It was 2014 when the writer Silvia Avallone realized the dream of 'Marina Bellezza', the protagonist of her second novel, of going to the Sanremo Festival.
The young twenty-two year old in the book, "beautiful as a hurricane", went to the event through her author who was then part of the Festival's Quality Jury, chaired in that 64th edition by Paolo Virzi.
Exactly ten years have passed, Silvia Avallone's new novel, 'Cuore nero', published by Rizzoli, has just arrived in bookstores, in which she recounts the paradoxical encounter between two human beings who come from an opposite experience of evil.
The writer has become the mother of a 5-month-old baby for the second time and the Quality Jury no longer exists.
Was the role you played important?
Would it be useful for her to continue to be there?
"I fondly remember my participation as a quality juror at the Sanremo Festival in 2014. It was very beautiful and exciting, even participating right at the back of the scene, of the great machine of the Ariston Theater which never stops, always in turmoil. Seeing it from the inside was very, very interesting for me."
What do you have left of that experience?
"I remember with great pleasure these meetings that we on the jury had, who were poets, writers, directors, actors. So many arts put together. We met to talk about the songs. In this sense it was truly group work, a team effort. We talked a lot, we actually spent hours in these meetings talking about the lyrics, the music."
What does it mean for a writer to look at the world of songs and entertainment today?
"Naturally for me as a writer the most important aspect to evaluate remained that of the words. This exchange from various arts was beautiful. I really think that if they wanted to reinstate the Quality Jury it would be nice anyway, it's always an extra look, an extra polyphony The more voices there are, in my opinion, it is always an asset."
Have you always followed the Festival with your family, with friends?
"I have always tried to follow him because I like him a lot, it seems to me that he tells, reflects a bit of the Italian times we are experiencing. Even the songs express a popular feeling to us which is always very important to listen to, to intercept to be questioned".
Silvia Avallone, a new mother and busy with the promotion of the new book, which would be the perfect title for the 2024 Strega Prize, will she be able to follow the Sanremo event, which kicks off on February 6, again this year?
"This year too I will certainly do everything I can to follow him even if I will collapse very soon as a mother of a newborn, but I am always very interested, especially in the songs of young people because I am very interested in understanding their language, their thoughts and their questions ".
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