First Lines: Giovanni Verga - I Malavoglia The House by the Medlar Tree

At one time the Malavoglia had been as numerous as the stones on the old Trezza road; there had been Malavoglia at Ognina, too, and at Aci Castello, all good honest sea-faring folk and, as is often the case, quite the opposite of their nick-name, which means 'men of ill-will'.