Liguria - re-visited (by Massimo Longinotti, who didn't appreciate his exclusion from my banal account)

I tried to refuse Federica’s invitation, but was impossible to me, so I started what I thought would be the worst weekend of my life.
And at the beginning it really was.

On Friday evening we reached Rapallo, an anonymous city near Genova, the capital of Liguria, which has it’s only beauty in being the house of the best football team in the world.
Sampdoria of course.
But I was talking about my staying in Rapallo.

We had a disgusting dinner at Federica’s house, they cooked something that can be compared to shit, but shit has absolutely a better taste.
I had to simulate an headache to go bed as fast as possible.
During the night I had terrible nightmares about Federica chatting to me again again and again.

Saturday morning we started for that fucking trip Federica wanted to do.
We went to the famous four cinqueterre with a couple of her friends.
As they were Federica’s friends, I had the lowest expectation anyone can imagine.

There was Simone, and then…then there was Massimo.

He was the greatest apparition of my entire life.

My mind couldn’t avoid to remind some bible’s description of an angel appearence.
He appeared to me with the sun shining behind his shoulders, and this shine followed him all day long.

But let’s talk about cinqueterre, also if my mind is far from there, and probably also far from this world.

We started with Riomaggiore, we walked Via dell’amore, where I picked a lock as tradition of the walk.
I hadn’t the time to write the name you may imagine on the lock, but it was already impressed o my heart.
Than we took a more adventurous hike up the scaring hills of the region.
There were dangerous plants with sharped teeth and a lot of wild animals staring at us.
I’ve never been so scared before, but Massimo’s tranquility gives me the power to go on.

Looking at him, while fronting the wildness and obscure nature, reminds me about epic fights between forces of good and evil.
Star wars is nothing compared to what I saw.

He guided us, and opened a path.
During the walk inside the hell, he defeated all the beasts coming from the deepest part of the earth.
When I was in trouble, he saved me, and brought me ahead towards salvation in his strong arms.
At the end, sun rose again…and instead of dark clouds, a really amazing blue sky took place.

So we reached the fourth land.
Vernazza, which was Massimo’s favourite, and so also mine…