Make a bequest

Giovanni Verga is one of the most-renowned Italian literates of the 20th century. His writings are read and studied in every high school in the country, as they are the the highest expression of the Italian realist school of thought.
His writings are characterised by a real and somehow pessimistic picture of life, he believes in fact that true happiness in life cannot be achieved and our stories are somehow guided by the survival instinct and “providence”.
One of the most acclaimed works is his novel “Property”, first published in the weekly edition of an art journal in 1880 and then included in the collection “Novelle Rusticane”.
“Property” tells a story of an old Sicilian farmer, Mazzaro, who spent his life accumulating wealth, and did so by working hard every day and depriving himself of all the amenities that his status could offer him (his usual lunch was bread with onions). He had no cash, as every time he amassed enough money, he bought more land and made it yield. He also had no family nor any legacy of some kind.
When Mazzaro was told by the doctor that he has to make peace with the idea of leaving this world, “he rushed out into the courtyard like a madman, staggering, and went round killing his own ducks and turkeys, hitting them with his stick and screaming: ‘You’re my own property, you come along with me!’”(1)