# Is "The Road to San Giovanni" by Italo Calvino a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Road to San Giovanni by Italo Calvino (Pantheon, 1993) is identified by: First US edition, Pantheon Books, New York, 1993, translated from the Italian by Tim Parks; about 150 pages. First English translation of the posthumous La strada di San Giovanni; a set of five autobiographical 'memory exercises' with an introduction by Esther Calvino.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First US edition, Pantheon Books, New York, 1993, translated from the Italian by Tim Parks; about 150 pages
- The first printing is a stated 'First American Edition' on the copyright page with no later-printing statement
- The first-issue jacket should retain its printed flap price
- Publisher imprint reads Pantheon
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Italo Calvino |
| Publisher | Pantheon |
| Year | 1993 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First US edition, Pantheon Books, New York, 1993, translated from the Italian by Tim… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First US edition, Pantheon Books, New York, 1993, translated from the Italian by Tim Parks; about 150 pages. The first printing is a stated 'First American Edition' on the copyright page with no later-printing statement. The first-issue jacket should retain its printed flap price.

## Is this the true first?
First English translation of the posthumous La strada di San Giovanni; a set of five autobiographical 'memory exercises' with an introduction by Esther Calvino. A UK Jonathan Cape edition also appeared in 1993; US/UK precedence is not firmly established, so neither can be called the unambiguous true first English-language edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No notable BCE.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Road to San Giovanni* by Italo Calvino a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-road-to-san-giovanni
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.