Tre metri sopra il cielo is not a great novel by conventional literary standards. Its dialogue is stilted, its character arcs are predictable, and its gender politics are regressive. However, it is a profoundly accurate novel about the adolescent imagination. It captures how teenagers metabolize risk as romance and how the desire to escape the mundane (the asphalt) creates a longing for impossible heights (the three meters). The tragedy of Babi and Step is not that they fall apart, but that they could never build a life on the ground. Moccia’s lasting contribution is showing that for some young readers, the dream of flying is worth the certainty of the crash.