We are delighted to bring an interview with Chiara Tozzi in this Bulletin. Please enjoy Yehuda Abramovitch’s interview below.

Hello Chiara,
Over the years of our acquaintance, we’ve corresponded extensively, taught alongside one another in the past, and you recently invited me to join the Mercurius Prize committee, which we will discuss shortly. I’ve come to know you as a keen analyst and researcher, a prolific author, a screenwriter, and a teacher and lecturer in many countries—as well as a good friend and a proud mother.

I also know that you were born and raised in Florence, a city dear to my heart, about which you published in 2008, this wonderful novel “Quasi Una Vita” set in the Florence of the 1960s.

Q: Perhaps we could begin our conversation there: What does Florence represent to you, and how do you feel it has shaped your path?”

A: Thanks Yehuda for starting with this question, which allows me to immediately realize the sense of your interview. Actually being born and raised in Florence represents the trigger of my individuation journey. My childhood is filled with special images and places. For my parents and especially my paternal grandparents, who had a decisive influence on my education, it was absolutely normal to take me to visit the house of Dante Alighieri, Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci (da Vinci’s house is not far from Florence), or visit the Uffizi Museum just as taking me to the park. These visits were accompanied by vibrant stories of lives and works of these special artists. Storytelling and images were the main nourishment of my childhood. Even before I went to elementary school,…

Click HERE to read Yehuda Abramovitch’s interview in full