IM Italian magazine issue Spring 2022 by I'M Italian magazine

lessandro Borghese

SPRING - 2022

On the cover

The Interview by Susanna Casubolo

AZIN

MAG

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

SPRING / 2022

lessandro Borghese

18 The Interview by Susanna Casubolo

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

Index I’m Italian magazine ( ISSN 2688-0601 - online 2688-061X) is published quartetly by Hoffmann & Hoffmann INC., 32082 Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, USA. © 2021 HOFFMANN & HOFFMANN Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is strictly prohibited. Editor on chief : Fabrizio Catalfamo Artist writers : Joe Guzzardi Roberto Sironi Susanna Casubolo M.G. Pia F. Guzzardi Photo credits : Elizabeth Boudjema / Ironside, Andrea Cuscuna`. Alessandro Borghesi / AB Normal. Fabio Massa / Alessio Chiariglione, www.alessiochiriglione.colud

9 15 30 35 42 50 58

Mobster: The murder of Carmine Galante, by IM Team Opinions: Immigration, by Joe Guzzardi Music: Franco Paolantonio, by Andreina Di Girolamo and Bernadette Tripodi In Violin Veritas, Elizbeth Boudjema, by Roberto Sironi The interview: Fabio Massa, by Susanna Casubolo

Graphic work by IM Italian Team Magazine Distribution by PDG International / PO Box 181- Allamuchy, NJ07820- Phone +1- 908 -813-8511 fax +1 908 813-8512 info@pdgmags.com www.pdgmags.com

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Art: Andrea Cislaghi, by Roberto Sironi Culture: The Mastroianni, article by Santina Pistilli

READING The law of karma

Chapter II by F. Guzzardi “The fat woman and the suspicious”

THE METHOD SIRONI

DON GIOVANNI E CASANOVA 62

by Roberto Sironi

Praticare

l’Italiano 66 Lesson 2

by Mariagrazia Pia

EMOTIONAL THE SEVEN VALLEYS BY F. GUZZARDI

Giorgio Armani

Eau de Parfum Spray for Women

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MOBSTERS

THE MURDER OF CARMINE “THE CIGAR” GALANTE

THE CIGAR

BY IM ITALIAN TEAM BASED ON THE JAY ROBERT NASH BLOODLETTERS AND BADMEN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AMERICAN CRIMINAL

Carmine Galante, also known as “Lillo” and “The Cigar” was a “made-man” of the Bonanno Crime Family and once held the position of underboss. Galante was rarely seen without a cigar, hence the nickname “The Cigar”. After his release in 1974, Galante attempted to gain control of the “Borgata Bonanno”, wresting power from the incarcerated Filippo “Rusty” Rastelli. The final vote for who would lead the Bonannos was cast on July 12, 1979, when gunmen walked into a restaurant and put an end to the whole debate about who the real boss was.

The assassination of Carmine “The Cigar” Galante was one of the most spectacular and blatant cases of the Mafia during the second half of the twentieth century.

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MOBSTERS

THE MURDER OF CARMINE “THE CIGAR” GALANTE

BORGATA BONANNO - BIG HOUSE -EAST HARLEM

Pictures taken that day by police photographers and new summons still fill the minds of New York’s top MOB researchers. There he is, in all his glory! Galante’s twisted body line halfway up on the chair that, moments before, offered a brief respite as he sat down for what he thought would be a typical lunch at Joe and Mary’s Italian restaurant. The gruesome images captured that day show Galante’s left eye blown out of his head and blood dripping from numerous red-stained wounds, forming a puddle below that flows into a drain, in a small open patio behind the restaurant, with the cigar always present and still placed between the nicotine stained teeth. People who knew him said that Carmine Galante was a bold and vicious man and that he scared the cops. Law enforcement sources believe Galante was responsible for 80 murders during his lifetime and for more than a decade, from 1962 to 1974 Galante was in detention at the Big House, a guest of the federal government, for drug trafficking. .

Upon his release, Carmine believed that the title of head of the “Borgata Bonanno” should belong to him and to him alone. In order not to be dissuaded by the thought of another imprisonment, on his release in 1974, Galante stepped back into crime and drug dealing, with both feet. His job became to go and deliver milk from a truck but, the crime was in his blood even though, quite frankly, his parents didn’t have his propensity for violence and crime. His father earned his living honestly, working as a fisherman. The Galante were of a Sicilian stock, his parents had emigrated from Castellammare Del Golfo in 1906 and settled in East Harlem. He was born on February 21, 1910 with the name of Emilio Carmine Galante. Carmine was a problem for his parents from the beginning, from 1920 at the age of 10 he ended up in and out of the reformatory; he drops out of school and forms his first street gang at the age of 15.

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His parents practically turned their backs on him after he was convicted of assault with two and a half years in prison. In August 1930, at the age of 20, Galante was the main suspect in the murder of a policeman; eyewitnesses had seen him shoot down the officer, but the young Carmine already had a reputation as a cold killer and the witnesses feared him.

MOBSTERS

VITO GENOVESI - LEO DELLA CROCE - LUCKY LUCIANO

The prosecutor reluctantly drops the charges as he is unable to force one to testify in court. Retired NYPD detective Ralph Salerno confided, “Out of all the gangsters I’ve seen in my life, there are only two that when I look them straight in the eye I think I wouldn’t want them personally mad at me!” Leo Della Croce was one and Carmine Galante was the other. They had evil eyes, the eyes of murderers, the cold stare of a murderer. While in custody for the policeman’s murder, Galante was examined by a police psychiatrist and diagnosed with a psychopathic personality, meaning that he was unable to develop any sense of moral responsibility therefore, unable to perform violent and antisocial acts. .

Galante, that time there he was a witness willing to testify. Galante felt he had no choice but to plead guilty and hope for the judge’s clemency. Twelve and a half years in a state prison and eight years later Galante is paroled. Once free, he resumes working as a hitman for Lucky Luciano’s mafia and with the boss Vito Genovese who had bloodied the United States a few years earlier.

Vito Genovese To escape a murder charge, Genovese settled in Nola, Italy, just outside Naples where he made his way with the fascism of dictator Benito Mussolini.

In 1931 Galante was arrested again for having shot a police officer who had caught him in the act while trying to hijack a truck but the bullet, missed the officer, hit a sixyear-old boy and unfortunately for

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MOBSTERS

BENITO MUSSOLINI - CARLO TRESCA - FRENCH CONNECTION

The influence of the fascist dictator on Genovese grew more and more and Mussolini needed a great favor: Carlo Tresca, an Italian immigrant, supporter of left-wing movements, who had written some rather incendiary things about the fascist regime and Mussolini wanted stopped. In 1943 Galante allegedly shot and killed Carlo Tresca the editor of an anti-fascist newspaper in New York, although he was never charged with the murder, he was sent back to prison for violation of probation, serving almost two years. At that point Galante became a man of the Bonanno family, starting his career as a driver for the powerful crime lord and in 1953 elevated to the rank of underboss of the Borgata, assuming the role of senior advisor to the elderly Bonanno Joe Bruno. At that point Galante effectively became the first councilor of the Bonanno family. Galante is sent to Montreal, Canada to take control of the Bonanno family interests. Especially the very profitable Canadian gambling racket. The Bonannos were featured in the import of heroin from France to Canada and then to America, the infamous French Connection while in Canada Galante’s reputation as a no-nonsense businessman is underlined by his brutality towards those who work for him, in what many considered trivial matters. The story of the American mafia continues, Galante had several carriers killed for slow deliveries and 12

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other seemingly minor infractions while the death toll in Canadian law enforcement was not counted. The Canadian government noticed this in 1957, and Canada gallantly deported to the United States after trying, unsuccessfully, to accuse him of ordering the killings. Upon his return, Galante accompanied Bonanno to Sicily where they signed an agreement to import heroin from suppliers and distribute the drug in the United States. Given the loyalty of the old world mobsters, Galante convinced some of the most ruthless young men to return to the United States with them as bodyguards and help protect supply lines and distribution points from those who would try to invade the company. family. Bodyguards became known as zips. But in the meantime Galante was arrested again in 1960, this time for drug trafficking. His first appearance in court ended in a judicial process due to numerous jurors who dropped out. The second trial began in 1962 and Galante was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years; he was paroled 12 years later, in 1974. Upon his release from prison, it was sad for Galante to learn that the prime minister of the mafia Frank Costello had died the year before, because he hated him and hoped to have a chance to kill him himself.

MOBSTERS

FRANK COSTELLO - GAMBINO - JOSEPH BONANNO

In a show of utter disrespect, Galante ordered the bombing of Costello’s burial site. But during his time in prison things had changed in the Bonanno family, Joseph Bonanno was forced into early retirement by the commission and over the next few years the title of head was held by the numerous commissioners, however most of their reins were short term . Philip rastelli was next in line, but Galante who served as an underboss prior to his incarceration believed the title belonged to him, as a result the leadership of the family was a battle that would take nearly three years to try to gain control. The Galante and the Bonannos engaged in a murderous madness largely over the drug business they had grown 12 years earlier and which was taken over by the other families, especially the Gambinos. Galante revoked the activity in 1978 and organized at least eight high-ranking murders of the Gambino family. Members who were deep in the drug business began to think that Galante was becoming one that matters and that he would never be killed, because the other families did not have the courage. In 1979 all four families and even the big boss Joseph Bonanno agreed that Galante had to go; the date was July 12, 1979. Carmine Galante reaches the restaurant for what the police said was a bon voyage party for the owner. Joseph Toronto was leaving for a vacation to Italy.

Anthony De Stefano , confirmations quickly emerged with evidence supporting the theory that the commission was involved. Within an hour or so, the NYPD surveillance teams of the murder saw a number of Bonanno captains: one Steven Bruno, Indelicato and Dominic Sonny Black Napolitano, went to the Ravenite Social Club on Mulberry Street, where they greeted and kissed. the Gambino crime family. They say Emilio Della Croce’s bullet-filled, bloodied body was delivered to the Provenzano Lanza funeral home, at 43 2nd Avenue, Lower East Side services were scheduled for Tuesday, July 17, Joe Bruno notes that, the crowd that usually accompanies ny in a mafia trail of this type, was notably absent. Only fifty-nine people attended Galante’s funeral mass and burial, the feds also reported that no mobster was caught on surveillance cameras or at the wake. Commenting on the low turnout at the funeral, the feds said Galante was so bad that people didn’t want to see him even in death.

Around 2:45 pm, three gunmen wearing masks entered the restaurant and rushed to the back patio and then riddled Galante and his guests with a rifle shot. The bodyguards, the Zips, did nothing to help their boss, in the back of the restaurant they walked casually all the time, which led to the suspicion that the commission sanctioned him for hitting

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

OPINIONS OPINIONS

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OPINIONS

IMMIGRATION: INTEGRATION, CITEZINSHIP

BY JOE GUZZARDI

very year at Natale, my family gathered at my Sicilian-born grandmother’s home for the annual feast that she spent days preparing. The courses included the traditional Sciabbó, a lasagna made with pork ragú seasoned with dark chocolate, and cannoli alla Siciliana. One year, Nonna told us that although she still wanted everyone to visit her at Christmas, she had grown too old to continue her cooking tradition. After feasting, we gathered around, and I asked Nonna to tell me about the highlights of her Italian and American lives. Without hesitation, Nonna answered that her happiest four moments were the three days that each of her children was born, and the day she became a United States citizen.

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OPINIONS

BILLY WILDER ACADEMY NOMINATION

n today’s U.S., citizenship’s import ance is quickly slipping away. Over the decades, the citizenship test has been watered down to the most basic questions with three of the four answers obviously incorrect. Example: “What is the one promise you make when you become a U.S. citizen?” A) Never travel outside the U.S., B) Disobey U.S. laws, C) give up loyalty to other countries and D) don’t defend the Constitution and U.S. laws. Time was that the citizenship test required a reasonable knowledge of U.S. history and civics.Questions about the Federalist Papers and the amendments to the Constitution were standard. No more. In fact, the Biden administration has put the very concept of citizenship under siege. Just three months after his inauguration, Biden ordered federal agencies to drop “assimilation,” and use “integration.” Assimilation, the process of absorbing new facts and of responding to new situations to conform with the new norm, has long been most immigrants’ goal. Banning the word from the lexicon makes little sense. For new immigrants, assimilation, mastering English and obtaining citizenship are essential for a fulfilling life. Without assimilation, conversational English skills and citizenship, most immigrants will be doomed to low-paying jobs, and will never experience the personal and professional joys that they ostensibly came to America to achieve. Compare the early 20 th century to today. In a long-ago interview with a Hollywood-based journalist, Austrian-born Billy Wilder said that shortly after he arrived in the U.S. in 1933 at age 27 he stayed in his hotel room, listening to the radio to learn English. While his fellow ex-pats met at coffee shops to drink espresso, eat pastries, speak German and reminisce about the old days, Wilder was determined to assimilate. Wilder said he knew he would never return to Europe and was determined to live out his life as an American.

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After earning multiple Academy Award nominations and winning six Oscars, Wilder died in Beverly Hills at age 95. Biden must encourage, not discourage, assimilation. With the U.S.’s legal and illegal immigrant population in November 2021 at a record high 46.5 million , assimilation is critical. More than 70 ethnic identity congressional caucuses, each lobbying for their individual objectives, underline the need for the U.S. to unify, and to progress harmoniously toward shared ideals. That road, as Robert Frost might have written, is not being traveled.

OPINIONS

BIDEN - ADAMS SECURE FENCE ACT

he president’s failure to enforce immigration laws at the Southwest Border – a curious position for the man who as a U.S. senator voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006 to build a wall to separate Mexico from the U.S. – will lead to a further dilution between the distinction of citizen and noncitizen. Border surgers, estimated in 2021 at 1.7 million plus 650,000 “gotaways,” as immigration officials refer to them, who arrived from 106 nations , care little about citizenship. Migrants’ goal is amnesty, affirmative benefits and, most especially, the employment authorization that’s part of the amnesty package that rewards illegal crossers. Woke, powerful elected officials are working hard and successfully to eliminate distinctions between legal and unlawful residents. On January 9, New York became the largest municipality to offer voting rights to noncitizens when newly sworn-in Mayor Eric Adams approved Intro. 1867. About 800,000 visa holders, deferred action recipients and lawful permanent residents – noncitizens all – will be allowed to register as municipal voters, assuming they have lived in New York for 30 days.

weaken America. For the woke, the time is overdue to reacquaint themselves with the wonderful, if unofficial, U.S. motto, “E pluribus unum,” from the many one.

The Republican legislature filed a lawsuit against the act on the grounds that it breaks New York State’s Constitution. Among its other violations, Intro. 1867 bypasses naturalization ’s five-year residency requirement and mandatory English and civics tests without substituting a way to acclimate new voters. The city and state impose 30-day registration requirements for U.S. citizens; noncitizens are unlikely to be able to make informed election decisions after living in the city for a mere month. Moreover, opponents argue that granting voting rights to noncitizens disenfranchises citizens’ ballots, makes a mockery of citizenship and discourages immigrants from naturalizing. Biden, Adams and others are wrong-headedly pursuing policies guaranteed to further split and

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

ON THE COVER

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

ON THE COVER

ALESSANDRO BORGHESE THE LUXURY OF SIMPLICITY D BY SUSANNA CASUBOLO

lessandro Borghese was born in San Francisco in 1976 and became one of the most famous chefs in Italy, renewing the concept of culture and professionalism in the catering sector. He is the undisputed protagonist of the success of Italian cuisine on television, a pioneer of culinary entertainment, he manages to bring an increasingly varied audience closer to the art of cooking with his genuine enthusiasm and his captivating sympathy. He defines himself as a cook of the people, looking at him it seems to have always known him, he manages to get there to the heart of people with a simple smile and a disruptive self-irony, moves in front of the cameras with naturalness, is called the chef “Rock & Social”, has been awarded several times for his cuisine, linked to quality, where tradition and innovation become method, style, art and taste.

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ON THE COVER

e was one of the three judges of the Italian edition of Junior MasterChef, and leads the TV shows: Alessandro Borghese - 4 Restaurants, Alessandro Borghese Kitchen Sound, Cuochi d’Italia and Piatto Ricco. His cooking programs of which he is also the author, are broadcast in Italy and abroad. To call him just a chef is an understatement, he is a skilled communicator and a wellrounded entrepreneur who uses his image of him as a business card of authenticity and success. In 2010 he founded AB Normal srl – Eatertainment ompany that deals with food consulting and advertising, focusing on creative excellence, communication and development of the TV format. In the world of catering, the company is present with the Alessandro Borghese brand - the luxury of simplicity that is also the name of the chef’s Milanese restaurant, and also deals with catering and banqueting for events public and private. In addition to writing for trade magazines and travel, he also publishes the book “Cacio & Pepe” for Solferino publisher, in collaboration with the journalist Angela Frenda, where he collects his story between private tales and unique recipes. Chef, entrepreneur, writer, television host, he is also a tender husband and father enthusiastic talking about his wife Wilma and daughters Arizona and Alexandra , with eyes dreamy and loving. We met him to get to know him better and to let him tell us something of himself and his latest business projects.

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ON THE COVER

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

ON THE COVER

et’s start with your book: Cacio & Pepe, was it difficult to write about you? How were you as a child and what do you still carry inside and defend that child who made the entrepreneur you are today great? I was five when, every Sunday morning, I woke up with the scent of ragù at home. I got up very early and went to the kitchen to watch my father’s hands move in absolute safety between the stoves, plates and knives. Those moments have the unforgettable flavor of the meat sauce that floods the slice of bread for Sunday breakfast. They are atmospheres marked by warmth and an unforgettable emotion. My father’s smile in describing a recipe to me, his advice as a special gift, have developed today my being a chef and the desire to redo that dish with the same emotion as the first time. And there was always music: from the radio to my Walkman, with which I listened to my first playlists created on the cassette tape. After graduation, I embarked on cruise ships where I had my apprenticeship for three years, between stoves and dishes to wash. The alarm clock rang at 5.30 in the morning and from the beginning I understood that the orders of the head chef had to be performed without overstretching. I got a lot of frying pans on my head for a mistake! Only today do I realize how justified he was the discipline demanded. The ship has been my home and school on the go. A world made up of many stories. Evenings in love, wrong recipes, delicious successes, unexpected encounters, incredible places, sincere smiles and stories between friends. Of looks with which to share beer and music. At nights lying in bed with his hands behind his neck, imagining one day reading of the menu by: chef Alessandro Borghese. I well remember the head chef’s welcome speech based on humility,

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talent accompanied by study, passion and respect for raw materials; these are words that still accompany my career in the company born after meeting my wife. When we met, Wilma was working for a multinational: together we decided to change my job, which has become ours. Our company, AB Normal - Eatertainment Company, is based in Milan and deals with restaurants, catering, food consulting and television productions “. Being an entrepreneur today means being a simple person who makes work an act of devotion. And if you have good instincts and believe in yourself, then it means you have courage. It is not rhetoric, it is as if you were the captain in the middle of the sea, you know that to keep the bar straight, it takes preparation and experience, but it takes responsibility

and if you have it, then you have courage. The courage to have brought the world of catering where others have not. To make it become debate, meeting, dialogue, show and growth. Ten years ago it was unthinkable to be a fan of a Chef of the kitchen, or rather, it was unthinkable to be a fan of a Chef of the kitchen! The television programs in recent years have brought new professionals in the sector, a very high increase from those who write only about food to those who put their face to promote brands, before it was unusual to be present in university theses as a benchmark, it was also the period where the hotel school was not a favorite. That past, allowed me to follow my intuition until today and this takes courage

ON THE COVER

id the passion for the roar of engines come before that for the kitchen? You first put your hands on a steering wheel or a handlebar, and today how do you manage to cultivate this passion for speed?

I live on passions! In my veins runs blood and engine oil! My grandfather had the Borghese auto parts, on the Riviera di Chiaia. He had also been a car driver, he raced at the Grand Prix and lost his life during a race. My father grew up in a garage, he raced on motorcycles and was a fan of beautiful cars, he had a Giulietta Spider on which he raced on the black asphalt of the Italian highways. I’ve always been a lover of open mufflers and made-up mopeds. I started doing motocross with a KX125, then I moved on to the KX250, the CR250 Honda and then I moved on to racing on the track with the Hornet 600 and 900. I have had many Honda bikesVTR 1000, Yamaha RD350, Suzuki Gamma 250, Husqvarna from super motard and today I switched to Harleys to have the freedom of the motorcyclist with the satisfaction of the twin cylinder. With the birth of my daughters I have calmed down, my set-up has gone from two to four wheels. As soon as I have a Saturday or Sunday free I wake up at half past six in the morning and go to the track with my GT3.A few months ago, in Monza, I was chatting with Guido Meda who was telling me about a competition with historic motorcycles in which he would have participated . At one point he says to me: “... I still take a door with the twenty-year-olds on the bike.” I, on the other hand, take a door with the twentyyear-olds on a Porsche on the track, and I do less harm, I replied. It is a passion still alive that burns inside me. You have inside the entrepreneurial spirit of your father Luigi Borghese and the naturalness of an actor in front of the cameras of your mother Barbara Bouchet. As a child of art, you

certainly had to work twice as hard to demonstrate your talent, you can tell us about your story a personal defeat and victory whose teachings do you still carry in today? I learned a lot from my parents, but in reality I chose the path myself. From my father I took the gastronomic side, from a sanguine Neapolitan he was a homemade lover of Neapolitan and Roman cuisine. I remember the ragù put on the stove early in the morning that “pappuliava” for hours, and then became pacchero or spaghettone. And the next day, with what was left over, he made us the macaroni omelette. My mother eats because her body needs food, I became familiar with showbiz from her. They taught me values such as humility, effort, education, respect that are functional in every field. I took them to the kitchen.

They are fascinated by the materials, finishes and stories that the photos inside the elevator tell as they go up to the first floor. Crossing the portal, the style recalls the splendor of the 1930s, the sumptuous cruise ships that sailed the oceans and the luxurious hotels in the skyscrapers of New York. It is an environment that makes you feel pampered and at ease. An atmosphere that stimulates the mind to discover the infinite details and prepares the stomach for the food and wine journey of my kitchen. There is a lot of my life set between the joints of each finish: my travels, my work experiences and all my memories, which I have set in the form of images in the elevator shaft. Every object, furniture and even the colors of my restaurant are made to measure.

“The luxury of simplicity” is your Meme. Doing things with love seems to be the essence of the “sacred fire”, the philosophy that fuels your multifaceted projects, and your way of cooking. What fuels your enthusiasm and your vitality? Maintaining simplicity in the kitchen means many things: it could mean reducing a dish to its basic shape or focusing on an ingredient to experience its essence. For example, mine “Cacio & Pepe”, I wanted to pay homage to it as a flagship dish in my restaurant, persevere in research and enhance and enrich the raw materials, with the luxury of processing techniques, with the luxury of being able to receive ingredients from careful suppliers and the simplicity of being able to use your own hands to transform them. In any case, “simple” in a kitchen rarely means “easy”. It’s a cuisine that has evolved over time, which has gone further and then returned with the luxury of making you feel good! It is also the name of my restaurant is in its name: Alessandro Borghese - luxury of simplicity. Once my guests cross the threshold of my Milanese restaurant they realize that they have entered my world.

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ON THE COVER

herefore, considering that adolescence is the phase of life in which exploration is king, it is important that an individual can experiment and express their preferences, tastes, entering into conflict with those of the other and managing to integrate the differences in a functional way to the own well-being.

In this framework, as mentioned, the experimentation of sexuality is part of it integral, so teenagers can be pushed to try new experiences in all verses sexual orientation before being better defined in one of them. Certainly the risk for a teenager, perhaps more fragile than the others and in particular a conflict with himself itself, being "fluid" could be to get bogged down in a situation of indeterminacy, failing to understand what he really feels and what the experiences are that more nourish it and are functional to itself. In this case it can be very useful the support of the adult that helps him to orient himself towards choices of wellbeing not only of the sexual type but in all spheres of life.

An important lesson that an adult can pass on to today's teenagers is that they don't exist "better or normal" sexual orientations, but, as psychology has long decreed,any way of experiencing emotional and / or sexual attraction towards others is equally healthy. Sexuality can be experienced as open and changeable and does not necessarily have to be reduced to a word, the important thing is to live it in a conscious and consensual way in order to be able to represent a real source of psychological well-being.

ON THE COVER

The

restaurant “Alessandro Borghese - the luxury of simplicity” is an emotion rather than following a philosophy, I want to please those who come to visit me, I want to make my guests happy. An environment with a highly refined, personal aesthetic character, which has the presumption of revolutionizing the restaurants of tomorrow, making them lose the label of places dedicated to the administration of food, making the environments exclusive where you can rediscover the pleasure of conviviality. An environment open to everyone and at any time, where you can spend time enjoying the pleasure of being surrounded by a refined environment, rich in culture, art and food. Picasso said: “For my torment and perhaps for my joy, I arrange things according to my passions…”. Inspiration also comes from leaving your kitchen and going to the streets, markets, around. The evocative power of music has the gift of giving travels, paths, dreams and emotions with pure and simple perception, just as taste always gives new sensations that tease, spoil and surprise the palate. Inspiration is important, and comes from an idea, from a song, or from a painting. When I enter the kitchen, I feel like Pollock in front of a blank canvas. The mind takes over on reason and is inspired by passions. The eyes are unable to follow the quick hands guided by the muse of art. From the desire to create an emotion in those who, shortly thereafter, will satiate the own spirit with something good, something beautiful. I often arrive in the morning and tell my kids: “Last night I got the inspiration for a new dish!”. Together we set the general lines and then we test the dishes. I remember that my fish sandwich and my Savarin were born after that walk in the Louvre with good rock in my ears. Food provokes and communicates to us: through colors, sensations, elements, light… it only depends on what you can see and hear. This year you have brought Italian tradition mixed with the experimentation that distinguishes you overseas in the Maldivian resorts of Constance Hotels, with gourmet dinners and live cooking events. What did you like about this experience of “luxury and simplicity”? A WONDERFUL experience! And then do you want to add the pleasure of cooking with a sea view after the service? I wanted to make a blend of both Italian and Maldivian recipes, also because every time I go there, I enjoy playing with the local chefs and their products. For those who do my job it is customary to go abroad and take something with them, a custom that falls within the own gastronomic baggage. And in the suitcases for the return I put some good tamarind and excellent spices. I hope to use them as soon as possible and I am sure that some interesting dishes will come out, revised in an Italian key.

ON THE COVER

talian cuisine is a driving force for a global restart! A priceless heritage that produces taste, style and beauty every day; I had further confirmation in the Maldives, when the international guests of Constance Halaveli and Constance Moofushi, accustomed to choosing and recognizing the best, showed great enthusiasm for my cuisine during the live cooking and sincere appreciation for the signature dishes "luxury of simplicity "dedicated to gala dinners. We set up a fish menu, I chose jack fish (Dhigali Haa), a fish similar to our sea bass, worked with Italian techniques but adding the local raw material and developing together an unusual preparation; to guarantee guests the quality to be enjoyed immersed in the paradisiacal atoll. Creativity in the kitchen and dining room, passionate, you have provided a location for contemporary art for famous and emerging artists, making your Milan restaurant AB - The luxury of simplicity also an exhibition gallery. You can tell us how this initiative was born in which works of art are the background for your creatives menu to enjoy all-round beauty? Music, art, my travels, my experiences are a source of inspiration for my dishes. Music makes me feel good. It inspires me. I grew up with a mixture of influences that originate mainly from hard rock and heavy metal of the seventies: Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath. Then came eighties pop and rock, from Depeche Mode to Guns N ‘Roses. Later I switched to listening to jazz and singing songs in a band with friends of Jamiroquai. In my Milanese restaurant you listen to music with a DJ Set and some vinyls come from my private collection. If art doesn’t take you out of your comfort zone, what’s the point? He has to like it, he has to provoke you, he has to make you question. Otherwise it’s just decoration. On the contrary, creativity and style, which has always been present in my work, have inspired the mise en place of our events signed “AB - the luxury of simplicity”. I absolutely wanted to, do to know who comes to visit us, the art-cuisine combination in person in my restaurant, hosting both established

artists in the national and international market, and emerging talents. My restaurant-gallery “Alessandro Borghese - the luxury of simplicity” hosts, in Milan in the heart of Citylife, personal and collective exhibitions in different creative expressions that form the backdrop to the menus of the restaurant, to ‘taste’ beauty in the round. Paintings, sculptures, photographs and design objects flank the works of the permanent collection and embellish and decorate the multipurpose spaces of the restaurant. The kitchen, like art, is the expression of those who make it! The combination of stomach, mind and head and for this reason each kitchen is unique. In my dishes I describe my state of mind, exactly as an artist does in a work of art; cooking is also art. Your rock soul is the essence of your “Alessandro Borghese Kitchen Sound” program, a video encyclopedia, an innovative culinary journey to the rhythm of music, which this year has reached its seventh season. Over the years it has become a TV cult with over 1000 episodes broadcast, and several dishes told with enthusiasm. Which dish did you like most to “set music” in this new edition and what news will there be? Alessandro Borghese - Kitchen Sound is the only true video encyclopedia of recipes for all tastes, for young and old, for vegans and enthusiasts. I wanted to satisfy the countless requests that I receive on a daily basis: from the fearful mother about how to make her children eat vegetables, to the professionals in the sector looking for new ideas. From 20 September the new season, produced from Food Media Factory, is broadcast on Sky Uno every day at lunchtime. From my laboratory I will take you into my world, in seven stages, which correspond to as many thematic strands. Kids: dedicated to the little ones with the pediatrician in the studio, Amici My, where many colleagues will come to visit me, the wonderful Great Classics and the quick recipes, the comfortable ones for walking but also on the sofa… On The Road! And then, the delicious Pastry and Bakery. And for the first time I present some dishes from my restaurant the “The luxury of simplicity”. A unique journey with industry professionals, colleagues

and friends. A sensory experience through the evocative power of music which, like food, has the gift of giving travels, itineraries, dreams and emotions. Easy ingredients and preparations to be made at home, excellent raw materials, my music playlists, my combinations, my secrets and essential accessories for your kitchen. In search of taste to train it towards surprises on the palate. Food as well as music has the gift of giving travels, paths, dreams and emotions with pure and simple perception, it always gives new sensations that tease, spoil and surprise the palate. In my recipes you can find my travels, my passions, my music, I place my playlists on my website, on my social networks and on my television programs. There is no life without “rhythm” and without food, this is “Alessandro Borghese Kitchen Sound “. With your television program “Alessandro Borghese 4 restaurants”, you have brought the backstage of restaurateurs to the fore. How was the innovative format, active since 2015, and what is the strength of this beloved program, now in its eighth edition? “Alessandro Borghese 4 Restaurants” is a program that I care a lot about and with my team we have tried to give viewers a broad sincere window on the varied world of catering Italian and to travel around our beautiful country. A clear message far from the usual catering circuits and lobbies, which reaches the homes of all Italians and the public appreciates for the generosity and sincerity of the images. If a competitor is not used to being organized and prepared in his daily working life, you can be sure that he will not be. in any of my kitchen inspections. This comes to viewers, they greatly appreciate the veracity of the program. The sticker displayed outside the restaurant, of the program logo, afterwards each episode has strengthened communication and helped many restaurants to relaunch. In the new season that will be broadcast on the Sky platform there are many new features, new graphics and new stops for a tasty tour around Italy.

ON THE COVER

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ON THE COVER

restaurants.

iscovering and rediscovering many territorial identities and the flavors of the place. Stories of people who tell themselves through their

It’s nice to see families united in a common passion or two guys investing in catering. There are many even bizarre formulas, with different ideas and business, there is the philosopher who has made a creed about cooking, who thinks of cooking as a poem for the palate and who wants to keep the tradition of the typical dish alive. It is curious to note how there are different reasons for how someone starts doing this job or for those who have handed it down for generations; there is the couple who want to put themselves into practice, the young enthusiast who gets involved out of passion or to change their lifestyle. The van with the program logo can be recognized everywhere when it is parked, stopped at the traffic light, placed for a shoot near the seafront, on social Web the photos next to the black door go crazy: hugging boyfriends, friends with selfie sticks and the child in stroller. I am very happy with the success of the program, there is a lot of curiosity in the city or in the village when we arrive to meet the restaurateurs and taste the cuisine of the restaurant in the competition, from the main square to the most hidden coves, the location comes alive and wants to understand which both the restaurant in the race. Filming takes place in historic centers, in places of major cultural and tourist interest. A visit for those who follow us affectionately from home to enter the architectural and artistic wonders, where I too enter with immense pleasure in the reality of those places and in the daily lives of those who belong to them. What distinguishes your new coking show “Alessandro Borghese Piatto Ricco” dedicated to amateur cooks, why did you choose Gennaro Esposito for this adventure? Programs, from reality shows to big

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shows, evolve over time. The answers are given by the famous share numbers, people want to get involved and want to have fun. I am very satisfied. The audience is enjoying the program very much and the audience figures tell us that we have worked in the right direction. I receive a lot of affection from those who follow me and there is no shortage of requests to be a guest on TV! The project was developed in one year. I wanted an innovative format that would break the traditional cooking programs with a different interpretation: the strategy in the kitchen in a cooking game! The skills required are what we need they belong, we cooks are those of the last second, unexpected events, like when someone from the brigade is missing: we are problem solvers! I’m happy with the audience’s response to get involved and figure out whether or not to play with your pot. Gennaro is one of the masters of Italian cuisine and is a friend, a travel companion who, with my plans, has entered the homes of all Italians. When he is in Milan he always comes to enjoy it my cooking at the restaurant, because he loves it. Let’s talk about America, how long have you lived there, in what period of your life and What do you carry inside of your American experience? I was born in San Francisco cold for the climate and warm for the air you breathe, my first memories are the summer holidays spent with my overseas uncles. Sun. Home. Ocean. Flower Power. Highway. Cold for the climate and hot for the air you breathe. Today I go back more rarely, but when it happens, I love to take the motorbike with Wilma and go to the Haight-Ashbury district and get lost in the vinyl shops to listen to the energy of the music; Philip Wallach sang Blondheim, better known as Scott McKenzie. Such a strange vibration. People in motion. There’s a whole generation. With a new explanation.. California for me it is also surfing, in Bolinas bay, I find the “hang loose” of my friends and that sense of freedom on my board. Those places have a magical aura for me. I have seen them change, evolve and some, in spite of myself, even disappear. But one thing always remains the same. Permanent.

Durable. The pleasure of finding the apple strudel prepared by my aunt, my grandmother’s recipe. With each bite the memory of that taste is renewed, as if it could be decades compress in the few moments locked up between one bite and the next. I see myself as little more than a teenager wandering among the colors and sounds of a city that I always carry in my heart. We know that you like to take inspiration for ingredients all over the world, which made in Italy ingredient would you not give up and which made in America? The United States was born from a fusion of several ethnic groups, certainly the choice is wide, I love the “beef pastrami”, the typical marinated, filleted and spiced meat with a particular method of preservation, widespread as street food, for me a a must is to eat it at Katz’s Deli, especially when I’m in New York. And obviously if we talk about made in Italy, we have created a universal language on food: pasta, cappuccino, spaghetti, parmigiano, espresso, pizza. You can find yourself in any place in the world, speaking in a language that is not yours, that the word “pasta” remains for everyone the synonym par excellence of the Bel Paese. With the Armando company, I had the opportunity to experiment, to try, to give birth to a new project from my passion for cooking: Spaghettone, the largest of Armando’s long pasta shapes. I wanted to give the lovers of good food a new die of tough, tasty pasta, with perfect cooking and bite resistance. Spaghettone wraps itself in the sauce without reserve, releasing emotions, pleasure and the intense aroma of wheat. I could never give up to pasta! And finally, if a genius could grant your wish, which one would you express? Only one? If I reveal it, then it doesn’t come true!

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Melodia per pianoforte

In the private archives of Ada Labanca, made available to us, we found the “”music cards”” of her grandmother, Adelina Orlando, “most noble student” of the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory in Naples. There are numerous manuscripts by composers not at all known. One of these is Franco Paolantonio, who dedicated several of his works to Adelina. The collection includes both handwritten music and pieces published by the Author during his lifetime. The interest aroused by the quality of the pieces, gave us the desire to bring this music back to light.

Franco Paolantonio rediscovery of a composer by Andreina Di Girolamo and Bernadette Tripodi

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FRANCO PAOLANTONIO Rediscovery of a composer

by Andreina Di Girolamo and Bernadette Tripodi

piano Op. 19; 4th Mazurka for piano Op. 23 n ° 1; 2nd Waltzer for piano Op. 17 n ° 2; Allegro for violin and piano Op. 12 n ° 3; 2nd Mazurka for piano Op. 8 n ° 1; Scherzino for piano Op. 8 n. 2; 3rd Mazurka for piano Op. 16; Allegretto for violin and piano Op. 12.

t was therefore decided to present an editorial project at the Lorenzo Perosi Conservatory of Music in Campobasso, where we both taught, focusing on his entire piano work at the time known and on the two pieces for violin and piano. These compositions were published in December 2019 by the publishing house “Il Setticlavio” with the title “I Manoscritti di Franco Paolantonio” and enclosed a CD with the first recording of all the pieces object of the work, interpreted by Bernadette Tripodi on the piano and by Michelangelo Massa on the violin. The following are the titles: Melody for piano Op. 1; 1st Mazurka pour piano Op. 5 n ° 1; Serenade for

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The compositions of Paolantonio were proposed in concert in the First Modern Execution in Campobasso, for the concerts of the conservatory, in March 2016 and subsequently in Agnone, the composer’s hometown. In September 2021 the scientific publication was presented in concert at the Licinio Refice Conservatory of Music in Frosinone. Everything happened by chance: at the end of a concert (8th April 2015) of Italian authors of the early twentieth century in the interpretation of Bernadette Tripodi and Michelangelo Mass, I, Andreina Di Girolamo, told Bernardette Tripodi that I had some unpublished manuscripts by a composer from Molise, I had rediscovered. Bernadette said: “Interesting, I’d like to see them.”

And so the manuscripts of Franco Paolantonio, from the private collection of Ada Labanca, began their pilgrimage from one’s home to that of the other to be promptly transcribed. As we proceeded with this meticulous work, with numerous discussions on how to interpret the various signs of expression and while the obvious errors were corrected, the enthusiasm for this young composer grew stronger in us, not only for “human” interest in his short but intense life as an artist, but also from having grasped his original creative vein and his great talent combined with profound sensibility. After a long and tiring effort, the work was completed with great satisfaction. The research on the composer’s life, who died prematurely at the age of twenty-two, was also long and exciting, through the archives of the municipality of Agnone and the Conservatory of Naples; in the first all the personal documents were found, in the second the documents of his scholastic path.

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his is how the biographical story of Franco Paolantonio who was born in Agnone on February 16th, 1878 from Ernesta and Alessandro Iacapraro, was reconstructed: at the age of eight, on November 9th, 1886, he left for Argentina with his mother Ernestina, two of his brothers, Umberto and Enrico, his paternal grandmother Maria Teresa Pannunzio and his uncle Alfonso, “”musician””. In the Paolantonio family, three other brothers of Alessandro - Francesco Saverio, Antonio and Giovan Felice - were musicians, who had already emigrated to Buenos Aires and were appreciated Band musicians there. They are the ones who founded the first band of the city. In 1893 Franco returned to Italy to study at the Royal College of Music in” “Naples, which became the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory in 1890. Here he studied Piano” “and Harmony for seven years plus the ritual subjects to expand his school education (History, Italian, Geography, French, History of Music). From his report cards we know that he was a model student, with an irreproachable conduct. In the school year 1895–96 he became a “maestrino”, that is, a direct collaborator of Maestro Simonetti for the initial training of the younger students, and his compositions were

performed in school concerts at the end of the school year. Franco Paolantonio graduated in piano, with full marks, on 19th July 1898. In July 1900 he did not sit for the Composition diploma exams, because he was “”sick””. We were deeply disturbed for what we read in the last school document concerning him; it said: “”he should have taken his diploma (composition) exams in the autumn session of October 1900, but he committed suicide on September 18th, 1900””. He was only 22 years old. In the obituaries dedicated to him in the newspapers of the time we read: “ ... The young Franco Paolantonio had a soul full of noble enthusiasm, in love with sublime ideals, he had the talent ready to conceive and intuit the highest aspirations of the divine art of sounds; he had” “the fever of glory and the ardent desire for the work that should lead him to glory.”

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(Il CITTADINO AGNONESE, 3rd October 1900) “[…] Meek and good young man, cultured and brilliant musician, to whom glory was already opening its arms and welcome him in her womb, among the beloved ones. (IL RISVEGLIOSANNITICO, 1st October 1900)” In our opinion, in his music, Franco Paolantonio reveals a marked facility of invention and great talent. Certainly the young age, the enthusiasm and the joy of doing led him, however, to alternate original and new ideas in the use of fashion formulas. In all his works he demonstrates, however, compositional mastery in the formal approach. In the pieces for piano, in the wake of romantic tradition, the elegance of Chopin’s music is evoked, in particular in the four mazurkas. In the “Melodie per canto”, as the Author defines the vocal pieces, you can breathe the atmosphere of music by Tosti and that musical world of the bourgeois salon, in which the sharing of music between professionals and amateurs was a source of pleasure for the mind and the heart. To Paolantonio, Andreina Di Girolamo dedicated the novel “Melodia op. 1” (Albatros 2018), presented in Agnone on August 20th, 2018. Thanks to social media, the same evening, a message arrives from Jorge Paolantonio, a highly regarded poet and writer in Argentina. He tells her that he too has written a novel, “La Fiamma”, dedicated to Franco Paolantonio, but, after several messages, they understand that they are

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talking about another Franco, namely Francisco Paolantonio, an appreciated conductor. Jorge is thrilled by the discovery. He knew of the tragic death of this great-uncle, but he had no news of his life or of his compositions; he reveals that he is the great-nephew of Franco who was his grandfather’s brother, Vittorio born in Argentina. This long conversation also brought important news that we did not have about Alessandro, Franco and Vittorio’s father. In fact, from the documents in the Municipality of Agnone, nothing had been found regarding Alessandro’s departure for Argentina and his death, as some archive records have been lost. It was thus possible to update the news regarding Alessandro Paolantonio in the second publication, “Franco Paolantonio - Melodie per canto”, dedicated to pieces for voice and piano which will soon be printed. We have in fact continued to devote ourselves to the study of manuscripts for voice and piano with the same enthusiasm and empathy for this unknown boy with a rare talent who deserves to be known.

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ELIZABETH BOUDJEMA IN VIOLINO VERITAS

A MUSICAL PROJECT BORN IN ITALY!

BY ROBERTO SIRONI

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ELIZABETH ELIZABETH BOUDJEMA BOUDJEMA

IN VIOLINO VERITAS UN PROGETTO MUSICALE NATO IN ITALIA!

IN VIOLINO VERITAS

Di Roberto Sironi

A MUSICAL PROJECT BORN IN ITALY! BY ROBERTO SIRONI

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Who is Elizabeth Boudjema? I was born in Bordeaux, in France in 1963. At six years I started studying music in the Conservatory in Bordeaux and after a few months I started study Violin! After “regular” studie I have been interested in other musical genres beyond classical music ... So I playing Irish music that a violinist requires another type of technique use of the arch ... Then the lightning shot, revelation: jazz, known during a stage I made in Dordogne, in the Southwest of France, if I remember correctly in 1984! At that point I decided to deepen the studio and went to Paris to follow a professional course With, among others, Jean-Luc Pino and Andy Emler. Later, I played in different jazz musical formations and classic participating at the same time at numerous studio recordings especially with French artists and African: Didier Lockood, Thomas Fersen, Manu Dibango, Arthur H, Ismael Lo, Vincent Delete, Jospheh Racaille ... From about twenty years, I live and work in Italy, in Milan where I continued my career as a violinist By collaborating with many Italian musicians and doing concerts throughout Europe ... What were your musical influences, yours “Masters?” In classical music Certainly David Oistrakh, Itzak Perlman, Jehudi Menuhin, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Ivry Gitlis I also knew ... all immense violinists! In the jazz certainly Stéphane Grappelli, Joe Venuti, Jean-Luc Ponty and Didier Lockwood ....

As musical genres have always fascinated me, as jazz, but also tango and ethnic music like the Indian, African ... while for musicians, those who have mainly contributed to my culture Musical, I like to remember Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Mac Coy Tyner - which I particularly appreciate for the writing of “Big Band” - to I “Weather Report” with Joe Zawinul e Wayne Shorter passing by Pat Metheny, Keith Jarett, Chick Korea, Bill Evans, Carla Bley and many others ... they are figures that mark by force when studying jazz ... they all contributed to the evolution of this music, each one with theirs own style. In the field of pop music I very appreciate Sting ... in the cinemas of Ennio Morricone, Bernard Herrmann, Nino Rota, John Williams, Hans Zimmer ... in the field of tango, inevitably, Astor Piazzolla ... I must also say that I have to do a lot to my teachers and especially to what the writing taught me Musical to the Conservatory, in Paris. He made me discover the great classic composers “from the inside” analyzing the scores and writing techniques that I have a great help now in my project “in violin Veritas “. These studies have made me aware that modern jazz is the prolongation of the music called “Classic” and in particular that of the 20th century of the French school (Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and others) who already used extended harmony ... For me, Georges Gershwin was the link between Classical music and jazz. And classical music?

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lassical music will always remain at the heart of my life; even after attending different music styles, always return to those that I consider my musical origins. Classical music gives me deep emotions that no other music gives me. He speaks to the heart and not to his head, as they can make current music, even Hello Jazz. Having attended and studied jazz ... what it has brought to you?

The desire to play and have fun with notes and harmony. For me the essence of jazz is swing and improvisation. I also think that the swing cannot learn it ... you have it or you don’t have it! ... as for Improvisation is really great fun, (but I think more for the instrumentalist who for the listener!) Especially when you are masters of harmony and agreements ... and the instrument! In some ways, one must take some risks and this is very stimulating! Tell us about your project “In Violino Veritas”

In Violin Veritas was born in Italy, but now it’s a violinistically international project considered it. A “One Woman Show” Performance. The project was created for two violins and to be presented in Live, then with a traditional violin and a violin tuned as a content (a lower octave) accompanied by a Voice, mine, all supported by a “Loop Station”. I use the violin content in two ways: using pinched for the agreements - a bit like a guitar - and in a way we say “classic” with the bow. I can then compose Arrangements and improvise on these “bases”. All live, on the stage with the help of the “loop Station “which as the name indicates, allows you to record” on loops “the live parts that run in a continuous cycle. For the moment I composed and arranged 12 pieces, an ambitious and very challenging job! Given the current context, very complicated to organize concerts, I decided to record the pieces and make it a official album by entering it in the world musical market! In this age there is still room for “great music” or everything has been solved in a single commercial fact?

Unfortunately, I think the “great music” has become a niche music that is always reduced with the Time, even if I think there will always be an audience to appreciate the “classics”. Currently the multinationals of the musical industry, with the complicity of the media, manage the market, even the digital one! There is also that the way to listen to music has changed, and it is also changed its use ... it has become a very large consumption product especially in the universe Youth, so the artistic mission is reduced to quickly listening, fleeting and light ... Art has no longer plenty of space in this context. What do you think of the today’ s music ? And above all what is, if there are, the music that influences you the most?

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especially listen to classical music, jazz and some pop singer ... So, it’s hard for me to give an opinion on music we can call “today’s music” ... rap, trap, house music, etc ...

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like the harmony, the game with the agreements. As a violinist, I feel a bit ‘limited by my instrument. I miss the harmonic dimension. Maybe that’s why he really like Bach ... he has in a written full for such instruments solo arched “melodic” sonatas and games ... In fact I used apart from a few “Bach” technical violin in my project regarding the arc use ... It may seem a trivial question but what a violin for a violinist? It’s just a musical instrument or even more? When I was little and I began to study the violin put me a bit ‘in awe ... I speak of “physical means” ... It seemed so fragile! ... I was even afraid to change the strings,fear of having something go wrong or break something. By the time I realized that I had in the hands an invention wonderful, very precise construction of which implies a great know-how and know how this great is the ancient tradition recognized in the world of Italian violin making! If you think that there are only in Cremona one hundred and fifty violin makers, understand the immensity of the work and talent! For what is the instrument I have to say that I had a relationship a bit ‘mitigated ... It was one object / subject that, for better or for worse, has always been close to me, at times, gave me desire to overcome myself, in others, has tested me, making me doubt to my abilities ... It is a tool extremely difficult when you want to do good sound work “classic” ... You cant’ with any instrument. It forces you to be rigorous, to be patient, to be confident of your talent. It is probably so for all instruments when you want to reach a certain level, but I would say that the violin is really particular! In general, people always think the violin forgetting his alter ego, his true accomplice, is that the arch! But what is really an arc? As far as I’m concerned it has become an extension of my right arm, must-have item to embrace the sounds ... What kind of musicien do you consider yourself today? I think I am an eclectic musician not particularly “specialized” in one style. I feel more musician violinist. I like writing music. Some musicians are identified with their instrument, I’m not. . What does it mean for you to be a soloist? On stage, a soloist is a central figure and has no right to make mistakes! Next project? First, the release of my album “In Violin Veritas”, testimony of the project! It will be distributed on digital platforms ... “. At the same time I am very dedicated to the composition, trying new ideas with or without violin. I will develop my musical activities on the web and in parallel, dedicate myself as much as possible to publicize my performance, created to be heard and seen live ... It’s just a concert? I would say no! Seeing for believing!

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INTERVIEW

Fabio Massa Actor, screenwriter and director

INTERVIEW BY SUSANNA CASUBOLO

ow did your artistic journey begun, already from a small dream of doing the actor?

Sincerely as a child I was taken from other passions : I have been swimming at a professional level, I was a national back-style vice field, then boxing, then I played the guitar. Everything was born by chance when delivering pizzas in my hometown, Castellamare di Stabia, I had the opportunity to make my first audition with a great director, Aurelio Grimaldi, who led me to the achievement of an important top, that is mine First thirty second courses spoken in the film “Rosa Funzeca”. The film is the rematiment of “Mamma Roma” made in a Neapolitan key with excellent actors: Carlo Giuffrè, Ida di Benedetto, Primo Reggiani, Ennio Fantastichini. I’ll will tell you an anecdote: they call me because there was a team role to play for one of the co-coarrots, so the director wanted to take a path along with all the boys, to choose the most suitable one. But I was taken by a commitment, there was a school trip, and I really liked a girl from another class on which I had so much fantasized, so I prefered to go on the trip. Upon return, the director he had already chosen the player and I also risked being right inside the film, then I tried to make it with all myself and chose me for that little role: my first thirty seconds in a movie. There I discovered the beauty of the camera, they still turned into film, that noise so intense, and also the beauty of the industrial machine that moved, was a climate which I liked and hoped for my future and so... luckily, it happened .

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Photos by Alessio Chiariglione

IINTERVIEW

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INTERVIEW

As an actor, did you have a role model to inspire you?

Of the different roles you played and not directed which one are you most fond of? I really liked a role I played in “La Squadra”, Luca Venturiello, a street kid who was injured in the leg in a fight, taken to the hospital and had to decide whether or not to say who it was or why it happened. Since I followed “The Team” a lot at the time, seeing myself involved in filming made me strange and at the same time did me a lot of good, that character was my initiation into television and series. Another character that I really like is Davide from “Io non ci casco” directed by Pasquale Falcone, it was my first important film, he gave me the opportunity to get to know a much broader and more professional context in which I found myself alongside big names such as Cucinotta, Muti, Casagrande. I can say that every character I’ve played has given me the opportunity to increase my professional level, sometimes small steps, sometimes bigger, but each one has given me the opportunity to be who I am now, and in perspective what I will be tomorrow. . Is there a director you have always dreamed of working with? A world opens up here! There are too many that I’d like to collaborate with and I’d like to learn from! Obviously I would like to be directed by masters such as Garrone, Sorrentino, Castellitto but also for example by Ligabue, because I like the way in which he transfers his beautiful musical baggage into cinematic representation. Naming becomes too limiting, trying to do justice to all my wishes! Ozpetec is another for example, or there are people of the world television series, important series, Cupellini, Love ... As for the American world, I would really do the impossible to be directed by Sean Penn and Clint Eastwood, there will probably remain desires but life teaches us not to stop dreaming.

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Fabio Massa

I’ve always thought about one thing, which led me to be who I am for better or for worse, I don’t think you need to have myths. Everyone has to look for the interpretative key within himself, he can be inspired by attitudes or techniques, but as regards the artistic contribution to a character, it must be sought in what is his own imagination, aided by the directions of the director. This is why it is difficult when I act for myself, it means finding an agreement between the actor and the director in me, not an easy challenge but certainly beautiful. There are many actors to whom I look with admiration, with whom I would like to share the set one day, but as inspiration I prefer to look inside myself.

IINTERVIEW

LA SQUADRA - IO NON CI CASCO - SEAN PENN - CLINT ESTWOOD

Your first short film, “L’amore (quello vero)”, which you directed and starred in, after being the winner of numerous national awards, was presented in Paris and Los Angeles in two reviews in collaboration with the Social world film festival; What is the true love for you? The short film was an important moment in the creation of my company “La Goccia Film” because from then on I set out, with my team, to make audiovisual products that showed the quality we were capable of. That was the first job with a great Pietro De Silva, a very good Ivan Bacchi and with the participation of Bianca Nappi who allowed me to do a job in which I believed a lot. It is based on a chapter of a novel “Slipping away like the Wind”, published by Graus, which tells a beautiful story of hope, help and solidarity with those who occupy a disadvantaged social position and who may find themselves in difficulty. Love for me has changed over time, especially in the beginning it was mostly for my job and that’s it, then my family came as part of marriage, and then my son arrived who sent me to a other dimension of love. I realize how important it is to spend time with him, not only for the relationship, but for myself, because a child teaches how to grow, gives him responsibilities and gives him a frame of love, affection and serenity but above all wanted. I have always been a type attached to the family of origin, it allowed me to grow up with certain values.

Photos by Alessio Chiariglione

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

INTERVIEW Photos by Alessio Chiariglione

“Linea di Konfine” è stato il tuo primo lungometraggio come interprete, regista e sceneggiatore, poi gli altri film “Aeffetto domino” e “Mai per sempre”. Come è cresciuta e cambiata la tua esperienza e cosa hai imparato sul set esercitando questi ruoli diversi contemporaneamente? “Linea di Konfine” è stato un bellissimo salto nel vuoto che mi ha davvero insegnato tanto, avevo poca esperienza e mi ritrovai a portarlo avanti e farlo uscire nelle sale, e devo dire è andato molto bene. Soprattutto l’ho portato nelle scuole, tra i ragazzi, ho fatto il giro di tutta Italia portando avanti la storia di questo ragazzo dell’ultimo anno con una serie di rapporti familiari non proprio idilliaci, e questo mi ha fatto conoscere un po’ dal grande pubblico e mi ha portato a fare un lavoro di workshop nelle scuole coi ragazzi che faccio tutt’oggi. “Aeffetto Domino” è stato la mia svolta perché ho voluto e desiderato fare questo lavoro. Ho avuto l’opportunità di girare in Campania, Salento e Africa questo film che attualmente è in visione su Sky Italia. Qui ho lottato come attore e come regista perché al protagonista, nella seconda parte del suo percorso, gli viene diagnosticato un melanoma in fase terminale quindi ci sono state anche tutta una serie di caratteristiche fisiche a cui ho dovuto puntare, mi sono sperimentato molto in tutti gli ambiti. “Mai per sempre” invece mi ha dato l’opportunità di avere un cast più corale, ritrovare degli amici, tipo Cristina Donadio, che era già mia madre in “Aeffeto domino”, Gianni Parisi, Massimo Bonetti, Yuliya Mayarchuk, Massimiliano Rossi. Questo è stato il film più consapevole, sono contento di avergli dato vita, oltre che su Amazon Italia si trova anche su Amazon Usa e Amazon UK ed è in arrivo anche in Germania, è un film che ha fatto il giro del mondo riuscendo a portare a casa tanti premi. Quando porti te stesso davanti a scelte così coraggiose non puoi fare altro che imparare e capisci tante cose. Per esempio seguendo il montaggio da regista capisci che cosa non deve fare un attore e se lo fa in che modo deve farlo, capisci le cose che non funzionano e quelle che funzionano, quindi quando finisci il film puoi dire “cavolo adesso ho appena terminato un master di recitazione”! Da un punto di vista registico spesso e volentieri credo di riuscire a portare a casa ciò che desidero, questo grazie sicuramente all’aiuto della troupe. Ho delle idee chiare che riesco poi a trasferire a tutti i collaboratori e quindi alla fine riesco ad essere soddisfatto del materiale che porto a casa, ovviamente essendo produzione indipendente devo anche arrangiarmi ma arrivo sempre ad essere soddisfatto quando c’è la parola fine alla giornata di set. Il tuo sodalizio con gli Stati Uniti è nato con “Aeffetto Domino” la cui distribuzione è partita dalla California. Il film è un viaggio interiore di un giovane uomo che ha una diagnosi di melanoma, per impersonarlo hai perso addirittura 12 chili. Deve per forza innescarsi un effetto domino per scatenare un cambiamento nella vita di una persona?

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

INTERVIEW

“A Effetto Domino” I am very grateful to “A Effetto Domino” for what it has given me and I am happy and enthusiastic for the experience I have had. I have been in contact with people who unfortunately live with this disease, with doctors who explained to me, I tried to make everything natural. I still remember when at the premiere of the film a woman in tears stopped me and said “you made me relive my son’s story, thank you, I don’t know how you did it but you managed to donate what poetry is”. Often in this situation there is a broader cultural value that not all lucky people, those who are in good health, I mean, are able to reach. This compliment that made me proud and filled with joy and made me understand that I did a good job. And it is a job to which I have dedicated many sacrifices because you imagined Christmas and New Year’s evenings with dinners in front of you, and the shooting that would restart on January 17th, and me with a very sad 80 gram sandwich with cooked ham and fontina cheese inside ... I said everything! (laughs). Any form of change means leaving your previous form and developing a future form that is still based on what your past is. The domino effect starts even before having conceived of changing everything that existed before the present. Then it is obvious that we are part of a society, our radical change coincides with a domino effect on all those relationships with people, family, love, affection and friendships. I believe that change is always a second chance, especially if you decide to change to improve. Often we always change knowing why, often there are no underlying reasons, we often change in response to the behavior of others. We should always be with our heads to decide and create a domino effect on our life and on that of others with the hope that it can be more and more positive. Your film “Never Forever” has received several awards including Best Picture at the 2019 Los Angeles International Independent Film Fest, as well as the 2020 New York Movie Awards and Hollywood New Director of 2020 the one for directing. Within this work you are an interpreter and director as well as the author of the screenplay. Can you tell us more about this film? Never forever was a beautiful journey with fantastic performers who made what I had in mind possible, a wonderful crew, my first collaboration with cinematographer Rocco Marra with I dreamed of working after taking part in the film “Outside Evening”. I thought that surely there might be a need to tell the cones of light and shadow cones of the possible life of each of us. The protagonist is a boy who tries in every way to change his life and does it in a conscious, meticulous way and with the will to want to do it, but who clashes with what the world sends him back in a relentless, because this film could be defined as a sort of endless parable of evil, where betrayals and things unspoken become protagonists. I wrote the screenplay with Demetrio Salvi to which yes is added Diego Olivares, who brought a little more crime in the second half of the film. We also went back to opening the set again because I had the need to tell a few more things, which came to us later, and therefore we had this courage. This was also a wonderful journey from a reward and satisfaction point of view, now thanks to Amazon much more public will be able to see it. You are currently engaged in a new project co-produced by your production company Gocce Film and by a Californian production company that will also see you shooting scenes in New York. You can anticipate us something about this new adventure?

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INTERVIEW

DIEGO OLIVARES - MATTHEW STEGEMILLER - NAPOLI - LAMPEDUSA - NEW YORK

he film I’m working on is in co-production with Matthew Stegemiller and his Nichego Holding. I am really happy with this co-production born with “A Effetto Domino” and I remember that he took it to his beautiful city called Lake Tahoe in the first Californian theaters. During the pandemic, the good Diego Olivares and I wrote this film called “Global Harmony” which tells of a journalist who wants to protect the rights of children seen as a cornerstone on which to base the growth of the entire society.

I can’t say much more. The cast is international, will shoot in Naples, Lampedusa and New York and will start shooting in April. It is a film that is making me happy because it was born out of the pandemic at a time when there were profound difficulties even in imagining one’s future, but instead we created a film. I am sure it will be able to give great satisfaction and I am looking forward to announcing the cast and all the wonderful collaborations step by step. This time I will not be the protagonist, I will be one of the co-star actors, because the protagonist is a 50-year-old journalist who will fight to change the future and obviously it couldn’t be me. Managing to balance private and professional life is difficult. What is your recipe for serenity? I cannot give a formula, in my opinion it does not exist, but I can respond by giving conscience to the heart. Work is definitely something beautiful and satisfying that can increase your chances and improve your lifestyle, it can take you to places you didn’t even dream of being before, but it all makes sense if there is a mental balance that is given by the family. I am fortunate to have a splendid one: a child whom I love and who I feel that he loves me, a wife who does her utmost for us, who is close to us and who loves us so I cannot ask for more. I am convinced that one’s growth is never just in one address rather than in another, there is growth and serenity when everything is going in the right way but when something important is missing, such as work, certainly one hundred percent if you have a family close to you all that may be hesitations or discontent are always stemmed by love, respect and the desire to be closed within a natural habitat that defends you and is close to you, a sort of affective comfort zone.

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

INTERVIEW

MAI PER SEMPRE - NON EGOISMO - GARIBALDI - FAMIGLIA

Your son was already in demand as an actor at an early age, how proud would you feel to see him follow in your footsteps? My son is two and a half years old and he makes me proud in every way, when at school they tell us that he is good and good, when they stop us on the street to tell us that he is beautiful, when suddenly he hugs me and says “hello dad” , when he smiles at me and also when he sleeps. He has already been the protagonist of both an advertising set and a fiction where he played Garibaldi as a child and I tell you that he will also be part of my film, he will be there a scene in which he will play my own son, and I liked the idea of being able to have him with me. In reality in “Never forever” there is also him in his own way because at the beginning of the film in a scene in which one of the protagonists enters a pub he meets a pregnant girl and that girl is my wife who has my son in her womb . And finally, if a genius could grant your wish, which one would you express? If there was a genius I could ask that my next opportunities are not just opportunities but that they can be happy reality. But perhaps it is an ordinary desire that everyone would ask for, I confess that I always relate to someone, I don’t go to church much but I have a dialogue of my own with God, I have easy prayer, I like to relate to him, talk to him, as if he were a person of family and often I thank him for the beautiful experiences you are making me live and above all for my family, the point of reference of arrival and departure always. In my prayers I have added a phrase in this last period and it is “thank you for all that is health, the possibility of having something to eat every day, the possibility of being able to help others when possible, especially for giving me a mind predisposed to not selfishness “.

Photos by Alessio Chiariglione

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ART

Andrea Cislaghi

Andrea Cislaghi the sculptor laborer in search of the iron soul

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ART

Andrea Cislaghi

“

I believe that we will move towards a future to be lived with greater awareness, to breathe, to savor, a rebellion from this forced imprisonment. A new world, a new time in which art will have a new life, independent of consumerism and autonomous.

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

ART

Andrea Cislaghi

the sculptor laborer in search of the iron soul

interview by Roberto Sironi e reach Andrea Cislaghi in his laboratory, an old chicken coop transformed into a warehouse where he welds and folds his artifacts. He comes to meet us welcoming with enthusiasm, we recognize in him a quiet man in harmony with his surroundings.

Who is Andrea Cislaghi? I was born 50 years ago in Boffalora, a small town in the western province of Milan along the banks of the Ticino. I am very attached to my land and my origins, to my family, to my grandmother’s snack, to the fireplace in the kitchen, to the table in the evening sitting around the set table, to simple games, to the huts built in the woods. I had a simple and happy childhood. It all comes from here: a fertile ground to express my innate artistic vein. Is it right to call yourself a sculptor laborer? In my job as a laborer I discovered iron, in all its forms and peculiarities, an immense world. Thanks to the manual labor of a worker, I am artistically completed; so yes, that’s right. I am a sculptor laborer Are you self-taught? Yes, my training derives from experimentation in the field, from my work but above all from my curiosity towards materials and shapes. What is the relationship between you and iron? A relationship of love and ecstasy, an intimate search for myself. Briefly tell us about the creation of your work. A continuous research in the scraps and in the ferrous wrecks, rusty materials, cut and badly bent, discarded to be melted, and then a curious shape happens that attracts me, the work, the fold, the balance, I give it love and passion, all the my manual ability and my experience, so the scrap iron relives. How do you choose the material you work and how do you work it? I choose it based on my instincts, on what I feel at that moment. Maybe the previous day I don’t even see him and the next day he calls me, he wants to relive in a new form.

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ART

Andrea Cislaghi

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese 24 Month Top Grade - 2 Pound Club Cut

I’M ITALIAN - SPRING - 2022

Andrea Cislaghi

ART

I work the iron with different and all manual techniques, I use plasma sometimes, but most of the time I fold manually and tighten it flush. For the finishes I try to keep the details that the iron has acquired over time. The beauty of her, I try to enhance her like an old man with her wrinkles. What is sculpture for you? Initially I was very fond of freehand drawing, but I have always had a vocation towards research of the form moving gradually towards the sculpture. I find that it completes me fully, it is a continuous search for new forms. Were there any masters in your artistic life? I’m still in the middle of my artistic life! I read a lot and study, Marinetti, Giacometti, Jago. I am also lucky enough to know and have made friends with you, Roberto Sironi, who are a multifaceted artist. Confronting myself with these characters greatly affects my work. How do you imagine your future? I will try to remain myself, happy as now. Maybe with more time to devote to my passion. What would you recommend to a young person who wants to take the same path as you? Be the architect of your own success, never settle and learn from mistakes. Humility, a lot of humility towards oneself, this is a virtue that is lacking, but it is necessary, indeed, indispensable. One last question: how do you see the world of art and artists today? My feeling is that we are experiencing a moment of transition, a non-time. A search for a new artistic current. I believe that we will move towards a future to be lived with greater awareness, to breathe, to savor, a rebellion from this forced imprisonment. A new world, a new time in which art will have a new life, independent of consumerism and autonomous. It will have lymph from love and from passion for its creation, from the dexterity and virtue of man. A new warmth detached from as of now, there will no longer be bananas stuck on a canvas with adhesive tape, but there will be the return to true beauty, the inner beauty that opens your eyes, that shows you hidden, real aspects. I am optimistic, the artist will once again have his rightful place in society. Without art and culture there is no future and the artist will be the centripetal force.

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HERITAGE

he birth Fontana in a small tow persona Liri of two g n like re li from th e world ties, two geniuat s of cultu re, bornes a few

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HERITAGE

THE MASTROIAN

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HERITAGE

THE MASTROIANNI A FAMILY OF ARTISTS

BY SANTINA PISTILLI PRESIDENT OF THE CENTER FOR STUDIES, RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION MARCELLO MASTROIANNI

he birth in a small town like Fontana Liri of two great personalities, two geniuses from the world of culture, born a few years apart from each other from the same family, is an event more unique than rare in history.

This is the case of Umberto and Marcello Mastroianni, uncle and nephew, who have given a strong imprint to the culture of the twentieth century in the world, one in the world of art, and of sculpture in particular, the other in the world of Italian cinema, of which it has become, and still is, the indisputable icon. Fortuna wanted, for the pride of the Fontanesi, that at the beginning of the last century Vincenzo Mastroianni, father of Umberto and grandfather of Marcello, a native of Arpino, would settle with his family in Fontana Liri, where he worked as head model-maker at the Military Polverificio (today the “Propellenti” Military Establishment) recently planted in the lower part of the town, around which a considerable inhabited center was forming, as evidenced by the fact that a few years later, in the middle of the First World War, the production of dust involved more than a thousand work units every day. It was an opportunity that Vincenzo jumped at, given that he was a skilled carpenter and the new military center at that time required wooden artifacts and furniture for the construction and furnishing of the nascent homes of workers and workers. And so two of Vincenzo’s ten children were born in Fontana Liri (Umberto in 1910 and Corrado in 1913) and in 1924 his nephew Marcello, son of Ottorino, firstborn of Vincenzo and like him a carpenter. After a few years Vincenzo was transferred from the then Ministry of War to the Turin Arsenal and was quickly followed by his children and their families so

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that around the thirties the Mastroianni all found themselves in Turin. Later Marcello, with his parents and his brother Ruggero, moved to Rome and went to live near Cinecittà, where he was able to approach the world of cinema that already fascinated him and which would have given him so much success. After a few years Vincenzo was transferred from the then Ministry of War to the Turin Arsenal and was quickly followed by his children and their families so that around the thirties the Mastroianni all met in Turin. Later Marcello, with his parents and his brother Ruggero, moved to Rome and went to live near Cinecittà, where he was able to approach the world of cinema that already fascinated him and which would have given him so much success. Soon Marcello would also introduce his brother Ruggero into the world of cinema who, following in the footsteps of family genius, would become a very skilled editor. film, sought after by major directors, and would win major awards. Meanwhile Umberto, who remained in Turin, continuing his artistic vocation that - in the footsteps of his uncle Domenico - had already highlighted himself in Fontana Liri and in Rome, he frequented the cultural circles of the avant-garde of the early twentieth century and began his extraordinary career that would see him establish himself at the top of the world. Umberto defines his father as an eclectic artist: cabinetmaker, engraver, model maker, who worked wood with the skill of a medieval carver.

Umberto and Marcello Mastroianni

HERITAGE

Umberto Umberto he defines his father as an eclectic artist:

cabinetmaker, engraver, model maker, who worked wood with the skill of a medieval carver. Mine was a family, Marcello remembers, of workers and carpenters. If I wanted to raise my origins a little, I could say a family of artisans, or cabinetmakers, as my mother calls them. In fact, in addition to grandfather and father, skilled carvers, the family boasted various artisans - brilliant artists among their ancestors: skilled wool makers who in the 19th century exported tapestries and precious blankets abroad; the craftsmen engaged in wallpaper painting; the potters and fashion designers who have left traces up to the present day and also Domenico, Vincenzo’s brother, sculptor and painter with a studio in Rome, in via Margutta, and in Paris. Domenico’s son Alberto was also a brilliant and skilled artist, famous for his animal paintings. It is interesting to know the Mastroianni family also from the very words of its members. Thus Umberto in an interview with Mimmo Pacifici for Gente in October 1990: “The Mastroianni family has always been a family of artists. My grandfather painted and was very good at inventing designs for fabrics and carpets that were woven with hand looms. My uncle Domenico was a sculptor with a studio in Rome, in via Margutta. And also my father Vincenzo, Marcello’s grandfather, had a passion for art: in everyday life he was a cabinetmaker, designing models for a state arsenal, while in his free time he delighted in designing furniture, closing day and night in his laboratory.

atmosphere has always been breathed, even though, and I want to say, nothing has ever rained down on us. At my house we were a small army: six boys and four girls plus parents. And only my father thought about keeping the family going. Papa was originally from Arpino, a town in Ciociaria near Frosinone, famous for being the birthplace of Cicero. At a certain point he moved to Fontana Liri for work reasons and here I was born and thirteen years later also my nephew Marcello. We were a very noisy and lively family, led by the charismatic and one-piece figure of my father Vincenzo. We were certainly not wealthy but Dad managed to never miss anything: in fact, we all studied and succeeded in something “.......” With Marcello ... I am bound by a beautiful relationship of esteem and friendship. ... Marcello and I have many similarities: some in one way and some in the other we are both artists, even if there is no lack of character differences. His laziness, his sly attitude like that of an ocelot continue to amaze me because they literally “punch” with my way of being impetuous, with my great vitality “. “When Marcello was born I was only thirteen. We are very close. In a way, our fates are alike. We are firmly united by the fact that we have suffered a lot before reaching notoriety. We struggled for a long time before our expectations were fulfilled. I talked about suffering because Marcello lost his father when he was still young and he had to make many sacrifices to succeed. At the time, when Marcello’s father Ottorino died prematurely from ill-treated diabetes, a very painful wound opened in our family. Ottorino was the eldest son, one of the points of reference for us brothers and, after his death, it was my father who helped Marcello’s family, doing everything to be close to his nephews. But he was old and certainly no longer had all the vitality he once had, when alone he was able to raise his ten children “.

Then, later, there was the incredible cinematic success of my nephew Marcello and the success of his brother Ruggero, who became a very skilled editor. But earlier in the family they had had a Hollywood star, Richard Conte, who made it to the cinema in the role of a gangster, and was my mother’s cousin. In short, as you can see in the Mastroianni house, an eccentric and genius

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HERITAGE

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HERITAGE

Marcello

he best memory that binds me to Marcello dates back to many years ago, when I was the first to notice his extraordinary skills as an actor. In fact, even as a child, in some moments Marcello entered as if in a trance and began to act, inventing the strangest and most incredible stories. He was born an actor. When there were street parties at Fontana Liri, I was the one who organized small comedies. I had a black mustache, a straw hat and I remember it was in the audience my nephew who followed me with his eyes wide open and then in the house asked me to try them again and all together with him those scenes. In short, it was me, so to speak, his first discoverer. And I encouraged him to devote himself to the show as soon as Marcello, after having taken his diploma as an expert in Rome, found himself choosing the path of his life. In days, and never before, we will leave together for a trip to Tokyo, where an exhibition of mine has been set up. The highest Japanese authorities, including the empress, have organized a series of extraordinary events to celebrate the two most famous Mastroianni in the world. And I assure you that I am looking forward to spending a week next to my nephew Marcello, who is always very busy due to his work “. … ..

“For many years I have been cherishing the idea of seeing the artists of the Mastroianni family reunite to make a film all together. It is a dream that will soon become reality, I’m sure. Meanwhile, I already have contacted Marcello and his brother Ruggero. I also spoke to my brother Corrado, who was Marcello’s secretary for a few years and is also a good painter. Everyone was enthusiastic. I’m already thinking about the story, but I can’t anticipate anything yet. I only hope that the project goes through: this, among my secret dreams, is the one I care about the most “. And so Marcello describes his uncle Umberto in an interview with Floriano De Santi for Il Messaggero: “Marcello Mastroianni, how did your uncle Umberto get the passion for sculpture?” I don’t know exactly this, even if I often went to see him in his study as a kid. Thinking about the creativity of uncle Domenico and our parents, it is probably a hereditary vocation, although we can say that Umberto and sculpture are one ”.

‘magical uncle’ was coming and made everyone happy. He had an almost romantic hairstyle, just like he wore in the last century. He was always very elegant, fascinating for his “disguises”, which he hasn’t given up even today; he was original and never vulgar in his choices: certain coats, certain sports jackets, English shoes, silk shirts struck you for their uniqueness. In addition, I was always waiting for those five silver lire that he regularly put me in on important holidays but no”. “I didn’t have the cultural background to understand his work: I just knew it was important. I could not follow his artistic development and his successes, if not from afar, because he often talked about it in the family. Later I learned to know him better: I was with him in 1960s in New York. I was very proud of the time he devoted to me and I said to myself: I buy to be alongside such an interesting and aristocratic uncle. Indeed, I want to say more. After the Praemium Imperiale, I really want to go to Japan with him, because I arrive there not as a “cinematographer”, but as the nephew of a great artist ”. Regarding the visit to the anthological exhibition at the Rotonda della Besana in Milan, Marcello says: “I looked at the Milanese retrospective with a feeling of great admiration; at one point I even felt annihilated. I did not know that my uncle had the ability to treat any material - from paper to lead, from copper to bronze, from marble to wood, from gold to silver -, with astounding craftsmanship. It’s incredible: whatever you touch becomes a work of art; and I say this in a very naive way, as an inexperienced visitor who is surprised to see such an extensive and varied range of expressive possibilities. And then the recent sculptures of him come back to mind they seem to me like “machines” of war; however, you immediately understand that they are not machines to make war, but to highlight the monstrous effects that war causes. And I also experienced this impression in Florence, in the evocatively ordered exhibition at the Fortress del Belvedere “. “When it happens, I spend wonderful hours, I like to listen to his speeches also because as a great artist he still has all the anger of a boy, the vitality and desire to do as a teenager”.

“His visits at Christmas meant mainly this to me: that the

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T.S.M

DON GIOVANNI AND CASANOVA Love! by Roberto Sironi the malediction of seducers is

ppeared for the first time in 1632 in Tirso de Molina’s comedy “The deceiver of Seville and the stone guest, then revived by Mozart in 1665 with his famous opera, the character of Don Giovanni, over time and in the fantasies of all human beings, becomes a man, leaving the theater forever to become the prototype of a gallant and enterprising female suitor, of his unique kind! His being libertine and seductively libertarian of him leads him to be, given his amorous raids with many women, a brave, daring and reckless man, the fault of his frequent clashes with the men of the women he courts!

Here in modern language, “Don Giovanni” is by far the most used expression to define someone, certainly a man, who is constantly looking for women with whom to flirt, seduce them but never with the idea of engaging in a serious, constant, lasting relationship! ... He is the womanizer par excellence and on this state of his existential there are doubts! So you can be any Don Giovanni, do Don Giovanni without ever being really one, be a Don Giovanni from overwork whose resourcefulness is resolved in a foolish boast and finally be a Don Giovanni for real, the one who does not advertise and moves in his sentimental world with extreme accuracy, with charm, almost in the shadows, exercising his amorous talent with absolute rigor, with the meticulousness of a great professional of seduction! But what does love for a Don Giovanni consist of? What are his ingredients, how does a character of this type experience love? How great affection mixed with adoration? An affection with an allergy to falling in love? Or a continuous affair with the mystery, a bond, a very close relationship with the mystery in which he has placed only pure desire and nothing else? All men would like to have been or think they are a new Don Giovanni in order to be able to collect one heart after another, carving the auction of love with countless notches! In short, this Don Giovanni is undoubtedly a male myth drunk with lust and sensual desires, inexhaustible and never dormant! The legend would have it that then, in old age, Don Giovanni repented of all his living by chasing his prey in the female world, but honestly I do not see him in the role of the repentant ... You can never regret having lived it all a life in the company of pleasure? As with all obvious questions, the answer, unfortunately, is dilated in the fog of an originality that goes beyond fantasies, philosophies, opinions and cultures! For now, let’s be content with narrating the facts ... The events, plots and events in the History of Love, leave them to the dreamers, let’s deal with reality ...

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PHOTO BY JACOB LUND

T.S.M.

nd in the History of Love, in his reality there is another character that is more than mythical, legendary, extraordinary for his deeds and memorable for the way he led his life: Casanova! Giacomo Casanova!

He has not come out of any theater, no stage has ever seen him get dirty with dust! Lived from 1725 to 1798, he too was a great seducer, a conqueror of hearts and souls, unscrupulous and dedicated to the most scabrous amorous adventures, but he, unlike Don Giovanni, has never seen the ultimate sentimental goal, but as a first sentimental way to get around that love! Casanova was a true adventurer, great traveler, writer, poet, alchemist, esotericist, diplomat, scientist, philosopher and also a secret agent of the Serenissima Republic of Venice! He even did math! He too is a refined seducer and libertine, a man of licentious morals, with a disordered conduct, devoted to easy loves, unrepentant, our Casanova has never been afraid of being himself, and is up to our days, the most important symbol of a world to be man and male in the immense female world! Probably for Casanova sex was not just a sexual relationship, an activity between two or more consenting individuals in which sexual pleasure is obtained ... In short, it was not only and exclusively a coupling, but much more! In all likelihood, for Casanova everything related to love, therefore seduction, sexual intercourse, courtship, even falling in love was art, pure art to live and live with! Don Giovanni counted the women he seduced, collected them, Casanova no, he was more for the talent of passion, the attraction for the particular, the intimacy of the secret in the alcove, the ardor of the movements, the desire to perform the most perfect work that could give the tenderness, the beauty of the sexual gesture, in short, for Casanova love was art and the amateur an artist! Of course, between the two characters re-seen today, it would seem there aren’t many differences, only fleeting dissonances, as if both could be put on the same level, but that’s not the case! Between them there is a world of subtleties and refinements that make the two of them day and night, black and white ... There is a world of charm and magic that in a certain sense unites them but at the same time positions them , in the imaginary world, as if they were in front of a mirror that does not reflect the truth! ... Between the two there are inevitable fatalities and irresistible destinies ... Between one and the other there are about a hundred years of water that has passed under the bridge and although the first was a theatrical character and the second, a human being who became a character, in the world of Love the two, each in their own way, have conquered the fantasies, literatures and realities of all of us, proof of this is the their very current and still extraordinary presence! The real and the fantastic have mingled in legend, inspiration, extravagance and genius have forever immortalized the life of these two authentic and majestic personalities in the language, thought and actions! It is not enough to be seducers, charmers, womanizers to pass from History to the History of Love! It takes more and this more ... In the celebrated world of Love there are, scattered here and there, characters of all kinds, of all ages and of all races! In that world that, between being and becoming, makes each era an era apart, we can find all sorts of whoremongers, inveterate suitors, suburban heartthrobs, bad guys for every occasion and creepers of all kinds! There are also the Sunday viveurs, the Saturday night dudes, the dancers and the play boys with breathtaking tans!

In short, in the world of Love you will find all kinds of characters: from the greedy, to the jealous, from the insatiable to the immoderate, from the lustful to the dissolute, from the vicious to the depraved, from the lascivious to the eager ... You can find everything in that world but never plus a Don Giovanni and a Giacomo Casanova… The only two true giants of seduction! Such artists will no longer be born! It’s just a question of charm, a captivating, fascinating and passionate curse that can only strike true seducers: the curse of Love!

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T.S.M.

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P. L’ITALIANO

Praticare l’Italiano Lesson 2

by Mariagrazia Pia

Common saying …. from the taste buds! The wisdom and madness of a people of artists and sailors!

ere is summarized, without religious references, the Ethics, the peasant Morality, of those who think of the essential in their lives and in economic difficulties, which the Covid19 pandemic has perhaps made it less shameful to mention, even for those who accompanied bread with precious foods and the wines were recommended by sommeliers! Understanding the meaning of this sentence, pronouncing it in Italian, means being or remembering to be Italian: the essential, what is vital, is what cannot be altered, counterfeited. We are not just talking about GMOs or about the fight against sophistication in wine, of which Italians are proud producers and exporters. The wine, then, must not be watered down .... the Truth has its alcohol content!

“Nell’acqua che non vuoi bere… anneghi”! We cannot forget the water, but the water of our Italian grandparents was sometimes from the well, rain from gutters that are not always so clean .... Better, the wine that was healthier for fermentation. Drinking from rivers, near streams, could be dangerous, if grazing or wild animals had just immersed themselves in them ... you could get sick! Yet in the water you do not want to drink ... you drown: fate, tragic, leads you to face what you wanted to avoid and, at times, this people of fishermen and sailors, metaphorically, drown. It is important to understand this popular saying of generations ago, when people were still leaving for America, (“Merica” as those who did not think they had to take a language course to emigrate said ....) One cannot fail to mention Dante, the sad experience of exile for him, of emigration for others ....

“saprai quanto sa di sale il pane altrui”.

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P. L’ITALIANO

SPRING 2022

“

Pane al pane e vino al vino”! BREAD TO BREAD AND WINE TO WINE

MAGAZINE

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P. L’ITALIANO

“Il diavolo fa le pentole ma non i coperchi “!

f course, prophesying the need to get used to nonTuscan, unsalted bread is a warning for everyone, even today, in times of cultural, technical-scientific and gastronomic globalization: it tastes of salt, it burns the food of exile, of distance, it doesn’t matter if it’s tastier…. It is understood that exile from one’s city, from one’s homeland is painful, even 700 years after the death of the Poet.

“La vendetta è un piatto da servire freddo” I cannot guarantee the Italianness of this sentence, but we must always alternate hot and cold dishes and our linguistic menu is also a game of understanding and identification of an Italy which, despite being among the most industrialized countries, maintains a peasant soul ... as well as artistic and seafaring, by explorers, migrants, scoundrel, also in his finding a solution, but also the Time ... of revenge!

“L’olio viene sempre a galla”! How many Italian-Americans who remember expanses of olive trees, from Liguria to Sicily, recognize their provenance from acidity, color, processing! Well, it shouldn’t be me, a Piedmontese, (among the vineyards, with olive trees that now appear, as decorative trees, more than anything else, like palms and even banana trees amazed to exist in the bush), that the oil, the problem, the lie, pain…. always comes to the surface! Lighter than water, even if it does not seem colored, you imagine it dense, capable of going to the bottom, of being forgotten! Even atheists know that the wicked never finish his job well, something leaves it to chance: the “good devil”, to save on his household supplies, leaves out that accessory! The water for the pasta boils more slowly, the aromas and flavors evaporate, the food of life will be more tasteless.

“Il diavolo fa le pentole ma non i coperchi “! That may be why they invented pressure cookers… so as not to leave the devils… to put their hands on their negligence and

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their attempts at good food… of Life.

“Donne e buoi dei paesi tuoi!” Here is an Italian saying, peasant, from North to South, which

today could be accused of discrimination, even in a society, even the Italian one, now multi-ethnic and multi-racial, interreligious and gastronomic, which is really an excellent way, to make us all feel curious. inhabitants of this planet, at any latitude. Curiosity about food and drink can unite as much as English monolingualism, the Internet and the web! Only the saying remains, that women are something you take from home… wherever you go. Or it happens that first he made them similar to you, yoked to your habits, your idiosyncrasies…. Certainly a sentence of a shameless machismo, but we are in times when we want equality, we could also say…. “Men and oxen of your countries”! Certainly the “pio ox” of the poet Carducci is no longer fashionable: one could speak of cars, of clothes instead of the ox that tastes of work, of yoke and abstinence from the pleasures of the most daring bull ... Except that there are phrases that remain in the unconscious of Italians and that also culture, globalization, life experiences will leave unforgettable and perhaps with fatal consequences. “Women and oxen from your countries… sometimes they are not nations, they are really, regions, provinces the limit of choice! I’m Italian….it also means remembering that we have a peasant tradition, before being an industrial one, that we have been divided for centuries and subjected to foreigners and that a unified history since 1861, with Rome as the capital in 1871: complete unification with the First World War is little compared to nations that have had centuries to unite, speak to each other in the same language, not just literary, to merge aware and happy with other peoples! We are still dialectal in mentality, with a very flat and incomplete average spoken and written Italian and the Accademia della Crusca, born in the 17th century with its vocabularies, must always defend us from attacks from both local languages, which in any case are ours, as well as from xenophilia, which we have in the blood! If we can quote in another language, we feel more cultured!

P. L’ITALIANO

“lingue senza esercito e senza marina”

ialects are, for Linguists,

: proudly pronouncing I’m Italian also means feeling that you belong to a familiar dialect from childhood, listened to by the elderly, by parents, no longer spoken, but understood. I’m Italian… sure, but the bottom of my glass of wine, if genuine, has a dialect (mine is Piedmontese Asti, lands of Barbera, Moscato, envious of the nearby Barolo delle Langhe, now also proud of Nizza ....) For those who are far away at the transoceanic level, remember that, as the famous Italian American writer J. Fante teaches, in the beautiful novel “The brotherhood of the grapes” there is always a dialect before our conventional Italian, without an army and without a navy. , but the dialect is also important in the heart and in life, even a “grape brotherhood” to say I ‘m Italian, even for those who live in “Merica, as our emigrants of the early twentieth century said and as poets and writers as G. Pascoli, C. Pavese, L. Sciascia remember.”

Cooking in Bagno- Maria. Place a pot with water that does not exceed the level of the mold placed on it, but remains at least 3 -4 cm below. When the water boils, carefully put the mold (or already when it is cold), but boil over low heat, without the water ever entering the cake, possibly covered by a corperchio. Cook slowly for 40 minutes. With a knife, try to see if it has congealed, otherwise cook again, even up to an hour. Leave to cool in the water and also serve lukewarm or cold from the fridge. Accompanied by: Sweet Moscato. To obtain a good result, without holes forming in the cake, it takes several attempts…. It takes patience ... as in love for everything that gives us joy and pleasure . I’m Italian means not only knowing how to speak and write Italian, but also cooking! “

“Who knows, may our readers not think of sayings… of an Italian memory, linked to food, to dishes that now they don’t even know how to cook anymore….” And who knows if they know the famous “bûnet”, so called from the shape of a farmer’s hat that goes to mass on Sundays.

Recipe: Piedmontese BÛNET It is essential to find the mold: better in aluminum and not in steel. fresh whole milk 400 ml 4 eggs amarettti from Mombaruzzo or in any case from Piedmont two cups of mocha coffee 5 heaping tablespoons of sugar 2-3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa or 50 gr. Dark bitter chocolate. Procedure: divide the egg white, to be beaten by hand (it must not be “stiff”), incorporate the sugar and egg yolks very well. Melt the macaroons in the milk. Incorporate milk, eggs with sugar, egg whites, chocolate, coffee in a bowl, mixing well. The mold must be prepared by caramelizing the sugar: 3 tablespoons of sugar, at least half a glass of water and over low heat allow the sugar to caramelize until golden; it must not burn and then, holding the hot mold with a grip, descend over the entire surface, so that then the internal walls are all coated.

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READING

THE LAW OF KARMA BY F. GUZZARDI

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READING

CHAPTER II THE FAT WOMAN AND THE SUSPICIOUS ONE It was 2 in the morning (on a summer day). By order of the judge, I had delivered the children to their mother the night before. When there was a knock on the door of my apartment, I immediately had the feeling that something bad was about to happen to me. They were in fact two women in uniform; one of the two, fat, in her forties, the other younger watched me from a distance while the first of her checked my wrists. I ask the woman what was going on and she replies in a professional tone:”We have well-founded suspicions that you are about to attempt suicide”! I reply with a smile “Actually I was trying to sleep, after a day that was not exactly fun and in view of another working day, not exactly peaceful”.The woman looks at me with the air of the heroine of an American show, one of those who solves the most difficult cases with the naturalness of an Opera de Paris dancer walking on a bed of eggshells. Policewoman 1 (the fat one): “Unfortunately you have to come with us to the hospital for further checks, since your beloved wife has asked to save you from your suicide attempts and this, for the sake of your children”! At that point, while I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, Policewoman 2 (the suspicious one) flaunted a pair of shiny handcuffs which she diligently placed on my wrists. In ten minutes of travel we arrived at the hospital, I was handcuffed like a criminal and preceded by the fat woman with a Clint Estwood cadence.

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READING

THE SICK LOVE WE NEVER FALL IN LOVE BY CHANCE BY F. GUZZARDI (AUTHOR)

We are obsessed with the control of reason, we are obsessed with obtaining an explanation that puts us safe from future suffering but, let’s stop and think. Let’s start by saying that if a person enters our life, that is the right person! In the psyche there is no chance, nothing happens by chance and every person who goes through our life does it to teach us something, for better or for worse, and does it to favor our evolution. Everything that happens to us makes sense, it has an ultimate purpose that is important to grasp, so whenever we feel something, that is the right moment.

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READING

fter the office modalities, undressed and sitting in a room, they took turns: nurses, doctors and psychologists.

Finally, at the first light of the morning, the doctor on duty issues his verdict: “Be careful of people who want you badly, in this country it is very easy to ruin the reputation of good people”. I went straight to my workplace. pretending to have had a sleepless night. Clearly, my beloved half had taken action. At the suggestion of our Don Corleone of the forum, alias of Mr. Hellis, who knew very well that my beloved wife’s previous behavior towards her two children, would never allow her to have custody and the already proposed transfer in New York. This move, however, could have rebalanced the data. In the meantime, pending the date of the definitive trial, the problem arises of the residence apartment of my beloved wife with my two children, now the contract is about to expire. With the lightness that characterizes a rabbit in the midst of a sea of troubles, I offer the lady in question one of the rooms in my apartment in order to reinstall a space familiar to children in their rooms. The woman accepts and I, with a gesture worthy of a mentally ill in a terminal state, I find myself paying alimony and child support and at the same time hosting and feeding the same people for whom I was already paying. Meanwhile, Don Corleone plots for the final trial. But let’s take a step back, returning to our respectable defense lawyer ( Gerard V. “the drug” Muriello”, who in the meantime had resigned after a meeting with our Don Corleone who, knew very well the criminal record of my dear lawyer certainly suggests that he resign from my case. I would later discover that Don Corleone was the most feared of the lawyers in the area, not so much for his prowess but for his obvious connections to the people who matter. Meanwhile Judge Ms. Miller. (the zombie) ... was not received.

Note: The procedural records of this case are available to the public at the court of Daytona Beach, Florida - USA - “Family law” section.

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EMOTIONAL

THE SEVEN VALLEYS BY F. GUZZARDI

“

I asked myself a very simple question: How do you cope with life’s difficulties? An open question, which requires a broad answer, because the psyche has a spiritual vocation and the spirit is wandering, it likes to wander everywhere.

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EMOTIONAL

f we observe the wandering of restless souls in search of answers, we can grasp in the very choice of places, a narration made up of images; the soul speaks in images. In fact, the unconscious is poetic. But words are unable to fully accept the secret meaning of things, because wisdom cannot be communicated, science can be communicated.

This is why the search for the essence of life can only be personal; the story that the soul intends in this brazen search of his, resembles the enchanting story of a pilgrim who proceeds resolutely towards the hostel. The voice of the soul is feeble but persistent, it never gives up because its request comes from an unconscious intuition that throbs in the dark background of the psyche, comes from an inexplicable vision that needs to be understood, the voice of the soul burns to be escort to listen. We need an inspired emotional attitude; that is, the poet is the one who directly grasps an objective truth by identifying himself with situations in order to grasp something that is well represented by the other, the other with a capital A, that is, the stranger who dwells in us; this stranger is the unconscious that seeks contact with God. So it is not I who seek the truth but I am sought, something happens inside me, without my knowledge, without my being able to intervene; this thing I mean, visit existence with a religious approach. So let’s go back to our question: How can we live a worthy life? Psychologically speaking, our life is a process of creative restructuring and our job is to understand ourselves in order to grow. Therefore, it is a spiritual journey that is described psychologically in terms of a process, of filling and restructuring, precisely of our visions of the world, that is, of the relationship with ourselves and with others.

arrives at a new life, made up of freedom and love for others Santa Teresa, for example, describes the access to the deepest center of our being as a dark night of the soul; in this case there is always a common root. In the psychoanalytic field, a fundamental moment of the work of analysis from the depths is the process of elaboration of mourning and depression following the loss of childhood illusions, it is a particularly intense and dramatic period. But here we are at the point represented by the question: How can the shot go if I don’t shoot it? the student says and the Zen master replies: YES pull, YES remain in maximum adhesion! When the student has understood that YES, he will no longer need the teacher, he has pulled! As if the arrows started by themselves, without our intervention, it is something that cannot be explained well with words, because words are limited and wisdom cannot be taught. Something happens inside, it’s a change of attitude, we empty ourselves of the ambition we had inside. Therefore, it is not the one who counts how many times he hits the target, for which the target is only a piece of paper, or the analysand who unnecessarily worries about interpreting and rummaging through the truth. Instead, we must rejoice in our intuitions, as if another had them and without ambition hits the target but at the same time, it is the target that hits us, so we are spiritual. The eyes of the body are corporeal, the eyes of the spirit are the connection, the conjunction of opposites, the creative synthesis.

The encounter with the most intimate truth that dwells in your soul is described for example by Buddhism as a pilgrimage through seven valleys: knowledge, feeling, impediments, tribulations, death, abyss and celebration. The various initiatory paths have these obligatory passages in common; to achieve inner transformation, initially one passes through despair, then doubt, death and finally one

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Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese 24 Month Top Grade - 2 Pound Club Cut

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AMERICAN CROSSWORDS

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IM Italian magazine issue Spring 2022

Articles inside

THE SEVEN VALLEYS

THE SICK LOVE

THE FAT WOMAN AND THE SUSPICIOUS ONE

“lingue senza esercito e senza marina”

Praticare l’Italiano

A Love!

Marcello

Umberto

THE MASTROIANNI A FAMILY OF ARTISTS

Andrea Cislaghi

“A Effetto Domino”

Fabio Massa

Fabio Massa Actor,

ELIZABETH BOUDJEMA IN VIOLINO VERITAS

FRANCO PAOLANTONIO

Melodia per pianoforte

ALESSANDRO BORGHESE THE LUXURY OF SIMPLICITY

BIDEN - ADAMS SECURE FENCE ACT

WILDER

IMMIGRATION: INTEGRATION, CITEZINSHIP

THE MURDER OF CARMINE “THE CIGAR” GALANTE