Valsolda, an Italian border town composed of small villages partly along the shore of Lake Lugano, partly on the wooded hills: it is not only the background, it is also the real protagonist of Piccolo mondo antico. From the first page, the sky, the lake and the surrounding mountains, animated by wind and rain, envelop the characters. The protagonists live, navigate and walk in a real landscape of which the author knows the ravines. They have the characters and the talk of the locals that Fogazzaro met during the summer holidays in his villa in Oria. 120 years after the publication of the book, the streets and places still recall Fogazzaro’s masterpiece, through their names and landmarks that have remained almost unchanged. Not only: the reopening of the villa that was the writer’s, as well as the festive and popular representation of Piccolo mondo antico, strengthen the links between the work and the territory where it was born. But do the inhabitants who have become richer, but perhaps also alienated, in the trance of the frontier, still recognize themselves in this Little Ancient World?