What is really important? What touches us today – and will not go away tomorrow? It’s the things that have moved us since human existence: happiness, love, family, partnership, time, stress, loneliness, farewell, grief.
BILD columnist Louis Hagen*, coming from a German-Jewish family, sought answers to the eternal questions of mankind from poets, thinkers and researchers. And found a few answers that are amazingly simple – and yet can enrich our lives.
★★★
There is a piece of Italy in each of us. And everyone can think of something nice about this country – no matter who is in power there at the time. The drive in a VW over the Brenner Pass as a child, for example. The setting sun on Lake Garda. The first bit of Italian, every word an attitude towards life: Pizza, Dolce Vita, Carbonara, Cappuccino, Chianti.
Italians fill everything with life, with words, with gestures. We admire her taste, her elegance, her lightness, her serenity. We love Pavarotti, Taormina in Sicily, Ferrari, walking on the city walls in medieval Lucca, the pounding of the waves on the Amalfi Coast, where the best lemons in the world grow.
BILD columnist Louis Hagen
We adore Sophia Loren, many wistfully remember the Rimini beach. The boys love the Roman district of Trastevere – enjoy pasta with fresh tomatoes and fine herbs after the Aperol Spritz in the bar.
My lovely colleague Hannah (23) has a special smile on her face when it comes to Italy, she says. The reason is Domenico. “He comes from Lake Como in northern Italy. But he’s more of a southern Italian type: Enthusiastic, emotional, he says to me at least ten times a day: Ti amo.”
Now Hannah was at his parents’ house for the first time. Hannah: “I felt like I had never been anywhere else. There was focaccia, sometimes with Crudo (Parma ham), sometimes with Bel Paese or San Marzano tomatoes – I can still taste the taste on my tongue today. Everywhere in the house there was the scent of fresh Lavazza coffee from the Mocca machine. Domenico’s mother took me in her arms and didn’t want to let go of me. Such cordiality – only Italians can do that!”
Italy has had 64 governments since 1945. Whatever one thinks of the most recent – this wonderful country will remain what it was: Bella Italia – bella forever.
* Louis Hagen (75) was a member of the BILD editor-in-chief for 13 years and is now a consultant at the communications agency WMP. His texts are available as a book at koehler-mittel-shop.de.