The book by Sibilla Gambino, entitled: “Il Silenzio dell’Orso” (The Silence of the Bear) will be presented on Thursday 15 May 2025 at 6:00 pm in the Fumagalli/Martorana room of Villa Butera.
The event, which will be moderated by Francesca Celestra, will see the participation of the author, Sibilla Gambino, with readings of some passages from the book by Manuela Cangemi. “Il Silenzio dell’Orso” (The Silence of the Bear) is a work that promises to involve readers with an intense and evocative narration, as the subtitle suggests: “the moment in which everything can change”. The mayor of Bagheria Filippo Maria Tripoli and the president of the City Council Andrea Sciortino will be present at the presentation of the book for institutional greetings.
Synopsis.
My name is Paola. For me, only the present matters. Boards of Directors, meetings, contracts, business dinners, innovations, signatures upon signatures, attacks on employees, impossible schedules. I am the boss and I demand that my coveted designer shoes, twelve-inch heels, water from the chiafico, a big definitive laugh. My company is in Italy, in Hungary I make them go swimmingly. I have everything under control. Not the eruption of the Icelandic volcano with the unpronounceable name that on April 16, 2010 spread its ash across the skies of Europe. My plane bound for Budapest does not reach its destination. Forced landing in Pécs.
Cellulare inutilizzabile senza connessione, voli cancellati per due giorni. Ogni programma è annullato. E adesso che cosa faccio? Come se non bastasse il caso mi ha riportato proprio a Firenze, il fulcro del luogo dove avevo voluto dimenticare. All’aeroporto si avvicina un personaggio bizzarro e mi rivolge sotto gli occhi un foglio dal contenuto disarmante. Inizia da qui un forzato viaggio nella memoria, quella che aveva o aveva azzerato per sopravvivere all’improvvisa e tragica fine di mio padre: via i ricordi, via il dolore. I luoghi e la strada che si inerpica tra le colline di Fiesole vengono incontro per i paesaggi del passato che mi hanno voluto bene, quelli della mia infanzia: la contessa Friedel von Arnim, imprenditrice eccentrica e nonna fantasiosa; il nonno dall’occhio di vetro, elegante signore all’apparenza; il suo soave e ambiguo maggiordomo ungherese; la zia Lia, folle e volubile devozionale; e adesso gli altri. Sono loro ad afferrarmi per i capi e lì sanno che nascondo un segreto che mi sta distruggendo.
To save me first, they ensnare me by making me relive the sweet moments of childhood in the Bellosguardo villa: Easter with the Oster rabbit, the magical rites of Christmas, the treasure of sparkling fabrics, finally they delude me into feeding myself with something else and I find myself face to face with my father. An exceptional man who made me live unique experiences, unexpected trips to his islands in the Indian Ocean in the sun and a thousand other itineraries. Teaching me courage, loyalty, commitment to work and elegance. But I had introduced the world and the quality of one’s feelings. So, he waits for hours for a boat on the Mekong, a look at his face that changed shades in the light of the sunset. I had felt protected by such a father, imposing and grandiose. The freedoms and choices were linked to the awareness that he would always be by my side anyway. A relationship also made up of arguments, conflicts, jealousies, but poisoned by a fatal sense of inadequacy: he is fantastic, I don’t reach his ankle.
Biography – Sibilla Gambino was born in Palermo, but lives between Milan and Catania. She graduated in Political Science with an international focus. She attended several masters at the European Institute of Design.
After working in fashion for fifteen years, the need and curiosity for places and people led her to travel. Long trips, short trips, to distant continents or to neighborhoods on the corner of the street from home. This is how she discovered the pleasure and passion for writing, noting down for years, in pages and pages of notebooks, her life experiences, then transforming this passion into a job.
Today Sibilla Gambino is a freelance journalist in the Lombardy register, she obtained another degree in Psychological Technical Sciences, she writes for Yacht Digest, a leading nautical magazine in the sector, works as a speaker at Radio In and continues to write novels. She collaborates with several online newspapers.