The year is 2500. Borders and weapons are gone. People still have difficult choices to make.
An earthquake shakes Porretta Terme. For Elena, an ordinary morning becomes the beginning of a story about water, work and the choices that hold a community together.
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THE STORY
A possible future, tested by everyday life.
From the Italian Apennines to Africa, Elena, Marta, Andrea and Nala face questions about sharing resources, protecting livelihoods and helping one another. A world without war still needs people willing to listen, disagree and take responsibility.
The story begins in Porretta Terme and draws on real places, including Ponte della Venturina, Imola and Manfredonia. Its imagined future grows out of questions we recognise today.
Water
How do communities share a resource that crosses every boundary?
Work
What do people need when a factory changes or closes?
Cooperation
How can solidarity become a practical choice?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Girolamo Papagni
Born in San Giovanni Rotondo in 1962 and raised in Manfredonia, Girolamo Papagni lives in Imola. He worked at New Holland in Imola from 2001 to 2010 and at CNH in Modena from 2011 to 2025, serving as a trade union representative in both factories.
Now retired, he writes about the people and places he has known, bringing together memory, working life and imagination. He also lived in Porretta Terme between 2020 and 2022.
THE BOOKS
Memory, imagination and the future.
The World That Doesn’t Exist
A social science fiction novel set in 2500. The English dialogue edition is available as a Kindle ebook and through Kindle Unlimited.
A friendship between two retired men, a father and daughter growing apart, and an unexpected discovery. Italian-language release planned for 6 December 2026.
The World That Doesn’t Exist is a work of fiction. The novel was developed with AI support under a project conceived and overseen by Girolamo Papagni. The English translation was assisted by AI, and the cover illustration was generated with AI.
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