Saturday, March 2, at 18.00:XNUMX p.m., at the Casa del Popolo in Scafati (Piazza Vittorio Veneto), presentation of the book by Francesco Maselli, Italy correspondent for the French newspaper l'Opinion, "Italy Is Afraid of the Sea."
They discuss it with the author:
Mary Pisani - Member of the UCPI European Observatory
Laura Marmorale - Social worker and activist Mediterranea Saving Humans
Moderated by:
Gabriele Cirllo - People's House
Introduces:
Michael Grimaldi - Municipal councilor
The book
The passage from land to sea changes the destinies of nations, but it is not a given and sometimes it never happens: Italy does not have the sea on its horizon, it has its gaze fixed towards the north, clinging to the Alps, it peers over the mountain peaks, it is not sitting comfortably admiring its coasts. Yet without the sea, Italy does not exist. Not only the nation, but the Peninsula, the peoples who have inhabited it and made it what it is today. The sea is feared by everyone. The fear is sedimented, penetrated the national character, spread to the south as well as to the north.
Before being a place, a space, a tool or even a way to move with the help of the wind, the first cousin of the waters, the sea is a symbol, an idea, an alien concept, which gives an immediate perception of ignorance, of extraneousness. It emerges in conversations, in the indifference and in the difficulty in relating to the element, in a very deep contradiction of a country bathed for about eight thousand kilometers and owner of the two largest islands in the Mediterranean.
Italy is afraid of the sea collects a series of unpublished reports and essays to tell this feeling that, despite its anomalies, has influenced the Italian State and its public opinion for one hundred and fifty years. In his work, Francesco Maselli has been guided by his journalistic attitude, investigating firsthand, traveling to symbolic places to breathe the sea air, perceive the noises of ports and inlets, and encounter the despair of the Italian world that instead works with the sea, and lives it every day.
Lucia Announced: “It is a surprising book, handcrafted, in which Francesco followed his instinct, his memories, goes where his heart takes him. In each chapter you don’t know what to expect until the end. And it tells not only a national character of fear, but also a story of how men conquered the sea. A book with multiple possible readings” .
Corrado Formigli: “It is an almost erratic book, because Francesco travels around Italy with a non-standardized interest, like a reporter who wants to investigate this fear. It satisfies a very strong journalistic curiosity and does so with great scrupulousness. An authentic and enjoyable book”.
Danilo Taino, Corriere della Sera: "A book that opens windows on reality and on a little-explored contradiction. Maselli is a 360-degree journalist... he arrives at an analysis that is relevant not only for our way of life but perhaps above all for the world of economics, to grasp a little-known limit of national policies, to explain our poor geopolitical projection".
Carlo Marroni, Il Sole 24 Ore : "A true reportage that touches on some of Italy's iconic places in relation to the sea, including many encounters, most notably with Claudio Magris... Maselli's book is also a handy guide to the history of trade routes, the routes of conquest that mark history but gradually change. And they also shape destinies."
The author:
Francesco Maselli was born in Naples in 1991. He is the Italian correspondent for the French newspaper l'Opinion. He has also written for Il Sole 24 Ore, Il Foglio, and Le Grand Continent, and was one of the writers of "24 Mattino," Radio 24's morning news program. He also edits podcasts and newsletters. For NR Edizioni, he translated "Codename: Elitár I" by Ariane Chemin from French.
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