Living in the heights
8 9 2022
Living in the heights

The enriching effect of moving to the mountains

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.

(caricamento...)

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.