Review of the Livornese Writer by Alessandro Ulivari

The Cover of Aspetto Che SpiovaBefore reading Riccardo D’Amico’s book entitled “Aspetto che spiova” (‘I’m waiting for it to stop raining’) I thought that the style and also the contents of this book would be quite similar to Bukowski. I expected to find some rough dialogues, scurrilous words and the genuine passion of a couldn’t-care-less attitude that are several aspects of Charles Bukowski's approach to the world. These expectations were reinforced by some statements by the author on the cover:

“I was born in Livorno on October 5th 1960 and grew up in the Livornese Bronx in a workers family, in the Shangai quarter”, “Bukowski came afterward, and was devastating. He came after the first joint and after the first kiss of love. The gambling came close behind like a cigarette coughing after smoking.” “ I dream about waking up always just after noon and finding a reason to take me back under the blanket”.

When I contacted Sarah, I thought to write an article related to some of the important artists that Livorno has produced in its history, especially writers and poets. In my e-mail I mentioned several important writers that unfortunately now are dead, and I attacked officially our local government because, in my personal opinion, it doesn’t do enough to keep alive the memory of these artists; letting also die the messages of their works.
After a long discussion with myself I decided to change the subject of my attack, because in Livorno there are even some young artists that deserve to be known and are completely abandoned by the same local government… in my opinion they are really heroes!
The Casini di Ardenza at sunsetOne of these young artists is the writer Giacomo Guantini, he is a Political Science graduate at the University of Pisa; during his experience as a student, he dedicated a lot of  time to writing and painting, he had also a room in the typical building of Livorno called the Casini d’Ardenza in which many important painters have theirs ateliers. Giacomo wrote about his experience as a painter in his first book La Terza Strada (“The third street”). In addition to the activity as a painter he also wrote many stories and poems winning also some local writing competitions.

It is not so easy to speak about Valerio Nardoni, because I met him just through his one and only book entitled “L’Uomo di Fronte” (‘The Man Opposite’) and the tales of our mutual friend Giacomo Guantini (a very clever writer, subject of  my previous article on Livorno Now).
Valerio Nardoni now lives in Florence and works in a publishing house (he is a translator from Spanish to Italian), but I think that Livorno is always with him. He can find it when he rummages in his pockets, in his pillow when he rests and thinks about the past, about his many experiences as a student, singer, painter, a man who learns to live using his mind as a weapon against the common life, against defeat.