Living in the heights

The city of Mantua's Festivaletteratura , this year in its twenty sixth edition, raises the curtain by welcoming Paolo Cognetti , one of the most recognised Italian authors of the last decade. Cognetti, author of Le Otto Montagne , ( The Eight Mountains , 2017 Strega Prize winner), was on stage with Maurizio Carucci , singer of the band Ex-Otago , presenting his latest solo album Respiro , Accompanied by Cognetti's dog Lucky, the two discussed the different aspects of living in the mountains.

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Within the beautiful patio of the Museo Diocesano, the two artists explained that the mountain carries with itself different features. A place to escape from or to settle in, a refuge for minorities, a space of freedom and personal growth. Each using their own means of expression, for Cognetti literature and for Carucci music, the pair shared their common opinion: the mountain is a place rich in elements that we often don’t think of while living in the city, such as the darkness of the night or the silence of the wood .

In his latest novel, La Felicità del Lupo , Cognetti talks about the people that live in the rural villages of the valleys: their jobs and passions, their friendships, their behaviour toward strangers. Carucci, singing three singles from his last record, asserted his own perception of travelling between places as both a physical and abstract space where everything can happen; the condition in which we are most fragile and for this reason more willing to change.

The event was chaired by writer, photographer and fellow mountain enthusiast Marta Bacigalupo .