Miracle at St. Anna

An omniscient, third-person narrator asserts that the only way to learn about World War II from modern Italians is to find elderly men joking over cards and grappa about the poverty they experienced. The trauma of this hopeless time leaves older Italians uninterested in discussing the war, including in history classes. Unable to speak of the brutality and violence of the war, old men instead discuss Mussolini (focusing on his successes and oddities while not entirely forgetting the violence he committed) and remember the arrival of a boy called Peppi, the “Black Butterfly.”

The narration briefly shifts to second person as “you” ask too many questions and are instructed to “stand in the piazza and ask about the night of the two setting suns” (130). The narrative returns to third person to recount the mythology of the “night of the two setting suns.”

Peppi Grotto, the Butterfly, is a Tuscan poet who joins a band of partisans who sided with the Allied Powers during World War II. He adopts the name “Black Butterfly” to hide his identify from the SS, who retaliate against the families of partisans. The Black Butterfly strikes against the SS after they torture a partisan named Gabriella Tornatti to death, stalking one of the officers who perpetuated the torture and committing the same violence against him.

On the single day of the year when the sun sets briefly behind the Mountain of the Sleeping Man before reappearing moments later, the Butterfly uses the temporary darkness to place the body of the SS officer in the same place where Gabriella was killed. When a spy among the villagers (the same person who betrayed Gabriella) summons German officers to the scene, however, the body is gone. The spy is jailed for lying and is killed in prison by partisans. The villagers wake in the following weeks to find a wealth of food and supplies on their doorsteps. The legend of the Black Butterfly grows and becomes fanciful.

A young Italian signals to a group of partisans, including Peppi, when he spots the arrival of the four soldiers at Ludovico’s house. It is Peppi’s 26th birthday, which he is astonished to have reached, given the enormous sum on his head. He trusts only a small group; they wait to speak to Ludovico about where he has obtained his many supplies.

Rodolfo, the Italian partisan who posed as a priest to report to Driscoll (in Chapter 4), argues for seizing Ludovico before the Americans arrive, but Peppi insists on waiting; he hopes Ludovico is innocent despite the man being a Fascist. Peppi thinks of an incident, six weeks prior, when his band encountered two SS soldiers, whom they killed in a sloppy battle while the soldiers shouted for reinforcements. The partisans split up to hide, only narrowly escaping the German soldiers who searched for them.

When they emerged 10 days later, a woman informed them that the Germans had massacred hundreds at St. Anna after the villagers were encouraged to resist the SS and falsely promised protection from the partisans. Peppi vows to find whoever posted the sign (later revealed to have been Rodolfo), as all partisans know of the German’s promise to kill 16 civilians for each German soldier killed. They suspect Ludovico to be the traitor; they wait to question him.

The boy has fantastical dreams that include rabbits; he wakes to find the rabbit real. Ludovico enters and hastily tries to hide them, but Renata, coming in behind him, tells him that his rabbits are widely known. Ludovico tells her the rabbits are cursed, but Renata counters that Ettora is saving his life by telling the rest of the village that the rabbits are cursed, so he is not killed for failing to share them.

The boy refuses Renata’s offer of soup, feeling unwell. Arturo appears, advising the boy to be cautious around Ettora and claiming that Train has returned to an “invisible castle,” which he describes as made of candy. The boy notices for the first time that Arturo is a strange gray color. Ettora believes the boy bewitched and vows to heal him; Renata calls him a “beautiful sign.” Ludovico worries what the Germans will think of the child and is alarmed by Renata’s assertion that no partisan would abandon their child, fearing she knows too much about the group. He fears the soldiers are deserters or only posing as Americans.

Renata, who has never fallen pregnant despite many prayers and charms from Ettora, wishes to keep the boy. Ettora and Ludovico are shocked at Renata’s failure to respect her elders. The soldiers arrive and insist on taking the boy to a hospital. Renata offers to show them the way despite her father’s protest that Germans and landmines render the route treacherous. She argues with Hector over whether the boy needs a doctor or a priest.

Train wakes the boy, who easily takes the medicine from Train when he refused it from Renata and Ettora. Train lifts the boy and declares it time to return to the division. Stamps proposes trying to meet another division. While Stamps deliberates, Hector shares a can of Spam with the Italians and Train shocks everyone with his beautiful singing voice. Stamps decides to spend one more day trying the radio before risking the mountain journey; he, Hector, and Bishop return to Eugenio’s house while Train remains with the boy at Ludovico’s house.

Train recalls the day he was drafted. His cousin, Jing-a-ling, had started a business handling others’ correspondence, despite being illiterate. Because Jing-a-ling accidentally won a client $800, his business was a success. When Train’s Aunt Vera came to visit, she sorted through Jing-a-ling’s pile of mail, found Train’s draft notice, and instructed him to report to the Army.

Train reflects that though the Army gave him things (like clothes and a rifle), these had to be returned. He had thought Bishop had given him the knowledge that this was “a white man’s war” (161), though his sense of kinship with the boy causes him to doubt this. He counsels the boy on the comforts of following God, who has already decided everything, and sings a hymn. Despite not speaking English, the boy smiles at Train’s words. Train asserts that speaking the words means little, but singing Bible verses renders them powerful. He shows the boy the Primavera’s head, promising it offers invisibility, which he frames as their secret.

The boy recognizes the statue head as the woman from his dream, which convinces him that Arturo was correct about Train being a magic giant and the statue head being a large piece of candy. He asks Train to turn his head, which the boy believes will make that day his birthday. A sound makes Train turn his head; when the boy looks again, Train is gone and rabbits are everywhere, thrilling the boy with this “birthday present.”

In the early hours of the morning, Stamps, Bishop, and Hector connect with Nokes via radio. Nokes asks them to capture a German prisoner and then wait for rescue in two or three days; Stamps counters that their food won’t last that long, nor will the boy’s health. Nokes refuses to come sooner and tells them he will radio again the following day. Stamps, furious, criticizes Nokes, prompting Bishop and Stokes to debate the “fairness” of various white officers and what role Black soldiers should have in defending a country that exhibits widespread racist prejudice against them.

Hector refuses to engage with the argument while Train continues to sing hymns in the other room. Stamps decides they will wait for rescue without searching for a German prisoner, growing frustrated when Hector argues with him despite Stamps’s higher rank. Hector feels they are being watched and worries about his prophetic dreams in which he is captured alive by Germans, his worst fear. He wishes to be “stupid and happy” like Train (172). He sets out to stand watch but immediately falls asleep.

Over 12 centuries, the town of Bornacchi has been conquered by numerous groups who take and re-take the territory from one another; by 1944, only 32 residents live there. These residents fear that the smell of Bishop roasting rabbit will summon the Germans, three days after the soldiers heard from Nokes. Villagers arrive, but Bishop says the rabbit is for the boy only. Train and the boy emerge, the latter much recovered due to Train’s careful nursing. Train asserts the boy is a miracle.

Bishop, who is reluctantly starting to care for the boy, denies the existence of miracles. He dislikes that his purported disbelief in God is intermingled with a deep anger that God could allow bad things to happen, which supposes the deity’s existence. Train teaches the boy to communicate by tapping and considers bringing him home with him after the war ends. None of the group sleeps well, roused by the boy’s insomnia. Despite this, the healing boy charms all the soldiers.

The soldiers decide to trade the rabbits they purchased from Ludovico, bartering with the villagers for fish and fresh vegetables. Stamps feels uneasy, torn between not trusting the villagers and the sense that his luck is turning good for the first time since he enlisted. Stamps had been initially eager to join the 92nd Division, though he regretted this decision as soon as he saw the unrest at training camp. He is appalled by the racist policies that privilege giving white soldiers authority over Black soldiers over making sensible tactical decisions.

When he arrived in Italy, he felt a kinship with the starving Italian refugees, whom he recognized as experiencing the same societal casting-out as Black people did in America. He resents that Germans can participate in a holocaust and then live well in America while he, as a Black man, would always be relegated to second-class status. His anger is mingled with gratitude that the Army brought him to Italy, where he feels freer than he ever has in the United States, as the Italians show him more respect as a Black man than he ever received in America. He is astonished by the antipathy white Americans and Germans show towards (also white) Italians. This causes a sense of kinship that leads to Stamps’s avowal to one day live in Italy. He pushes down his conviction that something is wrong and decides to enjoy a pleasurable afternoon with the villagers.