Ernesto, a 16-year-old boy living in Trieste in 1898, has an affair with a 28-year-old worker simply called "the man". Ernesto subsequently has sex with the man frequently, but after an enjoyable experience with a female prostitute, he stops seeing him. He concentrates on studying the violin, and during a concert, Ernesto (now seventeen) meets a beautiful 15-year-old boy, also a violin player. He is called Emilio, nicknamed "Ilio"

Ernesto is an unfinished novel by Umberto Saba (1883–1957), written in 1953 and published posthumously in 1975. It was largely autobiographical, including details about the title character's friendship and love for a violinist, and his attachment to his native Trieste.