Giovanni Tolu, Vol. 1/2: Storia D'un Bandito Sardo Narrata Da Lui Medesimo

A narrative non-fiction work written in the late 19th century. It presents the life of the famed Sardinian bandit Giovanni Tolu as a first-person confession, framed by the author-editor’s historical notes on banditry in Logudoro. The focus is on Tolu’s character, codes of honor, and the social forces shaping outlawry, with intersections to other notorious figures of Sardinia’s bandit tradition. The opening of the volume recounts how an elderly visitor reveals himself as Tolu to the author, asking to correct myths by dictating a candid, unvarnished life story; Costa agrees and vows to publish the confession faithfully, adding only brief notes. Before Tolu speaks, Costa inserts a sweeping historical sketch of banditry—from biblical and European precedents to centuries of Sardinian cases—showing how feudal protections, state brutality, romantic legend, and political upheavals fostered and distorted the phenomenon. He contrasts the older “honor-bound” bandit with later criminal forms, positioning Tolu as the last representative of the former. The narrative then begins with Tolu’s childhood in Florinas: a large, once-comfortable family fallen on hard times, a strict and upright father, a twin brother, and years as a church sacristan before turning to hard agricultural work. After his father’s death he shoulders family responsibilities, labors across the Sassari countryside, buys a prized black horse, and keeps aloof from taverns and flirtations—sketching a diligent, self-controlled youth before any crime enters his life.