Kaha Mohamed Aden, an Italian writer of Somali origin, narrates her memories of Mogadishu, her hometown, and reconstructs its story in Pavia, where she currently lives. The capital city of Somalia is divided into five main streets, with each corresponding to different historical periods. The ‘fourth road’ symbolizes the actuality of civil war, but also negates the preceding periods and makes it necessary to set our hopes on a ‘fifth street’. The Fourth Road: Mogadishu, Italy brings to our attention the issues of a land which shared a number of historical relationships with Italy in the past years; yet, this problematic aspect unfailingly tends to be overlooked by Italian mass-media. The history of the city of Mogadishu gives rise to many important fundamental questions on the history of Italy itself, given the assumption that we have a limited, and, to some degree, distorted historical view on this matter, not to mention the partial omission of the colonialism period, of which people seem inclined to take no notice. The Fourth Road: Mogadishu, Italy aims to present the story of a ‘new town’ in a country which appears to be growing increasingly xenophobic and intolerant.