'Tickets to Friends' for Tondelli. Brizzi: "A book about him in August"

In the name of Tondelli. 70 years after the writer's birth and 40 years after the release of Rimini, Rimini pays homage to Pier Vittorio Tondelli with a special event. It does so with the fourth edition of Biglietti agli amici, a festival conceived and directed by the writer Marco Missiroli (the title is inspired by a book by Tondelli) scheduled from 17 to 19 June between the square on the water and the Fulgor cinema. The inaugural event on the 17th (at 8 pm) will feature Enrico Brizzi: the Bolognese author will talk about Tondelli, accompanied by the actress Tamara Balducci who will read passages from his works. That same evening, the festival will then host the director brothers Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo and the actress Michela Giraud. Between 18 and 19 June, the protagonists will be Veronica Raimo, Alcide Pierantozzi, Francesco Costa and Stefano Nazzi, Stefano Massini, the art historian Annie Cohen-Solal with the lectio magistralis on Picasso. There will also be space for music with the Ginevra concert, the screening of the film Fabi Silvestri Gazzè - One step at a time and the meeting (on the 19th) with Niccolò Fabi himself. But Tondelli's soul will hover over all the evenings.

Brizzi, what did Tondelli represent for you?

"If I have become the writer I am, I owe it largely to him. He was able to tell the story of the 80s like no other. He was the first author to address young people, he was a talent scout and a talent discoverer with the Under 25 anthologies he edited. He showed us very young writers what was worth telling."

Has he changed his style?

"When I started writing, it was Tondelli's advice that pushed me to change my perspective. Those anthologies were published by TransEuropa, the same one that published Jack Frusciante, who left the group. I've always had to do with Tondelli. My great regret is that I didn't get to know him."

His three thrillers set in Rimini are a clear homage to Tondelli.

"Absolutely yes, starting with the protagonist: the policewoman Eva Bauer, a tribute to the protagonist of Rimini Marco Bauer. Those three novels were born from a bet with Maurizio Caimi. He said to me: why don't you make a noir set in Rimini? I replied: why just one? I'll make a trilogy...".

She is working on SuperTondelli: what kind of book will it be?

"It's a sort of narrative biography. HarperCollins asked me and other writers to dedicate a book to the most beloved author. I had no doubts. In the book - coming out at the end of August - I tell why it was so important for me, at 17, to write by comparing myself with Tondelli".

He recently even organized a bicycle pilgrimage in memory of Tondelli...

"More than a pilgrimage I would define it as a poetic gesture. After the Book Fair I left Turin by bike with a group of friends (the 'Forzati della strada') headed for Bologna. We made various stops, and in Correggio we stopped at the cemetery to put a flower on his grave".

Of Tondelli's works, which one did you love the most?

"He has put something new into each of his books. In Camere separate he narrated love like few others. Altri libertini is perhaps the most disruptive book. But if I have to choose, I say Rimini. The novel I studied the most and that taught me to write. A book that became a manifesto, in which Tondelli was able to intertwine many stories".

By the way, she also lived in Rimini for several years.

"A very beautiful experience. And ultimately I also owe it to Tondelli's novel. Several years after his death, his publisher Mario Andreose revealed to me that with Rimini Tondelli finally felt happy and satisfied. And he was becoming a 'classic' author. He left us too soon".