FIERAMENTE IL LIBRO - BOOKS & WRITERS, A LITERARY FESTIVAL IN MY HOMETOWN

Books and writers have always fascinated me since I was a child, as soon as I could  read and write. These days I'm experiencing a full immersion of meetings with writers and discussions  of  books which makes me proud and happy.  The atmosphere is rather familiar and intimate, the location stunning and the people I met interesting or even inspiring. Nothing of the speculation over literature, culture and publishing we see in other literary festivals. 

Fieramente il libro is an event at its second edition in my home town, among the organizers two dear friends of mine, whom I must thank for the energy and the enthusiasm they put in everything they do  and, of course, for inviting me to be part of the event as a member of the reading jury. I've read the 3  books finalists in the Narrative section and tomorrow I'll have to choose the one I liked best.

Yesterday TrainDogs and Fabio Palombo gave start to a weekend of special encounters: beautiful words and awesome music in a show called, Abracadabra. Fabio Palombo read his stories of men and women in little less than 11 lines, which he used to post on facebook at firsr. They are an extraordinary example of how words can do magic. 

SNOW BROUGHT US BACK IN TIME AND WE DIDN'T LIKE IT.

It has been snowing for 4 days now. The reaction of the majority of people tothis news may be: "How beautiful! Winter snow!". But it hasn't been beautiful at all. Rather awful. And the weather forecast is not encouraging. It will go on snowing until Friday. 

Reason 1  for the awfulness of the situation: we don't live in an area where it usually snows, we are not ready to cope with it, not at all organized to face emergencies of this type.

Reason 2. after a few hours, on Thursday evening,  we were left without electricity (no light, no heating, no fridge, no telephone, no computer, no hot water) and it lasted for more than 24 hours. There are still towns and villages with no electricity and areas with no water at all. The risk of other power cuts is real.

Reason 3. Impossible to drive our car out of the steep alley we live at the bottom of. No public snow plough will help us to get rid of all this snow. 

Reason 4. Our provisions are not endless, few shops are open and left with very little to sell.

PERIOD DRAMA - THE BORGIAS UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

I have already told you something about me living in an old small town 72 km from Rome (about 1 hour by car), haven't I? If you don't remember have a look HERE and HERE. It is not so famous, not so glamour, not so rich in facilities but it is my native town and I have always lived here, my dear and most of my friends live here so ... I can't but love it. It's called Subiaco. Why did I started telling you about it? Because I've just read on Passages to the Past, one of the many blogs I follow,  that Showtime Networks after producing THE TUDORS ( I just saw the first series ) is going to shoot a 10-episode series about THE BORGIAS to be released in spring 2011 and starring JEREMY IRONS as Rodrigo Borgia aka Pope Alexander VI, father of Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia. Now these names are strictly link to my native town. Can you see the pictures on the left? They are shots of the so-called Rocca dei Borgia , the Borgias' Fortress, which overtops the town laid on a hill. It was built in the 11th century but was then militarily fortified by Rodrigo Borgia - later Pope Alexander the VI- in 1476. It became the Borgias' residence and Lucrezia, Rodrigo's famous daughter and Cesare's sister, was born there. Now they say the fortress is haunted by her ghost but ... I can't assure that.

Now I really hope this series will be produced and released because I'd be greatly interested in watching it. I hope as well that it will be a good one, even better than THE TUDORS. Jeremy Irons is such an excellent actor that I think my hopes are well entrusted.

In the article I read they state: "THE BORGIAS will be a complex, unvarnished portrait of one of history's most intriguing and infamous dynastic families. The series begins as the family's patriarch Rodrigo (Jeremy Irons), becomes Pope, propelling him, his two Machiavellian sons Cesare and Juan, and his scandalously beautiful daughter, Lucrezia, to become the most powerful and influential family of the Italian Renaissance. And all that power and influence eventually leads to their demise. As Machiavelli once said about his friends, the Borgias, "Politics have no relation to morals."

(If you want to read the whole article click HERE)

To know more about  this Renaissance powerful  family visit

The Borgias Blog

INTO THE WILD

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)

As I told you before, after a sitting marathon what I longed most was going for long walks. It has been terribly hot, unfortunately, in the last days so long walks were not recommended. Anyhow, yesterday I couldn't resist my sister's invitation to join her to a wanderful cool (in every sense) place she had gone to with her husband last Sunday. I had always heard about this splendid pond near my house but never went. I thought it was too dangerous to get there but I've just discovered it isn't . I have already shown and described my favourite walk some posts ago (HERE) and this spot is on the same route, near the monasteries, only you don't follow the main road at a certain crossroads ... Now, I absolutely want to share with you the incredible excursion my sister and I went for. It is just 3 minutes by car from my house, then ... into the wild. My eyes are still full of the green and the blue we were astonished by yesterday afternoon.

The amazing pond - St Benedict's pond it is called - we finally got to walking about half an hour after leaving the car, is formed by the river Aniene which comes out in a sudden sprinkling fall from a crevice in the mountain. Impressive. We sat there silent, watching and listening to the roaring of the water ... the voice of Nature, the sound of life. It was not hot at all, we needed a jumper and ... we were glad to be there. Glad to be alive.

WONDERFUL ... BUT A BIT MELANCHOLIC

I'm having a break. I've been filling in papers with figures, percentages, final marks all afternoon. Figures, figures, figures...This school-year is finishing and my mental energies too. I need some fresh air. I'm at the back of my flat, in the big -better to say long - balcony, I'm sitting on a bench with my laptop on my knees and a very looong coffee next to me (not really Italian, I know). Above you can see the view I've got in front of me. Few days ago I showed the view from the small balcony at the front of the house to you. Do you remember? This is my native town and the town I still live and work in: Subiaco, 72 km from Rome. Not a big one, only about 9,000 inhabitants, but not so bad for someone who loves peace and tranquillity like me.

As I was telling you, school is finishing: this morning I had my last lessons with this year classes. Three of them, 57 of my students, will be at university next year. From June 25th they will start doing their school - leaving exams and I will be there with them as an internal teacher. It'll be hard for all of us since we will be at school till mid-July. Do you know what? I'm quite sad thinking of what I've been doing this afternoon: all my work and my students' efforts had to be summed up in numbers ... figures...I've always hated numbers, I've always thought words were better. Not only because I'm not a genius at Maths, but because I'm sure they are not ...enough, they are not fit to convey the sense, the meaning, the aim of all our efforts, mine and theirs. Well...it's just a sensation...maybe I'm only sad or melancholic as always when at the end of something.

I need some music. A cheerful song possibly. Let's see ... this will help me. 3 minutes , then soon back to my boring number-writing task! WONDERFUL!!! (It's the title of the song)