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Writer Piero Chiara (Luino 1913-Varese 1986) lived in Friuli, and namely in Pontebba and in Cividale del Friuli, between 1930 and 1932, when he worked as a court clerk. These sites make the background of his semi-autobiographical novel “Vedrò Singapore?”, which he wrote over a long period of time, as it was his last published work.

In a semi-autobiographical novel “Vedrò Singapore?”, PIERO CHIARA portrays Cividale as it was back in the 1930s, a town inhabited by a cultivated middle class and run by high-level politicians. A provincial town, of course, but a culturally lively and sometimes wild one, judging from the funny nights out reported in the book. Cividale’s literary references include the devil’s bridge, probably the best known symbol of the town, where one of the characters in the book commits suicide, and the Caffè Longobardo at Piazza Paolo Diacono. Here are some excerpts about the latter: "A large square opened at the end of the high street … I saw the Caffè Longobardo, including a tobacconist counter and the pools, halls on the first floor and a parade of tables spread below the portico and out onto the square. 'This is going to be my café’ I thought. And I sat at a table”; “Every night , at the end of our wanderings, we’d end up at Piazza Paolo Diacono and said goodbye unwillingly to get few hours’ sleep before returning, on the following day, to the Caffé Longobardo to feel the taste and beauty of life, with all the chatting and playing pools.