From Civil Engineering to Art - Meeting with Alessandra Maltoni
by Maria Teresa De Donato
Dear friends,
Today her friend and colleague author Alessandra Maltoni from
Ravenna is revisiting us. Some time ago, Alessandra participated in my column Amazing Italy in another interview entitled San Giovanni Battista - History and
culture of a Ravenna church.
She presented us with a real tourist jewel of Ravenna, which was also the theme
of one of his publications.
There are many things to say about her, but, as usual, I prefer
my guest to do so.
Enjoy the reading!
MTDD: Hi
Alessandra, and welcome to my Blog and Virtual Cultural Salon again. It’s a
pleasure to have you back with us today.
AM:
Thanks for the invitation. It’s a pleasure to be a guest on your Blog and
Virtual Cultural Salon.
MTDD: Alessandra,
why don’t you start by introducing yourself by telling us a little about
yourself, your studies, your interests, your activities, and anything else you
want to share with our readers?
AM: I
live in Ravenna, the city of mosaics and Dante. I attended the Technical Institute
for Surveyors and studied civil engineering; I was fascinated by an
experimental scientific discipline: from physics as a study of energy, it has
been an interest of mine for many years. Energy is an essential concept for
happy living. I read much scientific literature dealing with these issues:
passive house, quantum physics, mathematics and poetry, and mathematics and
art. I like to walk, and when I can, during the weekend, I go for a walk in the
pine forest or by the sea, or in the hills. Ravenna, located strategically,
allows me to reach beautiful natural places with luxuriant vegetation quickly.
I volunteer in a particular association or where they ask me to contribute by
donating my little free time. If I am helpful, I do not hold back. My work requires
a lot of commitment and attention.
I am the owner of a Cultural Services Center with multifaceted
activities. My center collaborates with a professional training center, and we
provide online courses on language, typing, and IT certifications for Ata
rankings and are recognized by the Miur. We offer a service for the recovery of
school subjects and assistance for years of recovery. I collaborate with
publishing; I write book prefaces, review them or present them on assignment.
My new poetic text will be released next year: “Spazi di parole” (=
Words’ Spaces). I like to keep myself busy. I participated in the Mogol Poetry
Grand Prix and was selected and admitted to a poetry course at the Mogol estate
in Umbria; on November 12, I will be at the Dante center of the Franciscan
Friars Minor in Ravenna to talk about poetry and the course of Mogol.
MTDD: Your
biography indicates that you have a technical-scientific background,
specifically in civil engineering.
How did you move from this area to writing and art in general?
AM: I am going to answer you through a quote: “However, in my
view, the most severe damage of the scientific illusion of Engineering lies in
the consequent drying up of the imagination, freedom in the preparation, development,
and enhancement of constructive intuition, which, unique, they can create the
work beautiful, cheap and stable.”
(from Pier Luigi Nervi, Science or art of the Engineer? in “The
engineer: the technical magazine of the National Fascist Engineers Union,” n.
7, July 1931, p. 474).
Pier Luigi Nervi was one of the protagonists of
twentieth-century civil engineering. He argued that engineering is not separate
from art. I studied texts by great thinkers such as Nervi; I realized that
developing intuition and imagination was essential to understanding living in
the round and art as a valuable means. Not only that, my interest in quantum
physics and the importance of energy transmission led me to experiment with
communication and poetic thinking. I did not go from engineering to art; I set
out to have a complete vision of life. I remember a university physics lesson.
While the teacher explained the study of the motion of a ball fired from a
cannon, he made an analogy with Italo Calvino’s rampant baron. Then he said: “If
you don’t get it, you can leave the classroom.”
MTDD:
Fascinating.
AM: I
agree. It takes a lot of intuition and mental flexibility not to be
indifferent. Many publications talk about mathematics and art, physics and art,
engineering and art, and meetings like these: https://www.orderingegnerirovigo.it/pinking-2022-lingegneria-e-arte/. Also, my father passed away
prematurely and asked me to do something useful on the last day of his
existence. Understanding energy as a function of health was something valid.
Art therapy is essential for various diseases.
MTDD: I
fully share your thoughts.
One of your publications was “Questions between the port and
the sea” (Publisher The Author Books Florence, Library 80) which was the
leading actor of the “Book Fair” held in Scilla, Calabria, in the autumn of
2009.
Do you want to talk about it?
AM: It
is a short story, narrative, set in Marina di Ravenna, autobiographical. The
protagonists are a curious child and his aunt willing to seek answers. It is a
text from the reading of “The Little Prince”; it was the muse of this work,
which in 2010 won the Delfino award in Tuscany, ‘Sea’ Section. In Scilla, I was
invited by a publisher from Milan. I was the event’s protagonist and met many
writers, poets, and professionals. At the Ruffo castle, I was interviewed by
the journalist Gabriella Lax, and I took a writing course with the Terre libere
publishing house. It was a great experience; I enjoyed myself, apart from the
disappearance of the luggage, which arrived several hours later at the hotel.
MTDD: You
co-author the poetic anthology “The word and its landing” (Edizioni Helicon).
Can you share your experience with us and explain why you
decided to participate in this initiative?
AM: I
took part in this initiative because it was curated by Rodolfo Tommasi, a
critic and journalist I met in Poppi, who passed away years ago. I esteemed
Tommasi. The anthology was part of the poetry series “I quaderni dell’airone”
(= The heron’s notebooks). “Fronde di trame” (= Textures’ Fronds), the title of
the collection that I handed over to the Helicon and Tommasi editions of me,
wrote: “The group of lyrics that the author delivers to our miscellaneous
choice thus further delineates the already well-rooted character of a coherent
and vivid writing as much as the profile of an undisputed personality.”
MTDD: An
excellent recognition. Well done!
AM:
Indeed, it was. Thank you.
MTDD: “La parola e i suoi approdi” (= The word and its landings) is an
exciting title.
What are the main aspects of this anthology and especially of
your poems published in it?
AM: This
anthology was composed of the work of four authors. I quote Tommasi’s words to
underline my production in this text: “Fronde di trame, condenses the essential
coordinates of a poetic, and highlights with particular incisiveness the
importance that the element of perceptual sensitivity assumes in this poetics,
that is the pulsation of life that flies over the inexplicable while leaning
over the vastest and most true horizons of existence making them its own. “
MTDD:
Deep and equally significant analysis. I’m happy for you.
AM:
Thank you, Maria Teresa.
MTDD: Thank
you for sharing it with us.
Your poetic collection “Traces of poetic reflection” was
a finalist at the “Trofeo Penna d’Autore 2004” International Award in Turin.
What are the main themes and features of this literary work of
yours?
AM: It
is a work published in 2001. It is part of a series of contemporary poetry for
the Libroitaliano types. The series hosts essential Italian and foreign poets
and represents, in the opinion of authoritative literary critics, a fixed point
in the Italian poetic panorama. The authors who took part are the result of a
careful editorial selection made with a view to dialectical confrontation and
growth. I participated in the competition to get involved and dedicate
something to my father and uncles. They both died at the age of fifty. The
themes: affections, existential values, the environment, the observation of
elements I encountered, illusions, and false ones.
MTDD: Your
publication “The onion church a stone’s throw from Dante” was a literary
work we presented during our previous interview. We want to remind our readers
that you wanted to dedicate your work to your grandmother, who has always been
a lover of that church.
Is there any other detail regarding the church of San Giovanni
Battista that you did not mention in the previous article and that you would
like to talk about?
AM: The
publication was presented at the Italian cultural center in Paris and awarded
at the Sorbonne University by Professor Prestigiacomo, journalist and art
critic. I wish to thank her again for her esteem of my work and my person. My
grandmother was pleased with this book, and I hope that San Giovanni Battista
can be reopened to the public and find funds to preserve its constructive and
artistic heritage. It is a gem near Dante’s tomb.
MTDD: I
hope so too. Italy has an immense artistic heritage that must be protected in
every possible way. I hope this church can find the necessary funds it needs.
Are there any other books you’ve published or participated in
that we haven’t mentioned yet?
AM: “Poetic
Patckwork” by Prof. Elena Gagliardi. It was a volume of poetry created at
the request of the publisher Nuovi poeti of Milan and published at their
expense, as one of the lyrics won the contest È solo Poesia 2006. Cà Vento,
2022, a poetic notebook published by the European Academic Cenacle Poets in
society.
MTDD: Have
you had other honorable mentions and awards for your literary works? And if so,
which ones?
AM: The
Navarro Prize 2021 for my collection “Poetry will change the world.” This
year I was appointed head of the European Academic Cenacle for Poets in Society
for Ravenna.
MTDD:
Congratulations!
AM:
Thanks.
MTDD: Alessandra,
should our readers wish to contact you or buy your publications, how will they
do so?
AM: They
can buy them online or contact me via email serviziculturali1@libero.it
https://centro-servizi-culturali-di-alessandra-maltoni.webnode.it/
https://www.facebook.com/lachiesadellacipollaaduepassidaDante
centroserviziculturali.online
https://alessandramaltoni.wixsite.com/website
MTDD: Thank
you, Alessandra, for participating in this interview. I hope to have you again
as my guest in the future.
AM:
Thank you.