Is being Neapolitan a given by birth or a choice? Michelangelo Iossa answers this question in his twentieth book, We Are Not Neapolitans. The 100 Non-Neapolitans Who Made Naples Great, published by Edizioni MEA and featuring a preface by Renzo Arbore.
The book overturns a deeply rooted idea: Neapolitanness, Iossa writes, is not a matter of birth but of belonging. Through one hundred portraits, the author shows how some of the figures most closely linked to the myth of Naples were not born in the shadow of Vesuvius.
The mosaic features the siren Partenope and Diego Armando Maradona, Virgil and San Gennaro, Federico II and Matilde Serao, Vittorio De Sica and Marcello Mastroianni, Benedetto Croce and Domenico Modugno. Different stories, one common thread: they chose the city, and the city recognized them.
More than a catalogue of biographies, the book is an essay on identity as encounter. Naples, in these pages, is a world city: it is built through cross-fertilization and continues to embrace those who share its language, outlook, and rhythm.
The release coincides with a mature phase in Iossa's career. A journalist, writer, and lecturer, he has been writing for RCS group publications, including Corriere della Sera and Corriere del Mezzogiorno, for over thirty years. He has taught at Suor Orsola Benincasa University since 1999. With more than 45.000 copies sold, he is among Italy's most widely read commentators on music and pop culture: he has dedicated volumes to the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Pino Daniele, Harry Styles, Rino Gaetano, and the James Bond soundtracks. He has received, among other awards, the Publishing Award from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
The first public presentation is scheduled for Thursday, September 10, at 6:00 PM at the Mondadori Bookstore/MA in Galleria Umberto I, Naples. The presentation will feature Pino Strabioli, director, actor, and host, in conversation with the author. Speakers will include Antonio Parlati, director of the RAI Production Center in Naples, and musician Diego Moreno. Moderator: Geltrude Vollaro for Edizioni MEA.
The book's closing message is clear: it doesn't matter where you were born. What matters is how much Naples was born inside you.
