BEATRIX

BEATRIX

Jun 28, 2025 | BOOKS, BOOKS

Beatrix is a supernatural horror written by Cristiano Venturelli.

See how beautiful his site is:  I liked the waves of the sea. 

I have already told you about Cristiano in connection with another of his books: Echoes from the Unknown. 

Cristiano is a very friendly and helpful person and with the enthusiasm of someone who loves what he writes he gave me the opportunity to read Beatrix too.

The author asks: what power can a gaze contain?

I leave it up to you to guess, curious to find out if for you having a power equals something positive or negative.

There are always two sides: good and evil.

White wolf or black wolf? Do you remember when we talked about the Stanford experiment?

What if the powers were supernatural, if they were something that did not belong to human nature, would you fear them or would you be fascinated by them?

You know that I never fully reveal the surprising elements of each book, precisely to leave the discovery as it was surprising to me.

But I will tell you that Beatrix is a condensation of facets that unite opposite souls: mother, witch … diversity, magic but also suffering.

Let me ask you a question: if I say suffering, what is the first thing you think of?

THREE by Valérie Perrin

THREE by Valérie Perrin

Jan 11, 2025 | BOOKS, MUSIC

We had already chatted about Valérie Perrin about her previous book Fresh Water for Flowers. 

I have also read Three thanks to Valeria and her Mum.

As you know, I have a bit of a fixation on three, not by chance on the idea of three sides I imagined my Heron’s formula. 

And on the concept of three this book builds a real apotheosis.

You know I don’t like to reveal too much, but I want to tell you that there was a moment while reading when I felt terribly dumb for not having understood beforehand, so much so that I would have even gone back to look for the exact point where I was so blind.

However, it is no secret that Three by Valérie Perrin tells the story of three friends.

Friendship, the kind that survives suffering, the kind that heals disappointments, the kind that bridges loneliness, but above all Friendship of the kind that comes about quite naturally, because it cannot be otherwise.

Friendship almost as predestination and deeply felt choice at the same time.

Friendship as destiny and Friendship as salvation.

Friendship that lasts a lifetime.

Do you have friends who fit this description?

Or maybe you can describe your idea of Friendship even better.

The three protagonists get to know each other and grow up going through years that I experienced at about the same age myself.

Do your childhood friendships endure stoically under the blows of life or have the paths taken inexorably different directions?

Valérie Perrin very often quotes songs and song lyrics, which as you know I particularly love.

And so I discovered Indochine, which I did not know.

Here you can find a playlist with the songs mentioned in the book.

Another key element in the book is water. 

Even with reference to water, we can find Valérie Perrin’s ‘three’: pool, sea, lake.

A further metaphor for evolution: birth, life, death.

KISSES OF ALASSIO

KISSES OF ALASSIO

Sep 23, 2023 | JOURNEY FROM MUG TO MUG, JOURNEY FROM MUG TO MUG

This is a somewhat particular “step” on the mug-to-mug journey, or perhaps I should say it is more of a crossover with Coffee Kiss. 

The kisses, however, are chocolate, and more specifically they are Kisses of Alassio.

Alassio is a resort on the Ligurian Riviera, and here there is real-time sea views thanks to a webcam.

In the 1950s Alassio became a popular destination throughout Europe, a haunt of artists and celebrities who gathered in the cafés still symbolic of the Dolce Vita.

I find this description particularly beautiful.

One such café is precisely Pasticceria Balzola, still making the sweets patented by Balzola Pasquale in 1919.

I thank Monica who gave them to us as a gift!

Have you tasted these Baci = Kisses yet?

Or have you already “seen them?”

Yes: Kisses in Alassio can also be seen, in the form of exhibited works: Artàporter issued a call for artists to submit tiles for the Muretto virtual version.

Alassio thus becomes METALASSIO and some artists have represented the Kisses this way:

Speaking of virtual kisses, have you ever heard of Kissenger?

I know, it’s a name that immediately evokes a parody …

But Kissenger really exists, though: it’s an app with a device you can attach to your phone to send each other kisses via phone …

I’ll pass, over the phone at most you can get me to sing … you know the song Kiss by Prince, also made famous by Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman who sings it in the bathtub?

Or on the phone kisses can be written, quoting some of the most beautiful poetry ever written, for example there is
Love’s Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the Ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
in one another’s being mingle
Why not I with thine?
See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdain’d its brother:
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea
what are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?


But since we are talking about the sea, at this point I ask you: did you in Alassio eat the Kisses, see them, or give them?

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