There is a little Madonna who is an all-white dove. There is a blue hawk who wants to slaughter God. There is a little owl who lives with his father in the attic of a castle. From there, soaring, they can fly over the Scuropasso stream or the hills of Vallemezzo and reach Montallegro. Visit Eli, a jay with whom the little owl sometimes plays; embrace the little Madonna, she who ‘lost her little one when he was no longer little’; perhaps, if they’re lucky, they might glimpse God, who lives in secret.

But the little owl is fearful, treading the earth so carefully as if to take its measure, and every point on which he rests his gaze resounds with names: jars of bees, frog chefs, votive chapels inhabited by horses and goshawks, the gentle edge of things that breathe, burn and bloom: the known world. And after that, the elsewhere, ‘the world that turns’ beyond the hill the little Madonna told him about, with its lure of adventure, with its dreams and nightmares that struggle to take shape.

Three Nests tells the story of the beauty that is right under all our noses, of the joy of finding our rightful place in the world.

This intriguing dichotomy between the safety of his nest and the mysteries beyond beckons the little owl to explore.

As the story unfolds, the bond between the little owl and his father deepens. His father serves not just as a protector but as a source of wisdom, guiding his son through the life lessons that are hidden in the everyday. Together, they embark on outings to explore new chapels, symbolizing milestones in an inner quest.

In this enchanting tale, the little owl learns that while growing up comes with challenges, every
experience brings him closer to understanding his identity and the beauty that surrounds him.
Through his tender relationship with his father, he discovers that hope and joy can bloom even in
uncertainty, lighting the path ahead.

Born in 1982, STEFANO COSTA has always lived between the Oltrepò Pavese and Liguria’s Levante coast. Having spent his time, since childhood, between these two small yet vastly different worlds, without his heart resting in just one of them, he fell in love with the stories that take shape in both: stories of people, of animals, of houses, of threads, of objects found again in new places. Like in life, he always found things in places he wasn’t sure he left them. And since childhood he felt the need to follow them, these stories, follow them even after they seemed finished, concluded, exhausted–even after the person was no longer there to answer the doorbell, after that house or that balcony was left to the wind. Even after only objects were left.
So he studied literature and philology at Pavia, worked for micro- and macro publishers, and today is an editor, copy-editor, and writer. And he learned to translate those stories to the page, whether taking care of others’ books or writing his own. The First Autumn Day on Earth (ilSaggiatore, 2020) is his debut novel.