Giorgio Faletti was a multitalented artist: a gifted crime novelist, an inspired singer-songwriter, a stand-up comedian, and an actor who added dramatic dimensions to his onscreen persona. 

The adventurous storyteller died of lung cancer in 2014 in Turin, at age 63 on July 4, America’s Independence Day anniversary. It was just a coincidence, yet that synchronicity or sad irony helps me evoke and revive his natural, strong feelings of love for the US.