The Baron in the Trees

About “The Baron in the Trees”

The Baron in the Trees (1957) is a novel by Italo Calvino. Set in the second half of the eighteenth century in a small town in Liguria, it recounts the story of Cosimo di Rondò, who, to escape a punishment, climbs a tree and never comes down again, building an aerial world visited by cultural and political figures, including Napoleon, and living a turbulent love story with the fickle Viola. Cosimo dies old, without ever descending to earth, disappearing while clinging to a hot-air balloon's rope as it crosses the sea.