In 1945, the Italian novelist and journalist Dino Buzzati wrote a children’s novel by the name of <i>The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily</i>. Seventy-four years later, the story took shape outside the realm of fiction. More precisely, the allegory came to life on 9 February 2019, in the remote village of Belushya Guba, where a group of 52 polar bears “invaded” the settlement. The article draws on the event to understand the historically conflicting relationship between polar bears and humans in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, pondering which new allegory will take life next.
