Matteo Russolillo: from Il Mio Salotto to his first novel

“Questa è la storia, di uno di noi…” (This is the story, about one of us...) I could also have used this quote from Adriano Celentano as the title of this article because today I am telling you about one of us, a regular writer for ilmiosalotto since its origins: Matteo Russolillo.

Despite some initial misgivings, Matteo, once he started with the first article, has not stopped, managing to cultivate, through his work for our magazine, his interest in the most unusual and uncommon forms of art. Art, as he says, is the ability to freeze the viewer for a moment, fascinate him, make him think, in a word, amaze him.

We talked about the artistic spirit in one of our last articles "Hassan Ragab: artificial intelligence produces art" and Matteo likes to express his own through building "sculptures" made with LEGO bricks, an activity that was the subject of his first article.

At the beginning of this year, however, through the encouragement of our director Francesca, Matteo threw himself into a new adventure, which is also an art form: writing.

In fact, by attending a creative writing course, he was able to concretise his desire to bring stories to life. His first story, "La mia occasione" has been published online by the independent publishing house l'Infernale Edizioni, and can be read, for the moment only in Italian, for free at this link:

LA MIA OCCASIONE

The tale is about a long war, a simple soldier, and his seemingly impossible love for the queen who leads the opposing side.

Ed eccoci di nuovo, gli uni di fronte agli altri, come se nulla fosse stato. Le uniformi immacolate torneranno a tingersi di dolore, anche questo prato fiorirà di nuovi schizzi rossi.

…ma forse oggi potrebbe essere la volta buona per dichiararle il mio amore, la volta in cui il destino regista di questa interminabile guerra disegnerà la mia occasione.

Battles rage on and on day after day, with alternating fortunes for the protagonist, who nevertheless always remains focused toward his true goal.

…non me ne vogliate, io non combatto per conquistare un insignificante lembo di terra, per piantare bandiera sopra una nuova collina o per includere un nuovo fiume sulla nostra mappa, io combatto per conquistare il cuore della mia bella.

…lo farò quando finalmente arriverà il mio momento, l’occasione, quando di fronte alla mia regina, al giungere dell’ordine di ucciderla, che mi spingerà come un’onda alle spalle, io disobbedirò, per la prima volta, ascoltando solo il mio cuore.

And so the opportunity will come, and our hero, he will have to manage to ignore the cries of his general, to prove that love can break down every rule.

«Uccidila! Che sia la volta buona, uccidila!» Il suono di queste parole si perde nella mia mente, come se venisse da sott’acqua.

«Uccidila!»

Lei mi guarda, come mai prima aveva fatto.

«Uccidila!»

Mi sfilo l’elmo…

But the story is not just a love story; Matteo's obsession with the pursuit of wonder gives us an absolutely unsettling ending, about which I won't give you any clues.

The LEGO transposition of the tale could not be missed..

Our aspiring writer has certainly not stopped there; he already has two more short stories outlined on paper and in his mind, just waiting to be written, and his first novel, finished, is due out in 2023. The book tells the stories of three men grappling with a past sin that is impossible to erase, of guilt, of friendship and its evolution over time, and of the father-daughter relationship. A psychological novel that, in Matteo's style, will not fail to surprise in its final pages.

So stay tuned to Ilmiosalotto, there is great news coming!

One last thing. How do I know everything about Matteo? Simple, it's me.