The Great War could be fought for a second time. In a different age.

One night, during the first world war, an Austrian bomber is shot down over the Venice lagoon.

The pilot, Matteo Campini is the sole survivor. He comes from Trieste, culturally and linguistically Italian, but part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Having dragged himself from the wreckage of the plane in a very poor state he is saved by a fascinating and mysterious girl, Flavia Manin. He very soon discovers he is a pawn in a dirty game coming from the future, from Bosnia-Herzegovina torn apart by the civil war of the 90’s. In fact, a group of Bosnian Serb terrorists is trying to change the course of history by means of travelling through time.

This discovery leads the pilot to have doubts about his role as a combatant. He takes up the idea of European unity and of making Austria-Hungary a democratic country.

Alongside the girl who saved him and with the help of historical personalities such as Gabriele D’Annunzio, Campini struggles against the forces of evil. These forces are led by Hermann Goering who, at the time, is a fighter pilot in the Red Baron’s squadron. The final, decisive battle is fought in our time. The outome is also determined thanks to the resources of Internet. In the end, the real forces behind the scenes come to light. They are entwined in a network of business and politics with, as its centre, a Russia in the hands of extreme nationalists. The political science fiction key is given towards the end of the novel:

"They tried to exploit the Germans with the rubbish of the Third Reich and work them like puppets. Their real interest is to stop the founding of Jugoslavia and to occupy the whole of Bosnia-Herzagovina".

D’Annunzio’s Bipes is an aeronautical novel of war and political science fiction. But it is also a tormented story of love and incomprehension between a free-and -easy modern girl and a gentleman of la Belle Epoque