Questo racconto di fantasia, ambientato a Trieste, è stato scritto per il concorso letterario organizzato dal magazine del gruppo internazionale InTrieste in occasione della festa della donna 2021: l’argomento da trattare era la città di Trieste durante il periodo del Covid-19.
A voi il compito di cogliere le tematiche che ho voluto inserire. Nel frattempo è un’ottima occasione per ripercorrere con una passeggiata immaginaria alcuni luoghi di questa città, insieme ai protagonisti della storia: Vito il lievito e Rina la Mascherina.
Bora, Lievito and Mascherina
“Ouch” said Rina. The fall was bad and, despite the plastic bag all around her, now all her folds and laces were stuck with the grains of wet sand.
Next to her a green sachet of baking powder was coughing up probably because he ingested them.
“Humans sometimes can be very rude! My name is Rina, nice to meet you”
“I am Vito, nice to meet you, how did you get here?” said he while spitting granules.
“I came to Italy from abroad to protect people, a human made use of me and.. you know the rest. We are prisoners in here and soon, when the tide will come we will end up in the sea”
“I know” he replied sadly “ After being used for making a yummy cake my dream was to end up in Scovazze bin to be recycled”
“What is Scovazze?”
“Scovazze is rubbish in Triestino, I should be in the paper can, not here. And you? Why are you so worried? You are just a mask, you are not recyclable and you would have finished in the sea anyway”
“That’s not fair, I have a dream like you do, I want to be recycled too. I heard that in Australia people make use of disposable masks to build roads!”
“This is a wonderful aspiration” Suddenly a sweet deep voice came from the sky “..and I would like to help you”
“Who are you and how can you help us?”
“My name is Bora” The plastic bag started to roll, moved by a powerful breath of air, until it finally opened and they were in plain air.
Rina was enchanted. Closed in the bag she hadn’t noticed the big white castle above the beach. She imagined that once, maybe not so distant in time, the balconies overlooking the sea must have been full of individuals romantically staring at the horizon.
“It’s astonishing, isn’t it?” The voice of Vito interrupted her thoughts “Legend says that an archduke built it for his wife as a love nest where growing old together, but it was a tragic love: he never came back and she went crazy for love”.
In that moment Bora started to blow again, moving them towards the South and so they reached a long empty promenade. Vito explained her that they were in Barcola and, during summer, in ordinary years, it got crowded with Triestini sunbathing on their towels put everywhere, even on the bonnets of the cars. An hedge was added due to the high number of car accidents registered in the street because of people distracted by that view.
She laughed at this image. It was so strange to think about this now that the place was desert. She supposed that somehow it was a perfect spot where to walk and think, watching and smelling the beatiful sea.
Together they were brought to Roiano, they passed by the station till the rive. It was a wonderful sunny afternoon but no car nor people were in the street.
She realized that Vito was really passionate and he knew the city very well. In some way, he was making her love Trieste too.
“We are at Molo Audace, here people, during Bora day, use to challenge each other to touch the wind rose on the dock and no one succeed” said he.
But Bora was on their side, so they could reach the end of the pier and they cheered up together, excited to have made it.
In that very perfect moment, while they were happy admiring in front of them Piazza dell’Unità, the most beautiful square Rina had ever seen, a far sound broke the silence. It seemed like a chorus coming from the entire city: people had started to sing all together at their windows.
She spent the rest of the afternoon flying around, listening to interesting facts and stories about the city, free and joyful, letting herself be cradled by the sweet cold wind.
At the end of the day, together with Vito, she landed on a small beach in Muggia. They stopped there for a while to enjoy the sunset. In front of them the fiery red sky reflected in the sea, full of silhouettes in backlit of birds resting on the floats for the acquaculture.
Abruptly Bora started to blow again, stronger than ever, they were caught in a vortex and when the whirlwind calmed down they found themselves on a wooden surface. Confused they looked around. They were on a sail moored at the little harbour; a flag, blue and red with many stars, waved.
“That’s an Australian flag!” said Rina.
“Yes, I am” spoke the flag “we will weight anchor soon to return home, you can stay with us if you wish“.
Rina looked sadly at her new friend.
“I believe in you and I will join you in your travel” said Vito to Rina blushing a little.
“Thank you Bora for helping me following my dream, where will you go now?” asked Rina with curiosity “This is a secret. No one knows where the wind goes when it calms” Bora answered smiling and she disappeared.
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