Photo by @samsommer on Unsplash
Matteo Nucci converses with Valentina Carnelutti
According to Socrates, there can be no care without care for one’s soul. Therefore, we can take care of others or of external goods, only after having taken care of our internal needs, longings and desires. The current that moves the sea surface is within the depths of our soul. Do you think this reasoning is still valid, Valentina?Matteo Nucci, writes Instinctively, my answer would be yes. Yet, one should understand what these needs and desires are. One should discern the real ones from the induced ones—know oneself first. There are different ways, but they all have one thing in common, that is the courage to observe things as they are. Internal and external, emotional and physical, local and planetary matters. Then, one can see that self-care is connected with the care of the environment, which influences the body, which acts on the soul, like the private does on the public, and the sea depths on the sea surface. As such, care turns into virtuous responsibility.Valentina Carnelutti, actress
Matteo Nucci was born in Rome in 1970. He studied ancient thought and published essays on Empedocles, Socrates and Plato and a new edition of the Symposium. In 2009 his first novel Sono comuni le cose degli amici was published by Ponte alle Grazie, and ended up finalist at the Strega Prize, followed in 2011 by Il toro non sbaglia mai (Ponte alle Grazie), a novel-essay on the world of modern bullfighting. In 2013 he published the narrative essay Le lacrime degli eroi (Einaudi), a journey into the Homeric heroes’ crying. In 2017, the novel È giusto obbedire alla notte (Ponte alle Grazie), again finalist at the Strega Prize, was released, followed by a new essay on the ancient Greek world L'abisso di Eros, indagine sulla seduzione da Omero a Platone (2018). His stories have appeared in anthologies and magazines (especially oin Il Caffè Illustrato and Nuovi Argomenti) while articles and travel reports regularly appear on Il Venerdì di Repubblica.
Daughter of art, Valentina Carnelutti made her debut as theater performer in 1989. She made her debut in cinema with "Marta Singapore", a 1994 short film by Barbara Melega after which she worked, among others, with Gianni Zanasi for Nella mischia, she starred in Mi sei entrata nel cuore come un colpo di coltello by Cecilia Calvi, E allora Mambo! by Lucio Pellegrini, Ridley Scott's Hannibal, L’amore imperfetto by Giovanni Davide Maderna, La meglio gioventù by Marco Tullio Giordana. She played an episode of Giovanni Veronesi's Manuale d’amore 2 (subsequent chapters) and is the protagonist of Jimmy della collina by Enrico Pau and Sfiorarsi directed by Angelo Orlando (of which, together with the director, she is also the author of the screenplay). She was Barbara Balzerani in Aldo Moro, a tv movie directed by Gianluca Tavarelli, and a forced and neurotic telephonist in Tutta la vita davanti by Paolo Virzì. She also works as voice actor and featured in various Radio Rai program.