Lawyer pens third in series of fictional ‘Bellafortuna’

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

His Catholic faith, love of music and history run through the three historical fiction novels that attorney Vincent “Chip” LoCoco has written.

His most recent, “Saving the Music,” furthers the story of Bellafortuna (beautiful fortune), a Sicilian town he created in his Bellafortuna series. In it, LoCoco delves into how townspeople united to hide Jewish musicians and their families during World War II, at the request of Father Biaggio Sanguinetti, an ally of Pope Pius XII at the Vatican, who is from Bellafortuna.

“When (Father Sanguinetti) hears that the pope is looking for a place to hide Jews, he thinks of his father” (who heads the town’s annual opera festival),” LoCoco said.

Father Sanguinetti was raised believing “God reveals himself through music, and the musician is his instrument,” so Bellafortuna was perfect for a hiding place, and Jews were incorporated in the town’s orchestra.

LoCoco based his novel on the true story of how citizens of Assisi rescued Jews during the war. He discovered, during months of research, many examples of Italians hiding Jews. 

“In Rome itself, 8,000 Jews were living in the Jewish Quarter in Rome,” he said. “1,000 were deported (to Auschwitz), but 7,000 were saved by the actions of priests, the Vatican and people throughout Italy. 80% of Italian Jews survived the war because Italians refused to turn the Jews over.”

His research also led LoCoco to the controversy about Pope Pius XII’s alleged silence regarding persecutions against the Jews. LoCoco leaned on the pope’s personal correspondence to tell his story.

“What I was trying to get across in the book is that he was in a tough spot,” LoCoco said, adding how there were millions of Catholics worldwide, not just in Vatican City (which was a neutral state) in the middle of Rome surrounded by Fascism. “He took a very measured approach in being careful in what he said because the advice he was getting was, if you speak out too loudly, the persecutions would only increase (as happened in Holland). At some point, I think, he decided that his assistance to Jewish people would remain in the shadows.”

Many were advising the pope to be more vocal against Hitler. In many cases, he was, LoCoco said, through Vatican Radio and letting local priests and bishops in Italy decide how to help Jews. He hid Jews at Castel Gandolfo, in churches and monasteries, and some worked at the Vatican.

“What surprised me the most in my research was the testimony of individual Catholic priests and Italians who were being lauded for what they did to save Jews during the war,” LoCoco said.

Over and over, LoCoco read that they said Pope Pius XII deserved the praise for supporting Italians who tried to save Jews. It is something overlooked by the pope’s critics, he said.

“Even with regard to the story of Assisi, when Archbishop Giovanni Montini (the future Pope Paul VI) was offered a reward for his work in saving Jews, his response was that he was only acting upon the orders of Pope Pius XII,” LoCoco said.

Inspirations from interests
A fourth-generation Sicilian American living in New Orleans – his great grandfather Castranzio Lococo brought the family here from Cefalu, Sicily – LoCoco graduated from Our Lady of the Rosary School, Jesuit High School, Loyola University New Orleans and Loyola Law School. He and his wife Wendy have two children and were honored with the Order of St. Louis Medallion at St. Pius X, where they are parishioners.

His Catholic background inspires him to infuse the concept of being a “man for others” in his books.

LoCoco’s love for history led to his pursuing that major at Loyola and his fascination with J.R.R. Tolkien, writer of “The Hobbit” and “Lord of the Rings,” for the world he created in writing. LoCoco said his Bellafortuna books, in a small way, are a tribute to him.

Creating a fictional town and people gave LoCoco license to write characters the way he desired in factually true places and time periods. Almanacs and other sources aided in the accurate historical rendering.

“You have to be cognizant when writing historical fiction that someone makes sure your facts are spot on,” or a reader will tell you otherwise, he learned early in his career.

His love for Italy, his penchant for opera and his interest in Pope Pius XII has to do not only with his heritage but also with the stories his late father, Vincent Theodore LoCoco, told him. The book is dedicated to his father, who was a seminarian who studied in Rome at the Gregorian University and North American College. He would mention how Jews were hidden during WWII at the Gregorian University.

“My father was handpicked to sit with Pope Pius XII’s body at Castel Gandolfo the night before the funeral,” LoCoco said. “That was quite an accomplishment for a New Orleans boy from Mid City.”


Great reviews for novels
Since LoCoco began writing as a hobby in 2003, his books have been well recognized.

His first novel, “Tempesta’s Dream: A Story of Love, Friendship and Opera,” is a love story about an opera singer in Milan. It earned the Pinnacle Achievement in Historical Fiction award, was named by Amazon as a top-rated historical fiction novel and listed as a bestselling novel in Italian historical fiction.

“Never thinking I could write a novel, the story came to me when my son was very little,” he said. “I had nighttime duty, so I was up with him and went to bed thinking I was going to sleep, and this story bounced in my head. That first night, I had an entire outline before I went to bed.”

After his daughter’s birth, he penned a book for her – “A Song for Bellafortuna” – where the fictional town in Sicily is first introduced. LoCoco based it on the picturesque Sicilian city of Noto that relocated from a valley to the hills after earthquakes.

In this tome, Naples-born opera singer Enrico Caruso – one of his favorite opera singers – has a role. Bellafortuna’s love for music is established here. It earned the B.R.A.G. Medallion Award in Historical Fiction, was named a short-list finalist in the William Faulkner Writing Competition and a bestselling novel in Italian historical fiction.

The idea for “Saving the Music” was hatched on a Saints-game trip to Washington, D.C. There, LoCoco visited the Holocaust Museum and was moved by the exhibits, especially a placard mentioning how 80% of Italian Jews were saved from the Holocaust by Italian people. This piqued a dive into history to discover that Italians were anti-Fascist and open to helping their fellow countrymen, even at their own peril.

“I thought it was a perfect way to incorporate that history into my village,” he said about the third book.

The book’s debut coincided with the March 2020 opening of the Vatican Apostolic (Secret) Archives of Pope Pius XII’s writings. Both were hampered by the pandemic.

“Saving the Music” is getting recognition by Amazon as a top-rated historical fiction novel, is a bestseller in Italian historical fiction and top-rated  on Goodreads.

LoCoco wasn’t planning to write a third novel in the Bellafortuna series until a reader emailed him, spouting her love for Bellafortuna and wanting to learn what happened to the villagers after the war.

“It made me think there was another story for Bellafortuna,” he said.

LoCoco is halfway through this still untitled Bellafortuna book – set shortly after the war from 1947-48. He hinted that it features Mussolini’s hatred of the Mafia that causes them to flee – even before the war – to the Sicilian hills or the United States, but  returning after the war, and how Bellafortuna is trying to protect itself from the Mafia.

LoCoco’s books are published by Cefalutana Press, available on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble and the local Catholic Bookstore and as audio books. Learn more about LoCoco at www.vincentlococo.com. He has a book signing at the Catholic Book Store, 3003 South Carrollton Ave., on Saturday, Dec 11 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

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