Ludovico Tersigni: «For three years I said enough: social media crushes the brain, feeling good means not being in a hurry»

A fter having conducted the edition of X-Factor 2021, the first post-Alessandro Cattelan edition, decides to turn off his phone and deactivate his social profiles. Ludovico Tersigni, 28-year-old Roman actor, known for the series Skam Italy, for three years he put his life on stand-by and undertook an introspective path. Now he is back (also on social media) with his first novel See you beyond the horizon (Rizzoli), in which he entrusts Lorenzo, the protagonist, with the story of a change that is also his. «Writing was a way to make all the experiences I had eternal. Even if everything had gone wrong I would still have left for this long journey because I felt I had to find myself again”, says Tersigni.

Do you remember the moment when you listened to yourself and said “enough, I have to stop”?
«It wasn’t a particular moment. It is a sensation sedimented over time, like a recurring thought that gains strength. You start thinking about it once in a while, then every day, once a day, and eventually it starts to turn into reality. Like the baobabs on the Little Prince’s planet: if you cut them straight away it’s not a problem, but if they grow they start to get bulky. And cumbersome thoughts must be addressed.”

How it was born See you beyond the horizon?
«From the need to talk about a bizarre phase of my life that took me a little beyond what I imagined. It’s as if a window had opened on an already decided mechanism, everything was overturned. I lived these three years differently than the rest of my life. Writing was like collecting a feeling common to many people: not knowing where to go. Rereading your thoughts helps you understand a part of yourself that wasn’t in focus at the time. You grow, while the book remains the same. It’s a mirror in which you can find yourself, but the reflection doesn’t age.”

For three years he abandoned social media and the world of entertainment. What did you learn from this period?
«Social media is crushing our brains. We look like Dante’s slothful people. We live to tell our moments with the aim of getting as many likes as possible. The mechanism has been turned upside down.”

It speaks of a personal and work crisis, today many under 30s experience it.
«I believe it is a universal feeling, which binds us, in which you ask yourself if you are doing the right thing for you or if you have let yourself be dragged into a labyrinth of mirrors. Regardless of what I was going through and my career I would still have done this trip. I had a real date with life. Let’s say that the distance, despite all the goals I have achieved, was the right vehicle to discover sides of myself that I didn’t yet know. I believe, however, the research has only just begun.”

Today, what does feeling good mean to you?
«It’s a question that takes too long to explain, but I would say a bit of calm, we’re all always in a hurry, all agitated. There’s no need.”

Which destination of your trip struck you the most?
«Going very far helps you go very deep. South America, Australia, India were places that completely transformed my way of life here in Italy. I wish everyone to travel without being tourists because it is nice to fully experience the countries we visit while trying to experience local life. You have to abandon your comfort zone and not remain anchored to your needs. It’s like entering the world of Alice in Wonderland.”

He approached meditation, but, in India in particular, he approached a specific discipline.
«I started doing Iyengar Yoga, different from the commercial yoga brought to the West. We tend to maintain Asthma (positions, ed) for an extended period of time. Yoga is not physical activity, but body maintenance, preventive physiotherapy and a search for limits. Iyengar Yoga is very hard and you have to do it consistently because it is a path that lasts many years and meditation is at the end of this path.”

Do you miss acting?
«I miss it and I will always miss it because that’s where I was born. I have been studying theater since I was 8 years old. It is something that has always belonged to me and to which I have dedicated body and soul. In the last period, most of the projects that are proposed are very commercial. I have the feeling that the more profound ones with a profound message are overshadowed. Before, we enjoyed operas at the cinema, laughing, talking and even sometimes making judgements, but now we enjoy these operas while staying at home and watching TV series, which are so many that we no longer know what to talk about. In this overabundance we have lost collective sharing.”

«THE NEW GENERATIONS
THEY ARE NO LONGER USED TO READING:
WE SHOULD KEEP THE RIGHT
TO IMAGINE IN OUR WAY”

Actor, writer, would you like to become a director?
«It would be beautiful, a dream. When you work for so many years in the world of cinema, the desire to think of your own project comes to you. Things done well, however, do not want to be rushed. So now I’m going to take some time, see if I can translate the language of the book into a cinematic language and then who knows. The beautiful thing about writing is that it allows you to produce images through that area of ​​the brain that children also use when they play, that of creativity. In a film or TV series, however, we observe the director’s proposal with its soundtrack, scenography, actors, etc. It seems to me that the new generations are no longer used to reading. We should maintain the right to imagine in our own way.”

What are your next projects?
«Now I’m reading the audio book of my book, it’s very stimulating and also very difficult because giving the intonations to the various characters is complicated. I am making the most of my many years of theater lessons. Then I hope to leave again soon for new destinations, I will certainly return to India and then who knows, I’ll live day by day. I’m trying to find things that fit better with aspects of myself that I haven’t worked on yet so I still have the opportunity to learn something new. It is essential to grow in life on an artistic path.”
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED