Wikipedia
Senilità
Senilità is Italo Svevo's second novel, published in 1898. The novel's protagonist is Emilio Brentani, an inept man torn between his longing for love and pleasure and his regret for not enjoying either.
In the novel, Svevo addresses the problems of ineptitude and of the inability on the part of the protagonist to manage his own inner, sentimental life. The indecisiveness and inaction with which Emilio deals with affairs in his life lead him to shut out his memories, leaving him in a state of spiritual old age (hence the title "Senility").
The story was covered in the Italian 1962 movie Careless, directed by Mauro Bolognini.