Edoardo Albinati on Genius Loci, Writing, and the Sacred

Edoardo Albinati, born in Rome in 1956, is a novelist and poet who won the 2016 Strega Prize for 'La scuola cattolica'. Since 1994, he has taught at Rebibbia prison in Rome. In an interview, Albinati cites inspiration from read or heard stories, people's physical appearance, canonical narrative schemes like fairy tales and myths, details of paintings, and phrases overheard from strangers. His most representative project is 'La scuola cattolica', written over ten years with many stalls and near-abandonments, assembled using a three-by-two-meter board with colored cards. He considers the environment a protagonist in his work, with settings like prison, school, Rome's Quartiere Trieste, Afghanistan, or a Milanese publishing house acting as animated places that generate stories. His novels 'Cuori fanatici' and 'Desideri deviati' begin with evocations of the Genius Loci of Rome and Milan. In 'Uscire dal mondo', the protagonist can only live on the Canale della Giudecca in Venice. Albinati has a cult for what no longer exists but is fully absorbed in the present moment while writing. He believes the sacred is a reality, not a concept, that can irrupt unexpectedly or hide in the interstices of a distracted reality. He advises young writers not to follow his path. He sees the articulation of thought as a precious good that is becoming scarce, like water, and warns against simplification in politics, art, and communication.