She "returned" home for one night. Exactly three years after her death. It's as if, thanks to that giant screen where her face and some of her testimonies were shown repeatedly, she wanted to speak to her fellow citizens, to her mother Costanza, her brother Cristiano, and her aunt Annetta, all three in the front row. But also to the kids of "Mucchio Selvaggio," the group she created 30 years ago in the parish hall of the church of Santa Maria.
Last night, in her hometown of Cabras, Michela Murgia was remembered for the first time. But not the Michela everyone knows: the writer, the intellectual. She was remembered before she became the Michela Murgia of awards, books, and the activist who debated on television and radio. But also before she became the Michela Murgia of controversy. It was Giacomo Contu, one of the "Mucchio Selvaggio" members, who did it. The occasion was the presentation of the book and the song he created for her, performed by the band Naracauli. "Maybe that's what she would have wanted," Giacomo said. "After all, she didn't like celebrations."
Yesterday, a recounting of events, a space for reflection, was presented to everyone. The man from Cabrarese, an osteopath by profession, spoke of his strong and enduring friendship with Michela Murgia, who passed away in August 2023 at the age of 51. He described the work titled "Soul Friend," which he chose to write as a gesture of remembrance, but also as an act of gratitude for what meeting Michela brought to him.
"A silent guide, an instructive presence, a motivator, an inclusive person," said Giacomo Contu, who last night shared many anecdotes and experiences he shared with her. "The decision to write this book matured slowly, but it actually took shape on the day of her funeral in Rome. As we left the Church of the Artists in Piazza del Popolo, there was a huge crowd. Everyone was there for her. In that moment, I realized I would write about what knowing Michela meant to me before she became a public figure. Today, she is a presence that continues to live within you, even when she is no longer there. A soul friend."
Giacomo last heard from Michela a few weeks before her death, on the phone. They hadn't spoken in years. "I first texted her, sending her a photo of us together," Giacomo says. "It was July 22, 2023. A few minutes later, she called me. I immediately sensed, from her very weak tone of voice, that something was closing in and, at the same time, she was giving herself up. When, at the end of the conversation, she said, 'We were good,' I sensed it wasn't just a phrase imbued with shared nostalgia, but something deeper, an emotional testament. She spoke to me about the end with disarming serenity. She told me she most likely wouldn't be able to celebrate Christmas. And so it was. At that moment, I realized there was no more time to procrastinate."
Mayor Andrea Abis: "We miss you, Michela. We miss her courage, her dissident voice, her confrontational vision. Conflict not as war, but as dialogue and debate, the best expression of democracy."
But Cabras yesterday demonstrated that Michela is still present in everyone's hearts and minds. Not just Giacomo's.