Packed council hall, in La Maddalena , for the presentation of “The guardian of Budelli. History of a man and his deserted island” (Diarkos), the latest book by the philosopher and teacher Antonio Rinaldis . A story that has gone around the world, that of Mauro Morandi - guardian for almost thirty years of the small island of the Maddalena Archipelago - and that never ceases to arouse curiosity and interest.
Many questions posed by those present after listening to the long and passionate dialogue between the author and the now exiled guardian, shy of public appearances. The interview explores the great themes of existence and turns the spotlight on ecology, exploitation of resources, insularity and isolation. The choice to cut ties with civilization and isolate himself for almost thirty years, starts from here the exploration of the writer in the life of the guardian. «There was already an autobiography of his but that book seemed insufficient to me – says Rinaldis – it risked leaving the symbols and values that his choice embodied in the shadows. This led to a long conversation on issues of existence that become significant in the light of his experience of solitude, challenged by the questions we all ask ourselves. Questions that, while for us they represent minimal parentheses within the chaos of our lives, for Mauro are a radical choice, he who has made his life a sort of inner journey».
Those who pointed the finger considering Morandi's existence a privileged one, underlined Rinaldis, did not ask themselves if he would have been able to face that life 365 days a year: the inclement weather , the lack of food , the total absence of comfort . “Often we forget the service that his supervision of the protection of the pink beach has rendered to Budelli – says the author -. It has contributed not a little to enhancing the places and educating people to the knowledge of the island». The relationship with nature and with beauty: Mauro's experience teaches that it is possible to conceive a more frugal lifestyle and that beauty is a value to be contemplated and preserved, not to be possessed as a trivial souvenir.
«If there is a leitmotif of the book this I think is the love that can be created between a man and a place, in this case an island that is almost transfigured so much that Mauro now experiences the regret of abandonment . This leads us to think that if we want to change the world we must connect empathically with places, through love». At the event, among the speakers, also the councilor majority leader of the municipality, Luca Falchi, who was also interviewed by the author. Antonio Rinaldis is a philosophy professor in a high school in the province of Turin and a contract professor at the University of Milan. He has published several essays and novels, including: Impiety as a nihilistic degeneration of Prometheism (2010); The hidden part (2013); Landscapes of the sacred in Albert Camus (2013); Esodati (2014), and Riace. The welcoming country (2016). He has published Short Philosophy Lessons for Diarkos (2019).
