Joronen, the Palermo goalkeeper who saves goals and reads Dante: “The Divine Comedy taught me Italian and the passion for life”
Not just parades and training: Jesse Joronengoalkeeper of Palermois also an avid reader and scholar of literature. The Finnish class of ’93, protagonist on the pitch with the rosanero, spoke about his passion for books and in particular for Dante Alighierito the point of being invited as a guest at the Week of Dante studies at the San Salvatore Oratory in Palermo.
Unable to participate in person due to training ahead of the match against ModenaJoronen sent a video message in which he explained how to read the Divine Comedy helped him improve his Italian. «I discovered Dante at school in Finland – he said – and rereading the Comedy made me understand how universal and always current its themes are».
A passion born in the family: “We grew up among books”
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The passion for reading, explains Joronen, was born in the family: a teacher mother and an athletics coach father passed on to him the love of culture. «When we were little our mother always read to us – he says – and we often went to bookshops. I started with Tolkien and never stopped.”
The Rosanero goalkeeper confesses that he considers literature a fundamental part of his education, just like sport. After Tolkien, he moved on to the great classics, until he rediscovered Dante, which for him became not only a personal pleasure but also a tool for linguistic and cultural learning.
An example for young people: “You need passion in everything you do”
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In his message addressed to the 500 students present at the conference, Joronen he also wanted to send a message of inspiration: «The most important thing is to have passion – he said – not only for football but for everything you do in life. If you are ready to learn something new every day, you can build your own fortune.”
A changing room of readers
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The president was present at the event, along with the doorman’s video message Dario Mirri and the head of the museum of “Barbera”, Giovanni Tarantino. And it’s not just Joronen who has a book habit: in the locker room of Filippo Inzaghiauthor of the volume “The right moment. Football, my life”there are other great readers like Alfred Gomis And Claudio Gomes.
«In football there is a stereotype that players don’t read – concluded Joronen – but it’s not true: many of my teammates love books. I was just lucky enough that my passion became public.”
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