A lost masterpiece of Italian Gothic fiction—strange, haunting, and decades ahead of its time.
When Eugenio, a young man whose left leg has been amputated by a surgeon friend, becomes obsessed with the missing limb, a disturbing question emerges: can a part of the body continue to exert power over the mind after it is gone?
In Story of a Leg, nineteenth-century Italian writer Iginio Ugo Tarchetti transforms a medical curiosity into a psychological nightmare. As Eugenio's fixation deepens, the boundary between physical reality and mental torment begins to dissolve, leading him into a world of obsession, jealousy, hallucination, and existential dread.
Written in 1869, this remarkable novella anticipates modern explorations of phantom-limb syndrome while delving into themes of identity, desire, and the mysterious connection between body and soul. Combining Gothic atmosphere, psychological insight, and dark irony.
Tarchetti’s work prefigures the Verismo movement, influencing later Italian experiments with Magical Realism and marking Tarchetti as a bridge from Romanticism to authors like Italo Calvino and Stefano Benni.
Perfect for readers of Edgar Allan Poe, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and classic Gothic fiction, Story of a Leg is a forgotten literary gem that remains as unsettling and thought-provoking today as when it first appeared more than 150 years ago.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Iginio Ugo Tarchetti (San Salvatore Monferrato, 1839 – Milan, 1869) came from a bourgeois family, and received a classical education. He entered the military in 1861 and fought for Italian independence from foreign occupation. Even during his service in the army, Tarchetti pursued his literary interests. He was an accomplished linguist, fluent in English, French and German: he read all the great Romantics, who were of great inspiration for his writing career. It was probably in the army that he contracted tuberculosis and his poor health caused him to leave the military service in 1864. He then moved to Milan, where he came in contact with the artists of the Scapigliatura movement. They were a group of painters, writers and composers who rejected not only the bourgeois values of society but also the fundamentals of science, giving credence to such things as alchemy and spiritualism. Tarchetti’s poor health and restless, pessimistic disposition found a home in this group and inspired his Gothic tales, which were mostly written in 1868. In 1869, perhaps sensing his approaching death, he wrote furiously to serialize what would be his most famous work, the novel Fosca. Even so, he died of tuberculosis, in dire poverty, before he could finish his masterpiece. He was only 29. The final chapter of Fosca was written by his friend and fellow scapigliato, Salvatore Farina.