The city of Naples is, always, a continuous discovery: it always hides rich glimpses. We had a pleasant chat with Maurizio Pagano, author of The places of the brilliant friend And the sequel, The forgetfulness of brilliant places.

Those who have read the famous tetralogy of Elena Ferrante and watched the TV series of the same name by Saverio Costanzo, got involved with this fascinating universe of authentic characters and places moving against a retro backdrop. From these premises, the adventure of Maurizio Pagano, Neapolitan writer, originally from the Luzzatti Ward. In reading the story of Lila and Lenu, Pagano did not just identify with it but recognized familiar places and, even, familiar faces. Getting inspired, he wrote two books about the Ward featured in the series and began organizing tours of the neighborhood, much to the delight of fans of the epic.

How did you construct "the forgetful," the protagonist of your novels?

"The forgetful woman has a peculiar story and like many characters in my books has a basis in truth. One day I was walking through the streets of my ward and passed a woman, distinguished, in her seventies, peering almost in amazement at the cluster of houses that makes up the so-called new ward: the Ascarelli Ward.

She gave me the impression that she was a woman who was trying to grasp some details, as if she wanted to remember something, as if she was looking for something that would let her know where she was.

I walked past her and after a few meters I stopped and looked at her: she was perfect, she was my character, the link between Ferrante's works and what I and Francesco Russo, co-author of The places of the brilliant friend.

The tale of the forgetfulness came out of the blue; it was the missing link, the junction to present our ward, not through the eyes of someone who lived it in passing or for some period, but from someone who knew the neighborhood deeply since the 1930s. In this my father, class of '25, who passed away last November, greatly facilitated us."

What was your intent in telling the story of Luzzatti Ward? 

"The purpose was to shed light on a neighborhood and a population that from Ferrante's stories and, later, from the TV series, came out with broken bones: the misery of a postwar neighborhood is told, generalizing about the malfeasance. The intent was to tell the true Luzzatti Ward, the real population, the origins, the people who still populate it, and make parallels, especially in the The forgetfulness of brilliant places With characters who really existed and with facts that really happened."

Tell us about the embankment, a mysterious place named in Ferrante's bestsellers

"The embankment is nothing but a pile of rubble. After the war, it was decided to sacrifice the field Ascarelli, damaged but not entirely destroyed by bombing, as was the XXVIII October swimming pool that was adjacent, to make way for the rubble of an entire city. On those furnishings then settled derelicts, vagrants and the homeless: people desperate and hungry from the war, who sought among that rubble to rebuild a place they could call home. This, later on, brought delinquency to a neighborhood that was anything but run-down."

Andreoli Library, is the theater in which the reading competitions take place, in L'Amica Geniale

"Professor Collina's Popular Circulating Library was one of the few protected places in the neighborhood. It was and still is in some ways the gathering place for culture in the Luzzatti neighborhood.

It was born by the intuition of Professor Agostino Collina who understood the need of the neighborhood's young people in the postwar period: to be able to provide a safe place where they could study in depth and even more to fight school dropout with remedial courses for those children who were forced despite themselves, to work to support their families. A real landmark for the entire ward."

How did the idea for the second book come about?

"The forgetful woman still had much to tell. That woman who scanned the ward to remember also had her own story and tales to offer. La smemorata is the voice of the ward who slowly recalled facts and characters mentioned in L'amica geniale. Rafilina 'a pazza put together the pieces of so many true tales, of so many objective truths told by those who recognized themselves in the famous books and TV series, by those who made precisely the same choices as Ferranti's characters. The forgetful one, Rafilina 'a pazza, is Rione Luzzatti."

Who is the typical user of the tours you organize? Give us some anticipation

"Even before the airing of the first season of the TV series. The brilliant friend, the visitors were mainly foreign readers and fans of the tetralogy: they would come to the ward and I would intercept them because I was writing my books in the Andreoli Library.

Most of the time I would find myself talking for hours walking around with them and explaining the places that were in the books and those that are no longer there. Then there was a real boom in the aftermath of the TV series.

Before the pandemic, we had also had the Campania Region, which, thanks to Education Councillor Lucia Fortini, had pointed out our initiative to school leaders in Naples and the province.

The tour, when it resumes, will have a route through the neighborhood and a theatricalized part written for some actresses who took part in the filming of the TV series."

The stops along the way: the Gianturco station.

The bridges of the Gianturco, terminus of Line 2. The metro was the most important connection that Rione Luzzatti had with the rest of the city. The Gianturco stop is close to the rione and to get there you have to go through underpasses. In l'Amica Geniale, the protagonists, as if in a sort of rite of passage to grow up, pass through the tunnel and take the big road that leads to the sea.

Luzzatti Ward

The Luzzatti Ward rises in Naples, on Taddeo da Sessa Street, on the eastern outskirts of Naples. Once a marshy area, it was reclaimed at the suggestion of Emanuele Gianturco. The district, built between 1914 and 1925, was and is made up of a series of parks, called "gates" by the inhabitants, with their respective basements. Here, sports facilities also stood: a swimming pool, but also the first stadium of Napoli, whose construction was financed by industrialist Giorgio Ascarelli.

Andreoli Library

The Andreoli Library, at 7 Leonardo Murialdo Street. It is open to the public Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., except in August. It was originally enlivened by the volumes and fortitude of Professor Collina, who apparently inspired the Ferrantian character of Maestro Ferraro. The facade of the building today features one of the murals through which, for the past few years, the area has been being redeveloped.