Volga 16

Forced by economic circumstances, in 1984 Antonio Balsemin decided to become a taxi driver for a while. Seventeen years later, he is still making his rounds through the streets of Rome. To him, the city has become a prison of routine and stress. Still, he managed to make his writing debut and he hopes that this will offer him a way out. His books are set in the Veneto region, the language and traditions of which are on the brink of becoming extinct. But despite the favourable reviews, his book does not sell well. Therefore, a couple of weeks before the law allows him to sell his taxi permit, Balsemin lives between the fear of ending in poverty and the hope of finally becoming famous under his own name. At the moment, everybody knows him as ‘Volga 16’, the name of his cab.