Category: Actuality

Three eggs, 100g of sugar, 300ml of milk, 200g of flour and 50g of butter. This is the very simple recipe for my happiness. I don’t have that many memories of my grandmother, so I’ve always kept this recipe clear in my mind, as a way of remembering her.  Every time I think of my grandmother, the first thing that comes to mind is crepes. Every time I eat one I get transported back to that kitchen. I see her, wearing an apron, grappling with the stove with a ladle in her hand, whilst she hums to some unknown tune […]

The water that descended from the gutters, and the noise it made, that gurgling sound, made her think of mountain rivers. The city, absent and desolate, gave voice to its silence late one evening.  The only thing to broke this silence was the evening news: “Hello and welcome to News 24. The top story tonight. Record frost. Temperatures drop. Snowfall is predicted at low altitudes as Northern parts of the country freeze over…” Melanie curled her feet under her Grandmothers woolen blanket and sunk deeper into the living room sofa, listening closely to the journalist’s voice. She knew how cold […]

Do you know who chose your name? I did, just before you were born. I remember that I was in the bath tub, I was six years old and I was with our mother… I guess you were there too, inside her enormous stomach, just waiting to come out Nicolàs. You were going to be called Nicolàs. You were born a couple of months later, in April; I remember it snowing that day, it was if heaven wanted to announce your arrival with white smiles. When I was a kid, I thought that the day before you were born you […]

The alarm clock goes off. It’s time to wake up. I don’t think there is a more annoying sound in the whole world than an alarm clock going off in the morning. The sound sets off a series of motions inside my head. I sleepily wait for my turn to go to the bathroom. I notice that my roommates keep glancing at me, smiles flickering across their lips. What are they laughing at? I brush my teeth and wash my face and I start thinking about something else. I make my bed then leave to go and have breakfast. It’s […]

Marco flips through his newspaper. “Boy, under the influence of drugs, beats up his father after yet another furious quarrel”. Page seven of the local chronicle. Suddenly the memory hits him like a lightning bolt, thoughts of his past, of his family  In an instant, Marco is enveloped in a cloud of lies, of violence, the unbearable air that he had to breathe when he found himself close to the people that loved him. He would say it every time: “OK, I’m done, I’m going to get clean” and his father would believe him because he desperately wanted to. He […]

My name is Andrea and I’m a mechanic. I have always had a passion for engines and powerful machines; I’ve always loved the rush of adrenaline I used to get when I pushed myself to the limit, and I’m not just talking about when I was behind the wheel  I was pretty young when I started to use. I stopped going to school when I was thirteen because I only had time to think about work and play. Then one day I couldn’t take it anymore. I thought I had it all: a good job, a family and a fantastic […]

I stop. I let the sounds, rhythms and words wash over me. My breaths become shorter and shorter and shorter, until they become more and more shallow. I feel tiny in front of all the fire that surrounds me. All of this has a name. It’s called life, and I’m scared. What am I afraid of? To live? I’ve always been alive. Why? I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I want. I want to be. I want to be alive. For real this time. This is the start of something new. The beginning of something bigger, something so big […]

Ice. The road is covered in ice. I’m cold, my teeth chatter. I can’t tell if it’s the weather or if I’m in the early stages of withdrawals. I finish my last cigarette. All this waiting is making me nervous and I start to get second thoughts. I can still change my mind. I’m so cold it starts to hurt, but what hurts the most is to find myself at seventeen years old outside the gates of San Patrignano on Christmas Eve, hoping for a chance to be let in. If only I could go back a few years and […]

This is a story of a friendship shared between Ale and myself. Ale is a fantastic person who is currently in recovery, and completing the program at San Patrignano. You are probably asking yourself how anyone could have feelings for a junky. Well give me a chance to explain myself and perhaps you will understand.  Ale and I met thirteen years ago. As soon as I saw him I knew that there was something between us. It was as if we had been struck by lightning. We quickly became inseparable. We would take long winter walks at night through the […]