Enrico Vanzina: “In the book ‘Diario Diurno’ my journey in this time”

The recent literary proposal by Enrico Vanzina, screenwriter and after the death of his brother Carlo also director, as well as journalist for the columns of the ‘Messaggero’ after the initial experience at the ‘Corriere della sera’ is entitled ‘Daytime diary’. Where does the need to write a diary arise, a sort of secular and public confession? “It is a journey in this time”, explains Vanzina interviewed by AdnKronos. “I started taking notes from December 2011, initially to write down some reflections to draw inspiration for my articles. Then – he continues – I perceived that in reality talking about me and my moods coincided with talking about our time and of our country and, after more than a decade of these notes, which arrive in December 2021, I decided to collect them in a book: this is how this ‘Day Diary’ was born, published by Harper Collins “. A title that immediately recalls the I remember Ennio Flaiano’s ‘Diary at night’ … “It is an authentic Italian twentieth century masterpiece and it was the spark that started this book of mine. In the gaze he had on everyday life, Flaiano has taught that life is the greatest story that can exist. In my work, I have always observed and described Italians and this Diary has provided me with the opportunity to look at them even better “. Speaking of ‘confessions’: Enrico Vanzina, Catholic whose plowed, he confesses regularly in church and has he ever confessed to a psychologist? And with his brother Carlo during a lifetime? “I have difficulty entering a confessional, but I have two priest friends who are my spiritual fathers, with whom I walk with my hands in my pockets, with whom I speak and confess and who, thank God, always absolve me”, ‘ he confesses. ‘Vanzina then continues: “I went to a psychologist only once, who is a friend of mine, at a time when I had some problems: we met at dinner and he helped me a lot. But I have a personal passion for psychoanalysis and by now I think I am the best psychoanalyst of myself. As for Carlo, with my brother we really said everything in total confidence “. But what would Enrico Vanzina be and what would the Vanzina brothers have been without Rome? “I was born there, I have lived there, I have breathed it since I was little – he remembers – Rome is loved and hated at the same time, as Flaiano says’ I can’t wait to leave Rome and when I’m out I can’t see time to go back to Rome ‘… This city allows you to deal with time, without haste; but it forces you to reflect because history was made here with a capital’ S ‘. “Almost at the end of the book, Enrico Vanzina writes that ‘everything proceeds, almost always, for the worst’ … Pessimistic by nature or has he become so with the experiences gained over the years? “More than a pessimist, I would define myself as a skeptic. As a boy I had hung with a thumbtack above my desk what we would now call a post-it note, where there was a quote from a French writer: ‘When things go well, don’t worry , because so much everything passes! ‘… In reality, I am a hidden optimist, behind my skepticism which could be understood as pessimism “. If life is a film, as is often repeated, in the life of Enrico Vanzina who were the main performers and who the extras? “The real protagonists were ordinary people, whom I met on the street and by chance; even the same actors and actresses and directors with whom I shared so many films I have always seen as people, not as celebrities or personalities of the cinema”. ( by Enzo Bonaiuto)