«My schedule for Italy guest of honor at Buchmesse»- Corriere.it

NoNot only Carlo Rovelli but also Stefano Zecchi and a writer will take the stage at the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair where Italy will be the guest of honour. And Stefano Boeri will design the pavilion of our country. These are some of the fixed points, between innovations and confirmations with respect to his predecessor Ricardo Franco Levi, from which the course of Mauro Mazza as extraordinary commissioner of the Government for the participation of Italy as guest of honor at Buchmesse 2024 starts.

Mazza, former director of Raiuno, Rai Sport and Tg2, talks about it with Corriere della Sera.

You were nominated last June 15th. What will be the main guidelines of his mandate? Has he already started some initiative?

The process of the nomination decree concluded a few hours ago. I had a couple of meetings at the Ministry of Culture and a series of informal contacts, above all to understand where I was catapulted. Obviously the satisfaction with this job is much greater than the concern for the commitment that awaits me. The guidelines are yet to be established. But I have one resolution above all: to represent Italian culture in all its expressions and declinations in Frankfurt. I’d like to own our program: Italian culture, roots in the future.

Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano had announced a high-profile person who could organize a pluralist presence for the role of commissioner at the Buchmesse. Recently several right-wingers have spoken of a cultural hegemony of the left, lamenting a lack of pluralism. On the other hand, a systematic occupation of posts by the right is denounced. How do you see it?

I thanked the minister and the prime minister for having thought of me. The idea of ​​cultural hegemony of the left seems to me outdated. Gramsci hasn’t lived here for some time. I find the expression coined by Fulvio Abbate “friendliness” more fitting, which better conveys the idea of ​​a club, a self-legitimate coterie that monopolizes TV and radio programmes, events and literary prizes. The club still manages offices and presidencies today. It can no longer be like this. The spectrum begins to widen, the horizon is clearing. Have you ever seen that we are becoming a normal country even culturally? A country where culture is an area of ​​confrontation, with censorship banned forever.

Can you give some examples?

Well, preventing Minister Eugenia Roccella from speaking at the Book Fair was a very serious episode. Only a few clear words from President Sergio Mattarella silenced the noisy chorus of those who justified, endorsed and winked at the protesters.

That day the director of the 2023 Salone, Nicola Lagioia, took the stage and tried to convince those who protested to talk, but he too was attacked. Do you think there are other responsibilities than those of the protestors?

On that crazy day there were many responsibilities: of those who contested in that way, of those who organized them, of those who neither knew how nor wanted to guarantee that the meeting would take place. Only the minister really tried to talk.

The previous commissioner at the Buchmesse, Levi, assures that he has guaranteed pluralism in his work. What is your idea of ​​the events that led to his resignation?

I have already met Levi twice. We have not entered into the merits of the resignation. I would like to say that, knowing his experience and seriousness, he did not surprise me to see that his management was efficient and transparent. I also shared many of the initiatives that have already started. It’s about moving forward, the first autumn deadlines are not far off.

Will you confirm the invitation to Carlo Rovelli to the opening ceremony of the Buchmesse? That invitation had been revoked, although then renewed, following the declarations made on stage at the May 1 Concert in Rome: the physicist had spoken of a possible escalation of the war in Ukraine, attacking, without naming him, the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto. Does he also have other names in mind for the opening event in Frankfurt?

Professor Rovelli was among the first I wanted to talk to. I reiterated my desire to have him on the opening day of Buchmesse ’24 to take stock of culture and scientific research in Italy. To reflect on the beauty and richness of our heritage, I invited Stefano Zecchi, who accepted with enthusiasm. I would also like that that day there was an important writer and we lived a musical moment of great strength and emotion. I’m working on it.

Will the position at ICF Next, the communications company where Levi’s son works, also be maintained?

The first impression that it is a team of great professionals, who will accompany us throughout the entire journey. In the contract with ICF Next it is stipulated that the company will help us meet all deadlines, address problems and solve them brilliantly.

As for the design of the Italian Pavilion, is there still the idea of ​​entrusting it to the architect Stefano Boeri?

The Boeri idea remains and how. The architect knows that I intend to have his signature on the two thousand square meters of the Italian Pavilion. That will be beautiful.

Do you see possible criticalities in the relationship, from now on, with the Italian cultural world that will be involved in the Buchmesse: publishers, writers, translators…?

I don’t see any critical issues. In agreement with the new commissioner – it still has a certain effect on me to define myself like this -, the IEA has written to all publishers asking them to indicate the authors they intend to bring to Frankfurt. The editors will take care of the moments of presentation and comparison. In the arenas of the Italian Pavilion it will be my task to organize the five days: meetings, debates, readings. There will be space for dozens of authors, various literary genres, large and small publishers. I wish there were a lot of insights. Different political cultures will be compared through the best interpreters of the respective schools of thought. And then, great directors, actors, musicians. After all, in the years of Raiuno, building programming schedules was my job.

In an interview with Corriere on 21 April 2023, the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, speaking of Italy as guest of honor at the Festival du Livre in Paris last spring and at the Buchmesse in 2024, had spoken of a great opportunity to continue on the road to an osmosis that increasingly consolidates the common platform of values ​​on which the European House is founded. What do you think?

Europe has a future only if it can define and recognize itself in a table of shared values. It seems to me a terrain in which confusion and contradictions still resist. An example? Putting aside the religious sense, considering it superfluous, is proving to be harmful precisely for Europe, for its increasingly uncertain identity and future. The demographic winter is a real tragedy: people unconsciously commit suicide after a multi-millennial history. The best European minds, secular and religious – of every religion – can and must do a great deal to address this emergency, which is primarily cultural. And the ruling classes have a duty to listen and forcefully intervene.