To recount Altan means to recount forty years of Italian history: through Pimpa; his languid, blue-haired women; his umbrella-wielding men; and above all, his immovable, disarmed, and disarming Communist metalworker, Cipputi, he has traced the changes (or perhaps the immobility) of Italy and helped us navigate an absurd world with ironic detachment (or perhaps philosophical res...