we followed Calvino (and ourselves) through the troubled life of adulthead beset by bills, sickness, and the search for food with the uninhibited joy of a child. Marcovaldo's family - even Marcovaldo himself - were simply props the author used to describe the world around him as it was and as he wished to see it. No permanent ills ever befall the family; in fact nothing solid really changes from story to story. We simply are gifted with the ability to see the city through someone else's eyes. This was an escapist book. A delightful diversion that read incredibly quickly and really didn't require too much of me as a Reader. Everything was simply laid bare. It was easy, at times, to identify with Marcovaldo as an adult, ("Oh, if I could wake just once at the twitter of birds and not at the sound of the alarm and the crying of little Paolino and the yelling of my wife, Domitilla!") but this really felt more like an exercise in getting back in touch with the wonderment, joy, and excitement the world can bring to a child whose experiences do not yet encompass the normality and boredom of every day life. Aside from the story of the rabbit, for whom I wept silently, these stories just related the beauty of being alive, even in the harshest of times. I really couldn't put this down, not because there was any underlying plot pushing me forward but because I wanted to continue living life through the eyes of a child for just a little while longer. I wish it hadn't ended, but when it did, I was smiling. ## Features - Factory sealed DVD ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #512,507 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #532 in Historical Fiction Short Stories (Books) #854 in Humorous American Literature #1,299 in Dark Humor | | Customer Reviews | 4.2 out of 5 stars 278 Reviews | ## Images ![Marcovaldo: or the Seasons in the City - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51kfKwwqAWL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Funny and sad at the same time *by K***R on May 8, 2021* I happened upon this book doing a crossword puzzle. It seemed intriguing so I bought the Kindle version. We get a series of adventures of Marcovaldo, a poor man living in a northern town of Italy. He gets into scrapes because he is from the country and poor. [Spoiler Alert] One of the early ones is that he steals a rabbit from the hospital, but it full of a disease they are researching and could kill anyone who eats it. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I wish I could always feel this way... *by J***E on November 15, 2013* This was an incredibly nice break after working my way through The Idiot (Everyman's Library) . (about which I have still been unable to write) Calvino, as always, touches the innermost feelings that make all of us who we are. While we do follow the main character throughout the seasons and the years, this is still a collection of slice-of-life stories that really do not rely on the specific characters at all. I thought, briefly, that I would be able to follow the growth of Marcovaldo's eldest, Michelino, as he grew up throughout the stories, but that really wasn't something for which this book was striving. It just wants to put us in the center of an elegantly and thoroughly described Italy. It was nearly fantasy... I felt like we followed Calvino (and ourselves) through the troubled life of adulthead beset by bills, sickness, and the search for food with the uninhibited joy of a child. Marcovaldo's family - even Marcovaldo himself - were simply props the author used to describe the world around him as it was and as he wished to see it. No permanent ills ever befall the family; in fact nothing solid really changes from story to story. We simply are gifted with the ability to see the city through someone else's eyes. This was an escapist book. A delightful diversion that read incredibly quickly and really didn't require too much of me as a Reader. Everything was simply laid bare. It was easy, at times, to identify with Marcovaldo as an adult, ("Oh, if I could wake just once at the twitter of birds and not at the sound of the alarm and the crying of little Paolino and the yelling of my wife, Domitilla!") but this really felt more like an exercise in getting back in touch with the wonderment, joy, and excitement the world can bring to a child whose experiences do not yet encompass the normality and boredom of every day life. Aside from the story of the rabbit, for whom I wept silently, these stories just related the beauty of being alive, even in the harshest of times. I really couldn't put this down, not because there was any underlying plot pushing me forward but because I wanted to continue living life through the eyes of a child for just a little while longer. I wish it hadn't ended, but when it did, I was smiling. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Et In Arcadia Ego, I Guess *by P***S on April 21, 2014* Once more, Italo Calvino shows why he is the greatest fabulist of our times. The focal point of this piece is the character Macrovaldo, the unfortunate Everyman of these stories who although a city dweller extraordinaire constantly finds the bucolic in the city. Yet owing to the fascinating wit of the author, Macrovaldo is always unpleasantly surprised. One doesn't know who to feel more sorry for, the family of Macrovaldo or the man himself. Structure around the seasons of the year in a five year cycle, this Pythagorean world is perfect for Calvino to test his theory of time and place while at the same time providing an oblique commentary on politics, cultural mores etc. in a pattern so familiar to those familiar with his work. Whether he is breeding rabbits, hunting for mushrooms, fishing, the troubles of Macrovaldo always entertain and usually surprise the reader. The inevitable tension between the urban world and the Arcadian aspirations of Macrovaldo are typically Calvino's. It is curious to note how Calvino has surreptitiously influenced much of the more serious Italian film makers. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/15059547-marcovaldo-or-the-seasons-in-the-city](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/15059547-marcovaldo-or-the-seasons-in-the-city) --- *Product available on Desertcart Tunisia* *Store origin: TN* *Last updated: 2026-08-30*