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In Grande meraviglia, Viola Ardone completes a trilogy that includes Il treno dei bambini and Oliva Denaro. The novel portrays the asylum through the innocent eyes of Elba, turning it into a place both amusing and dreadful. Elba, whose name was chosen by her mother, lives in an asylum she calls “the mezzomondo” until her mother disappears. Left to grow up alone, Elba keeps a “Diary of Mental Illnesses” and recounts the lives of the asylum’s staff. Her world changes when a young psychiatrist, Fausto Meraviglia, decides to help her and eliminate asylums entirely, in line with the recently passed Basaglia Law. Fausto brings Elba to live with him as his daughter, learning the true weight of fatherhood through her. Ardone’s vivid, musical writing explores how human connections and the need for recognition shape our existence and reveals that love from others is never solely within our control.