The writer Giovanni Verga (1840-1922) decided to visit a cousin who had embraced monastic life.
During their meeting, he was particularly struck by the estrangement between them; the nuns, who sat behind window grilles, had their faces hidden and were not easily distinguishable.
This physical and visual separation inspired Verga to write one of his most famous novels, “Storia di una Capinera” (Story of a Blackcap), which was adapted into the film Sparrow by the director Franco Zeffirelli in the 1990s.
