Cognetti infuriates Valsesia:“We are not rude and drunkards”

The Milanese writer set his latest novel 'Down in the valley' in Valsesia, but the description of the place offends the inhabitants

AOSTA –  There are two sides of Monte Rosa. One is bright, thriving, lively thanks to autonomy.The second is rainy, dark, inhabited by people who love spending time at the tavern. Stereotypes that Paolo Cognetti he used in his latest novel, “Down in the valley”, published by Einaudi, and which now raise a hornet's nest in Valsesia.The Milanese writer, who spends part of the year above Brusson, in Val d'Ayas, Valle d'Aosta, chose to set his book in Valsesia.The book talks about a land where "the rain seems to never stop and the men work hard, smoke like there is no tomorrow and before returning home they stop by the tavern to get drunk.The women wait for them patiently, they run the house, they put up with the brutality and excesses of their husbands."The president of the Valsesia Mountain Union, Francesco Pietrasanta, mayor of Quarona for the League, writes in a note:“Cognetti paints our Valsesia with offensive words which denote an evident lack of knowledge of our reality, which he uses for his narrative needs without any respect for the history of this territory and its inhabitants. It hurts, and makes one very angry, to read such contemptuous words, also reiterated in interviews that the author gives in a light and smiling tone, raging without scruples against a territory that historically stands out for the pride and industriousness of its people and for the beauty of its uncontaminated nature”.

The 2017 Strega Award author was a guest on Deejay Gioca Italia yesterday morning.Pietrasanta adds:“Cognetti wants to promote his book, but he cannot and must not do so by destroying the image of Valsesia:his job is to invent stories, but he cannot do it to the detriment of the places he mentions and the people who populate them."

The president of the Mountain Union adds:“Together with all the people of Valsesia, I am very sorry for the idea that Cognetti has of Valsesia, and the image he transmits to his readers, which is why I have decided to propose a visit to Valsesia, because he obviously doesn't know her, and perhaps precisely because of this lack of knowledge he thought he could denigrate us with impunity.So I want to give it a chance:he who writes about the mountains, come and get to know Valsesia.You will find strong and committed men and women, open to the world and hospitable, and a land where the sun illuminates lush forests, ski slopes with cutting-edge facilities, towns that offer high standards of quality of life and a lot of commitment to preserving tradition and take it into the future.We're waiting for you, give us a call:come and visit us and then, as he himself writes in his books, remember that the mountain, before being talked about, must be understood and respected“.

“Those who love the mountains, the territories, the communities, those who want to live and inhabit the mountains, first of all respect it, appreciate it, love it. The whole mountain. He doesn't make distinctions, he doesn't judge, he doesn't say what he doesn't believe, he doesn't write or describe what he doesn't want to see or hear."Even Uncem, the Union of Municipalities, Communities and Mountain Bodies, takes pen to paper and attacks Cognetti.“We need consistency and seriousness in reasoning.Those who love the mountains, all of them, remain silent in the face of uncertainties, difficulties and solitudes - underlines the Union -.Only an unintelligent person could mock, deride, attack a territory, who lives it, who generates it, who does business, its history, culture and communities".