L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 4 BARBARA MINAFRA NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS O ur interview with Mauro A p r i l e Z a n e t t i comes a week after the death of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. I n t h e p a s t s i x y e a r s , A p r i l e Z a n e t t i h a s b e e n many things to Ferlinghetti, a n d t h e n e x t p a g e s d o n ' t want to ignore all that: an assistant and p.r., a publicist and a secretary, a press offi- cer and the proofreader of L i t t l e B o y , p u b l i s h e d b y Doubleday on occasion of Ferlinghetti's 100th birth- day. A polyhedric personality, A p r i l e Z a n e t t i i s a f i l m - maker, a writer and a repor- ter, who moved from Sicily all the way to New York first and then to San Francisco, w h e r e h e n o w w o r k s a s a c h i e f e v a n g e l i s t f o r Cloud4Wi, an AI software company. Bringing humani- sm in the world of high tech- nology: what a perfect job for an Italian with a culture like his — refined and vast — a n d w h o , j u s t l i k e Ferlinghetti, can't be labeled because of his eclecticism and charisma. With us, in this interview, A p r i l e Z a n e t t i s h o w s h i s most poetical side. An outsi- d e r b o t h i n I t a l i a n a n d Italian-American culture, he compared the creative balan- ce of his relationship with Ferlinghetti to that existing between a flower and a bee. Aprile Zanetti has been, so to speak, the last link in Ferlinghetti's amazing life- chain; theirs was an artistic pairing characterized by a strong element of disrup- tion, because who does art is a disruptive, earthshaking element in society. When they met, by chance, Aprile Z a n e t t i h a d " t h e p o l l e n ; " Ferlinghetti, with his well t r a i n e d , e x p e r i e n c e d instinct, welcomed him like a b e e k e e p e r w o u l d . " T h e event — he tells me on the p h o n e c i t i n g G i l l e s D e l e u z e , t h e m a s t e r t o w h o m t h e m u l t i - t a l e n t e d S i c i l i a n - S a n F r a n c i s c a n polyglot (46) dedicated most of his earlier education, is never what happens but in what happens." If it rains, he explains, the "event" isn't in t h e a c t o f r a i n i n g , b u t i n what the rain will make hap- pen. "In the end, we don't k n o w a n y t h i n g a b o u t t h e g a m e o f c h e s s t h e y a r e playing while we talk." It's whom we meet that makes the difference: what Aprile Zanetti tells us demonstra- tes it. A clear trajectory that, little by little, becomes visi- ble to the eye. Truth is, we can't speak a b o u t t h e l a s t L a w r e n c e Ferlinghetti — great Italian- American poet, editor, arti- s t , l e g e n d — w i t h o u t s p e a k i n g a b o u t M a u r o Aprile Zanetti. He has been, in Ferlinghetti's own words — his "last spring." Inventive, creative, exci- ting, the driving force of the last 6 years of his life, the spark behind the light. More than a simple assistant or a s e c r e t a r y , b u t a l s o m o r e than a simple friend: rather, u n f o l l e t t o , a n e l f , a s Ferlinghetti would call him, one of the "greatest linguists I've ever met," gifted with e x t r a o r d i n a r y " l i t e r a r y savvy" and vital spirit. I n t h e m o s t a n c e s t r a l w a y , d u r i n g e v e r y s e l f - respecting spring the bee r e s t s o n a n d p o l l i n a t e s f l o w e r s , s o t h a t t h e y c a n bear fruit. Nomen Omen, that's exactly what Aprile did: just like the cruelest m o n t h w h e n l i f e r e t u r n s from dead earth, he created a n e w s e a s o n f o r Ferlinghetti, who "Hated being defined a Beat, becau- se he never wrote beat lite- rature nor lived the life of a Beat. He was a bookseller with a talent for scouting new talents out. He, sure t h i n g , c r e a t e d a l i t e r a r y meeting place, but he was also very hands-on: he per- sonally opened up his book- store every morning, and books needed to be sold, b e c a u s e t h e r e w e r e employees and bills to be paid." He inspired an arti- stic blossoming in a time today considered, foolishly, a r t i s t i c a l l y u n p r o d u c t i v e and poor. A m o d e r n v e r s i o n o f Aeneas carrying Anchises upon his shoulders: this is how Ferlinghetti's latest — not the last, as he would point out— creations came to be. We are not talking about set operations, about editorial marketing to sell more, but about art, poetry, world-changing creativity. A relationship that bore incredible results, like the 2014 world exclusive inter- v i e w f o r T u r i n ' s L a S t a m p a , L a m i a America sta diventando Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Mauro Aprile Zanetti in 2017, at Café Zoetrope (owned by Francis Ford Coppola), North Beach. (Photo courtesy of MAZEL BLOOM17 Archive) Continued to page 6 Ferlinghetti and Aprile Z a n e t t i : l i k e fl o w e r and bee

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