Domenico Scialla, journalist and tv commentator – panelist of “Che Succ3de”, the program conducted by Geppi Cucciari – tells the genesis of his latest book: “Walking towards the ocean”, a journey inside and outside our “I”, with unexpected and mysterious results.
Is your novel the result of an autobiographical experience?
In some respects, yes. It arises above all from the re-elaboration that my unconscious has made of my experience: in particular of the path of about 1000 km that my friend Gabri and I walked for naturalistic and cultural reasons from Saint Jean Pied De port to Finisterre. And the result is also a visionary-metaphysical narrative.
“Walking towards the ocean” tells the excursus of a journey up to Finisterre, shortly after Santiago De Compostela: is there a “spiritual” reason behind this choice?
We started out moved by the desire to immerse ourselves totally in the nature and history of those “transcendent” places, fully enjoying all those sensations. But then, from these places full of energy of the “present” and “past”, you receive so much that – despite not having chosen to take this path for spiritual reasons – you end up living an experience that borders on mysticism, feeling deeply in communion with the cosmos and with everything that surrounds you. Under these conditions an inner rebirth is inevitable.
Who would you recommend reading the novel to?
I think it can be good for everyone. Perhaps, it is more suitable for readers with a certain sensitivity and curiosity who can appreciate an out of the ordinary reading.
Walking for her, what does it represent?
An experience of total physical and mental well-being. Walking is great. Doctors are also convinced of this and recommend taking at least ten thousand steps a day, which is equivalent to about seven kilometers.
Do you already have another book in the works?
I’m writing a story loosely based on my life. Here too the imaginative and the surreal will intervene, which then knows how to be more “real” than one might think. But, after all, what is “reality” and “non-reality”? Maybe it’s the same thing! Quantum physics itself, the foundations of which were laid by great minds like Albert Einstein, teaches us that to explain certain phenomena there is no longer a need to resort to the paranormal.
How would you define yourself in an adjective?
Cosmic.
What do you dream of becoming when you are “grown up”?
I still don’t know, for sure. I have many interests and I would call myself an experimenter. I dedicated myself to music and wrote about literature and entertainment and this allowed me to become a freelance journalist and be chosen as a “correspondent” to Sanremo, nine times. Through writing, I tell and communicate my interests and try to convey their potential to the reader. At the moment, I am very passionate about Reiki, and learned the basics, I am studying to achieve the second and third level; I practice it a lot on myself and on others: it’s good for you and it’s also a great source of inspiration. Then there is the “drawing”, I’m not technically skilled, but in moments of inspiration, I can create something satisfying. Today, I am an administrative employee, it is a job that I carry out with seriousness and commitment, but this is not my definitive path! I hope that all my inclinations can flow into a creative profession, which can excite me and where to continue experimenting.
Domenico Scialla, author of “Walking towards the ocean”: a passionate experimenter of life