NAPLES - Millions of fans awoke yesterday to the news that one of the most in vogue writers at the moment finally had a real name.

 “I admit it, I’m Elena Ferrante” -- the world could read through the twitter account @AnitaRajaStarn Wednesday morning. Translator Anita Raja from e/o Editors, declared she was indeed the person behind the pseudonym Elena Ferrante of the tetralogy “The Neapolitan Novels.”

 Hours later, the microblog suspended the account claiming it was a fake and Ferrante’s publisher denied the verity of the tweets.

 What’s the truth behind the mystery?

 Although Ferrante has been writing books for more than two decades, the friendship between Lila and Lenù has sparked international curiosity and a lottery full of possible identities in a hunt that journalist Claudio Gatti narrows down to one possible name.

 In an article published Sunday in Sole 24 the reporter states the financial paper’s sleuthing reveals the mysterious author’s true identity, arriving to the conclusion that the incognito author can be none other than the Neapolitan born translator.

 Those close to the author neither confirmed nor denied the umpteenth hypotheses until the public read the recent supposed confession through the popular social network.

 With a seemingly authentic twitter account set up Tuesday, a series of tweets appeared to solve the enigma once and for all. "I admit it. I’m Elena Ferrante. But I believe this changes nothing with regards to the relationship readers have with her books,” the writer affirms. “I’m never going to speak about Elena Ferrante nor shall I answer questions in her name,” the writer continues by adding: “now that the mystery is over, please let me live and write in peace.”

 In a true investigation carried out by Il Sole, the catchphrase ‘following the money’ proves to lead directly to the Neapolitan translator. Tracing large suspect sums of money spent by Anita Raja and her husband author Domenico Starnone, in addition to thorough digging of land registries, the paper concludes the couple has spent a huge disproportional sum compared to earnings deposited in the translator’s name. 

 The daily gives details that convincingly lead to Raja as the unique possible financial beneficiary of the tetralogy. In 2014, her earnings soared by almost 50 percent, while in 2015 she received a further 150 percent increase. The paper sustains this matches is the same percentages declared in e/o Publishing House financial statements.

 Furthermore, no other employee or freelance writer working for the editors boasts such spectacular earnings from those years, not even her husband.

  A series of tweets from the twitter account @AnitaRajaStarn go on to seemingly unmask the author’s real identity for good. The writer claims to want to close the account shortly after giving the necessary explanations. “I’ll never speak about Elena Ferrante, nor shall I say anything in reference to her books. I find the way in which people have arrived at wanting to reveal an identity, violating privacy and rules, vulgar and dangerous,” the imposter asserts.

 Then the social network drastically suspends the new Twitter account and announces it is a fake.

 Yesterday’s bluff account fooled many. Ferrante lovers all around the world had finally came to terms with the real name of their beloved author. Now they need to reopen a closed door.  Let the world go on with their suppositions!

 In the meantime, earlier this year, Italian producer Wildside for Fandango Productions announced that the four novels would be coming to the small screen. The new TV series called Neapolitan Novels, with the participation of the author for its TV adaptation, will be broadcasted in a total of 32 episodes.

 Elena Ferrante has been working with e/o Publishing House for years. The real author wrote the first book Amore molesto (Troubling Love) under the pseudonym Elena Ferrante in 1992 that went on to receive several prizes and was made into a film by Mario Martone that competed at the 48thCannes Festival. Ferrante is also the author of I giorni dell'abbandono(The Days of Abandonment) (2002), La frantumaglia (Act of Falling Apart)(2003) and La figlia oscura (The Lost Daughter) (2006). 

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