In 1929 Enrnest Hemingway published an autobiographical novel A FAREWELL TO ARMS. The protagonist is Lieutenant Henry Frederic an American serving with an Italian ambulance unit in World War I. In Gorizia he meets Catherine Barkley, a British nurse whose fiancé was killed in France some months before. During an Austrian bombardment Henry is severely wounded (ferito) and evacuated to the American hospital in Milan. After he is operated Catherine takes care of him (si prende cura di lui). They fall in love with each other and when he’s healed (curato) she is pregnant (aspetta un bambino). Henry returns to his unit in time to be involved (coinvolto) in the great retreat (ritirata) of Caporetto (1917). While he is marching with two companions, he is arrested as deserter (disertore) but succeed in escapeing execution (condanna a morte) by jumping into a river. He looks for Catherine and finds her in Stresa. They run away to Switzerland in a rowing boat (barca a remi). But in a hospital of Lausanne Catherine dies together with her baby. The novel shows how senseless (senza senso) and destructive war is and the futility and precariety of life. The story is apparently told Hemingway without emotions, but below his immediate, realistic and anti-rhetorical style the reader perceives a deep participation. In 1943 Fernanda Pivano illegally translated the novel into Italian: the Fascist government considered it offensive for Italy, and , as a consequence, she was arrested in Turin. The most popular film adapatations were directed by Franz Borzage in 1932 and by Charles Vidor in 1957.