Michele Spiezia, journalist of “La Stampa”, collects thirty years of Italian life in the excellent “Of gold, mud and lead” (Coltura Edizioni).
From 1968 to 1998, mixing news with sport, triumphs in the stadiums with the dark years in the streets. The lead of the P38s with the gold of the medals. The hugs and shouts in the curves to the slogans of the marches that marched in the cities.
His is a tight, punctual, rich narrative, from which nothing escapes. Built almost to the rhythm of a sports commentary. And it is in this vortex that everything merges, overwhelming the reader on a journey through time. Thirty years in which Sport and History demonstrate without discount that they belong together, intertwine, influence each other, unlike those who are still convinced today that a match or a race is just pure entertainment. The narrative force of this book dissolves several clichés, those that frame sporting dynamics as events that have nothing to do with anything that happens outside a stadium or sports hall.
Here the massacre at the Bologna station, the P2 and the events of Licio Gelli, the sprints of the Pirate Pantani, Sara Simeoni’s flight to the roof of the world; and again the nightmare of Aldo Moro and the drama of Enzo Tortora, the exploits of Paolo Rossi, the moon landing, the Blue Valanga, Mani Pulite, the desaparecidos, Emanuela Orlandi. Stories and Sports that belong and will belong to all generations: to those who lived through those years and to those who today, too young to remember, could be reflected in historical events and events; events that do not abandon us, but remain entwined in our lives, enveloping us with the intricate roots of the great tree of History.
The book will be presented on June 22nd at the Salerno Letteratura festival. The journalist of “il Mattino”, Giovanna Di Giorgio, will talk to the author.
