Why I Wrote My Story
Over the years, I have shared hundreds of photographs and videos of Marco and our family. I spoke about him on a website and through social media. I had thousands of conversations with people. Not because I refused to accept that he was no longer physically here, but because I wanted the person he truly was to remain visible. This book is the most complete expression of that same wish.
On these pages, his story can live on when my own voice one day falls silent. I also wrote this book because names and dates alone are never enough. A family tree can tell us when someone was born. An official document can state where someone lived. A register can record when a person died.
But no document tells us what their voice sounded like. What they dreamed of. What they feared. How they loved. Or how many sacrifices they made for those who came after them. For that, stories are needed. I wanted my children and grandchildren one day not only to know where they came from. I wanted them to feel it. To understand something of the Italy my parents left behind.
Who worked. Who was sometimes right and sometimes wrong. Who fell. Who made mistakes. But who tried each time to rise again and continue with an open heart. While writing these pages, I relived my entire life. Some memories brought a smile to my face all by themselves.
For others, I had to stop because the emotions grew stronger than the words. Sometimes it felt as though I were standing beside my father again. Hearing my mother speak again. Seeing Marco sitting across from me as we discussed a new idea together. Writing brought no one back.
But it gave my memories a voice again. Perhaps Dorina too will want to read this book one day. She has little interest in social media and digital communication. But she enjoys reading books and magazines. I therefore hope these pages may reach her in a way that all the digital images, messages and conversations never could. Not to convince her of my beliefs.
But to help her understand better why I continued speaking about Marco. Why I wanted to keep his memory visible. And how much our collaboration, our conversations and our shared dreams meant to me. Some things are difficult to express in a conversation. A book gives words time to find their way quietly to a reader's heart.