The View from Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani

---

🇮🇹✨ The View from Lake Como Review — ⭐ 1.5/5: Wish I’d Stayed Home 🥱

👉 Buy The View from Lake Como on Amazon (affiliate link)

---

🚨 Content Warnings

• Death (including of family members)

• Pregnancy loss

• Anxiety & panic attacks

• Emotional manipulation / family pressure

---

📝 Initial Thoughts

Hmm… what can I say. This book is BORING. 💤

I’m starting to realize something about myself: I don’t do well with stories that just kind of… move along without giving me a reason to care. I mean, these are fictional people. They don’t exist. So unless the author makes me care — why should I?

Sometimes authors pull that off. Many times, they don’t. And unfortunately, The View from Lake Como falls squarely into the “I do not care” camp. Combine that with the slow pace and drawn-out story, and you’ve got yourself a “I really don’t care” situation.

The only reason this isn’t a flat 1 ⭐ is because it does a lovely job showcasing the beauty of Italy 🇮🇹✨. Otherwise? Snoozefest.

---

📚 Overview

The View from Lake Como (2025) is a novel by Adriana Trigiani, following Giuseppina “Jess” Capodimonte Baratta, a recently divorced Italian-American woman from Lake Como, New Jersey. After her uncle’s death, she inherits the family marble business, gets tangled in an FBI investigation, discovers messy family secrets, and heads to Italy to find herself.

The novel explores Prioritizing Courage Over Conformity, The Damaging Nature of Family Secrets, and Independence as a Catalyst for Transformation.

Sounds juicy, right? On paper, yes. In execution… 🥱 not so much.

---

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: Full Plot Summary Below

---

🏠 Life in New Jersey

Jess, 30-something, recently divorced and living in her parents’ basement, is the designated family helper — cooking, cleaning, babysitting, people-pleasing. She starts online therapy (Thera-Me) and journals about her anxiety, especially moments like panic attacks as a child.

Her beloved Uncle Louie, who runs the family marble business, wants her to go to Carrara, Italy, to see the quarries and eventually take over. Just as things seem exciting… Louie has a heart attack. 💔 Before he dies, he reveals a secret “Elegant Gangster” operation — reselling marble remnants, offshore accounts, tax evasion, the works. He names Jess his heir. 😬

---

🕵️ FBI, Family Secrets, and Flight ✈️

After the funeral, the FBI (Agent Campovilla) comes knocking about Elegant Gangster. Jess learns her parents used her name for some of Louie’s business dealings, and they changed their will so she’d inherit the house — basically, she’s been a pawn in their plans.

Fed up, Jess finally decides to leave. She heads to Italy. 🇮🇹

---

🇮🇹 A New Life in Carrara

Jess arrives in Carrara and stays with Laura Strazza, meeting Angelo (Laura’s handsome son), and marble supplier Conor Kerrigan. She visits the quarries, adopts a kitten named Smokey, and — for the first time — lives alone. It’s a revelation. 🐱✨

She slowly realizes how much her family’s anxiety shaped her life. She starts working for Mauro LaFortezza at the quarry, builds friendships, and Angelo starts to fall for her. (Cue mild romantic subplot.)

---

💋 Romance & Revelations

Angelo confesses his feelings for Jess in Milan. Meanwhile, ex-husband Bobby randomly shows up at Lake Como (because of course he does 🙄). They meet, there’s no spark, and she sends him packing.

Jess then learns Mauro’s father “Luigi” is actually Louie — making Mauro family. She reveals the truth to Mauro and Claudia (his mother), unearthing old lies about his father’s “death.” Angelo declares his love, but Jess isn’t ready yet.

---

🏡 Coming Home

Lil (Louie’s widow) dies, so Jess returns to New Jersey. The entire family greets her like a long-lost heroine. Mauro and Angelo follow her there (because why not). Angelo wants to know why she left without telling him. There’s a big eulogy, family moments, reconciliations, and even Bobby ends up dating Jess’s friend Lisa. 😬

Jess finally realizes she doesn’t need their approval. She’s grown.

---

🏛️ One Year Later

Jess renovates her grandma’s farmhouse in Italy, studies architecture in Pisa, and lives with Angelo. She’s found her independence, happiness, and purpose.

---

✨ Final Thoughts

Listen, if slow family sagas where the main plot is “woman finds herself in Italy” are your jam — this might hit. It’s scenic, emotional, and very Adriana Trigiani.

But if you’re looking for drive, stakes, or any reason to turn the page other than inertia, this one might drag. Hard.

⭐ Rating: 1.5/5 — Beautiful Italy, dull story.

---

📚 If You Liked (or Wanted to Like) This Book, Try:

• The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo — more emotional punch and stakes.

• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter — Italy, love, drama, but far more engaging.

• Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert — for those who actually want to care about a woman finding herself abroad.