The anthology, published by the Roman publishing house Edizioni della Sera, collects the stories dedicated by 22 Calabrian authors to their land.
From this strip of Magna Graecia land dropped into the sea, a bony comma hooked between the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian by the beefy backs of the Sila and Aspromonte, a song of life and hope rises, of angry condemnation and desperate resistance that resounds in the eyes of the reader like a timeless odi et amo.
The last emotional journey into the heart of the ancient land of the Bruzi takes shape among the twenty-two stories of the Calabresi forever anthology, published by the independent publishing house Edizioni della Sera directed by Stefano Giovinazzo (page 150 € 12.00), in the bookshop since last June. Twenty-two authors born in Calabria, some of whom, lived in Calabria before saying goodbye to the beloved land in search of fortune elsewhere, emigrated even before the migrants.
Among the memories of Anna Alagi, Angela Altomare, Alessia Antonucci, Rosalba Baldino, Domenico Bilotti, Davide Carpino, Martino Ciano, Cetta De Luca, Francesco Forestiero, Maura Gigliotti, Fiorella Lorenzi, Aldo Mazza, Elisabetta Motta, Maria Parafati, Stella Romano, Adriana Sabato, Nunzio Scalercio, Rossana Scarcelli, Enrica Tancioni, Massimo Valentini, Mariagiulia Votta, all the sweetness of ancient recipes, country traditions, distant childhoods is enclosed.
A departing train, pushed by blows of "vatinni" - which close pieces of Calabria in a cardboard suitcase tied with string to take to the "Merica" - is not enough to cut roots that are too hard, similar to those of bergamot trees.
Just as the "flights that pump false illusions towards the North" or the train of the story "A spit of conscience" are not enough, which takes away the protagonist as the Epiphany does with the holidays, leaving only the hanging lights in the village, "twisted at the mercy of the breeze that has no color ”.
Nostalgia and anger add to the symphony of sensations contained in the stories. “This is the country I am leaving from. Everyone is fine with everything, and everything stands for everything that has or does not have a soul, whether it is in heaven or on earth, whether it has been created or has only been thought of. Yet, right here, for the first time I learned to play, I learned to dream ... I am my Calabria ... cast out from birth and raised with this idea of escape, of having to disappear from this land of sea, of mountains and jagged coasts ".
Ancient snacks, lagane and chickpeas, morzeddhu 'cca pitta and sardines, bowed heads, hands on the chest, "viva Maria" are intertwined with people and objects that survive in the lexicon that tastes of home and sun. Rough hands and wide hips, Mediterranean faces, dark complexions and a big heart are mixed with knowledge and flavors in homes where "childhood has a long stride when misery is a claw that shreds the flesh".
In a "bitter" land, all departures and missed returns, there are only trips, absences, empty chairs in front of the doors of the houses, mixed with the memories of days marked by work in the garden, by clothes washed outdoors, from alarm clock to 'Sunrise. But the desire to try is not lacking, stronger than the fear of failure.
"As soon as I was contacted by the publisher Stefano Giovinazzo - confesses the curator of Calabresi per Semper, Francesco Forestiero, author of one of the twenty-two short stories - I immediately accepted his proposal. I felt a great desire to do, but also a certain fear. I asked myself: will I be able to really create a work that represents Calabria and the Calabrians? Fortunately, this doubt, day after day, melted like snow in the sun. Once the stories have been selected, thanks to the invaluable help of Viviana Calabria and Loredana Cella, the emotion has become the awareness of having created a beautiful anthology, a work that, I am sure, represents a lot of Calabria, the Calabrians and their way of thinking. In the end, I felt a sense of belonging that perhaps I had never felt before ".
To embrace the stories, the preface by Mariarosaria Gaìro - historical voice of RLB - and the afterword by Fortunato Amarelli.
“Being Calabrian - writes Amarelli - is a cry of hope and tenacity. A scream that has always accompanied my life. Being Calabrian is a state of mind, a concentration of ephemeral and marked feelings, a web of strong emotions that come out of all the stories in this text “.
