The storyteller and essayist Luca Scarlini presented the book Piccola guida a Helsinki in libri, divided in various chapters; each one with a different theme, such as music, art, children and languages. Helsinki is a city in close contact with nature due to the nearby vast woods, and numerous small islands. This has a significant presence on the city’s architecture too. Moreover, the city is especially fascinating because of the different languages are spoken by its inhabitants: Finnish, Swedish, Samil (a local dialect) and Russian, due to the Russian occupation during the First World War. This point is helpful to understand how Finland is, in a sense, dominated by controversies created over the years. Suffice to say that Finland is the home of special form of tango, but it is also considered the birthplace of Black Metal!

(caricamento...)

Another point to consider is art: Finland may be a small country in terms of population, but it has got a strong link with art, contemporary art in particular. But why do people see Finland as a distant land, different from other countries and with an aura of mystery? Because Finnish is one of the most difficult languages to learn in the whole world! We do not know a great deal about this country: there aren’t many translators working from the language and this has an obvious impact on the amount of translated material available to learn about it. We have to remember that its language is a minority one and is more complex than many other. But just because we are not aware of it, it doesn’t mean Finland has no history. On the contrary, it has a wealth of art, music, poetry and cinema ready for us to discover!