Living in the Belly of the Beast. Michele Molinari's life experience in NYC | Casa Italiana Zerilli / Marimò

Living in the Belly of the Beast. Michele Molinari's life experience in NYC

On December 7 Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò hosted the presentation of the book "Nella pancia della bestia" (In the belly of the beast) by the Italian photographer and journalist Michele Molinari. The book is a disenchanted and often ironic recount of Mr. Molinari's life experience in New York City, where he lived for 8 years before moving to Buenos Airos. Interviewed by journalist Grazia d'Annunzio (Vogue Italia), Mr. Molinari talked about the Big Apple as a continuous source of emotions, both positive and negative. In what can be defined almost a "diary" he recounted twelve months of discoveries, surprises, battles and challenges. It not only is a great “vademecum” for all those who are planning to visit the city, but is also a good opportunity for those who live or ar plan to move here to see New York from a different point of view, the one of an Italian who became a New Yorker. As he told to the audience gathered in the intimate library at the second floor of the Casa, he learned to live "at the New York minute", to" cohabit with cockroaches and rats both inside and outside my apartment", to drink American coffee, and to "plan a pizza out with my friends a month ahead". But there was something he didn't learn: he couldn't stand the absence of human contact, that made him feel extremely alone and in "the wrong place". "As he went on recounting, this sensation of discomfort never abandoned him, even when he finally moved to Park Slope in Brooklyn, where "after only three days people at the café knew what I was going to order, and brought it to my table without me even saying a word".