A precious memento

by Luigi Caricato

Ten years of hard work by the Olio Officina publishing house and thirteen years since its foundation in 2010. Philosopher Sossio Giametta’s celebration leads us into the future

This piece by the philosopher Sossio Giametta, a dear friend but above all a teacher, dates from 15 May 2020. I had set it aside as a precious memento, unsure whether to publish it or not, because such sincere, albeit deserving, praise seems out of place to me in some respects, and I did not think it appropriate to feature in a magazine of which I am editor.

But then, as I was putting together issue 15 of OOF International Magazine, I realized that I cannot censor it either, also because Sossio makes such an affectionate declaration of friendship that it cannot be ignored and, above all, a criticism that I feel should not be silenced: he claims that the Italian state has abandoned me, and I confirm it is true. “It’s such a shame”, he writes, “that, in order to achieve something important in Italy, it’s not enough to be a normal person but you have to be a hero”. True enough. That is the way it is – unless you belong to cliques, are entangled in politics or are a freemason or mafioso, you can only be an ordinary hero in Italy.

Irreversible corruption punishes a country like Italy with great talents by forcing them to surrender, move abroad, or sully themselves by relinquishing their independence, or to be heroes by making immense efforts to impose a free vision that is not aligned with the powers that be. And so, since issue 15 is dedicated to children, I thought I would publish Sossio’s statement here, also because 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Olio Officina publishing house, a cultural project whose beginnings can be traced back even further, to 2010, and that over the years has become an increasingly well-known landmark on the contemporary scene.

While it is true that I praise myself in saying this, I firmly believe that the results of this virtuous project are obvious and unambiguous to all. Consequently, I have decided to make Giametta’s piece public, both as a sign of affection and esteem, which I consider a great honour and which makes me proud to enjoy such a deep and authentic friendship, and as testimony and an invitation to change. And since the issue is dedicated to children and their parents, the message that has to be conveyed is that we have to strive to turn the tide, overcoming bad habits. I would like to end by citing another book that Olio Officina has published in the meantime and that directly concerns Giametta: Il mago del sud. Ritratti di Sossio Giametta, edited by Marco Lanterna. The years pass, the future awaits us.