Volga Blues: A Journey into the Heart of Russia

Winner of the Estense Prize

A risky undercover reporting trip along Russia's great mother-river, the Volga, reveals the tortuous history and frightening current fantasies of a nation.

Since the invasion of Ukraine and ban on foreign reporters, Russia seems to have sunk into an even deeper shadow than in the darkest times of the Soviet Union. Only by presenting himself as an historian was Italian journalist Marzio G. Mian able to penetrate the Russian heartland, leading to his groundbreaking c...