Marcello Cambi, my 'Diary written with pencil'

ROME - "Who am I? A little man who doesn't even know how to tie a tie, but who always wears it; who speaks foreign languages ​​as the comedian Carlo Dapporto did in his gags; who now, only now, right here, reveals the their age kept hidden for fun all their life ".

Marcello Cambi, head of the ANSA photographic service from 1976 to 1993, head of the press office of the Senate in the years 1979-80 during the Fanfani presidency, at the head of Miss Italia communication since 1988, introduces himself in 'Diary written with the pencil '(Ledizioni, pp. 129, 19.90 euros).

"The pages I wrote - explains Cambi - are made up of the description of phases of my life, of the meetings and friendships I have made. It is therefore an almost intimate diary, but one that involves many people. A simple diary, which seems written with pencil (the title is inspired - only the title - from "Poems written with pencil" by Marino Moretti). The first part has the subtitle "Memories of school": I start the journey from the high school desks to remember some figures I met in those years and to recall the period of the war lived as a boy. So, a long description to say and explain "who I am", what are my values, the meaning that friendship has for me, which I still cultivate as if it were (and it is) my strength. It is no coincidence that the last part, the widest,has as its subtitle "We are friends" and includes 35 short stories, not long, except three. Some have met the favor of readers on social networks, who are my friends, the fixed theme ".

In the roundup of memories, the author, born in Florence in 1935, professional journalist since 1968, focuses on people he met in his life and work as a journalist: family, colleagues, photographers, interviewed and loved characters. For example, the girls of Miss Italia, but also their parents, and then Dino Risi, Amintore Fanfani, Sergio Lepri, Gian Paolo Cresci, Fellini, Fabrizio Frizzi, Gianni Agnelli, Baudo, Cino Ricci, Gianni Berengo Gardin. "All entrusted - he emphasizes - to fidelity and irony". "I am sorry that the book, written only to be presented in a ceremony to be invented - he comments - cannot make many friends who have disappeared smile: priests, card players, head waiters of my beloved restaurants".