Italy as seen from across the Adriatic Sea through the eyes of young Albanians, recalls the image of a country clearly “involved in a moment of very complex transformation” but at the same time “a magical place, a place yearned for, that counts for a lot culturally, but also in other sectors”.
Women committed to literature
This is the sensation that Daria Bignardi had when she visited Tirana to take part in the conference “Letteraturaimpegnata al femminile”, where she presented her third book, “L’acusticaperfetta” at the Italian Cultural Institute within the context of a series of promotional events in Albania on behalf of Italian culture. It gave her an opportunity to discover “a country being shaken up, with an energy, a freshness” that are striking, with so many young people and a new Premier/artist, Edi Rama, whose “approach is one of major renewal and a break with the past”. “Albania is such a receptive country, and it needs a chance, now that it can afford to, to acknowledge and reward this energy and freshness”, the Italian author and television talk-show host said, recalling the traditional ties between the Adriatic shores evidenced by the diffusion of Italian, which “everyone speaks or at least understands”.
Symbol of culture
Bignardi met in Albania with a series of enterprising and active persons, such as Albanian writer ArdianVehbiu andArlindaDudaj the young director of the Albanian publishing house of the same name that has translated various Italian writers, such as Roberto Saviano and Paolo Giordano, along with Bignardi herself. All of which contributes to a vitality that even evokes a pang of envy when viewed from Italy, “we are caught up in a very complex moment of transformation, while they look forward with confidence. Despite everything, for them we are still a symbol of well-being, of culture”, the author tells. Certainly, “they are coming out of decades of isolation, we have had so much, we’re spoiled, we’ve spoiled ourselves, and need to rebuild ourselves around the values and love for the State”. But the sensation, Bignardi repeats, is of “great affection and esteem for Italy”. So many people came to the events, persons of all sorts and very curious. Our country is seen as a magical place, a place yearned for, that counts for a lot culturally, of course, but also in other sectors; and one to place hopes in as the journey toward the European Union continues.
