Baricco wrote about the protagonist of his now-classic short novel in the form of a monodrama - which was named Novecento because the XX. was born in the first year of the 20th century - one of the ship's sailors found him in the ballroom of the ocean liner Virginian, which was commuting between America and Europe. The newborn lying in the cardboard box must have been left on the piano by one of the penniless emigrants. With this, he practically determined the fate of the little boy, who, thanks to the sailor who adopted him and the humane captain, grows up on the ship and becomes a brilliant pianist. Novecento spends his entire life on the Virginian, he does not leave the ocean liner even in ports, but to the greatest shock of his fellow musician and friend (the trumpeter who tells the story), the pianist, who has now matured as a man, unexpectedly declares in the spring of 1933: "In three days I will get off this ship in New York".
The Oscar-winning Giuseppe Tornatore made a movie from the book, The Legend of the Ocean Pianist.