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Of anniversaries and lifelong wishes

I turned forty years old in August. Things haven’t changed much, but this anniversary in particular definitely got me thinking. I’m not one who looks back often, and I try not to drown in nostalgia – but I have learned to turn around sometimes and appreciate the good things I’ve done. And it’s okay to acknowledge the bad ones, as well. It’s all part of the baggage. I think it was Ryuichi Sakamoto who said: “I want to make more music. Music I won’t be ashamed to leave behind – meaningful work”. That’s what I’m trying to do with my life in general, and not only with music. It’s not always easy to succeed, but we do our best.

I’m looking ahead, more than ever. As usual, I’m working on different books to translate into Italian. This summer, though, I also tried something different – I entered a contest for a residency to write the script for a short movie to be filmed in Japan, as part of the Japan World Film Festival. I felt my idea was strong and wrote down a script (for the first time in my life – I had no idea how to write one!), and to my surprise, I made it to the finalists. Unfortunately, I wasn’t selected for the final stage, but I’m still very happy to have made it this far.


This prompted me to fulfill a lifelong wish. I wanted to gift myself a trip to Japan for my 40th birthday, but I wasn’t able to go this year for various reasons. However, a window opened up for January, and I booked my flight to Tokyo right away. I’ll put up with the cold weather, and since it won’t be high season, I hope to enjoy a more authentic side of the country. Technically, I will still be 40 – so it will still count as a 40th birthday trip!

A few nice recent memories:

Lunch with Alessandro Inolti
Listening to records at Ale’s place
Books I’ve translated at a bookstore in Rome – it’s always a great feeling to find my work in stores
With comic book artist Marco Soldi, celebrating 40 years of the Italian comic book series Dylan Dog
Marco sketching for me
The final result


In September, I was reminded that my album Small Music From Broken Windows will have its 10-year anniversary next year. That was a very important record for me. I will throw a Bandcamp listening party to celebrate. In the meantime, you can always listen to it for yourself here. And the 3-year anniversary of Dormiveglia is approaching…

Ciao for now!

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