TOMedea Pennacchi gives us a special memoir novel. In Molotov cocktails and curlerswhat dominates is the period of ’68, an era in which politics ate everything, Maoists could wake up in the morning to change the bourgeois and retrograde world. This powerful revolution is told to us from the point of view of a woman in the years in which politics ruled everything: we ate, we dressed, we made love in a political way, women’s emancipation was more theory than facts. The mates were still dominant, and the little girls fell in love with the leaders like a rock singer’s groupies. In short, women still had to be beautiful, the charm of power was enough for men, even if they were revolutionizing against power.
Amedea Pennacchi was born in Latina and lives in Rome. After 40 years of managerial work, since 2022 she has been the president of Pwn Rome, a non-profit association in favor of gender equality.
This part of history, Pennacchi gives it to us with a language and a narrative rhythm that have the pace of real literature. He does so by mixing tragedy and comedy in the years of the bombs in Piazza Fontana and the anarchist Pinelli who “fell” from the window of the police headquarters.
A memorable book, to be read very carefully, because if you laugh a lot, you also suffer a lot. The wake of those changes is getting thinner and thinner, but we continue to be the children and grandchildren of those years. I forgot, Amedea is Antonio Pennacchi’s sister and is president of Pwn Rome, a non-profit association in favor of gender equality.
Molotov cocktails and curlers
by Amedea Pennacchi Editions E/O
(pages 368, €18.50).
Let’s talk about Alice, its protagonist. She falls in love with the Sicilian revolutionary and decides with him to “get rid” of her virginity. But the result is very poor. Her feminine piety leads her to fake a mountain of orgasms. What goes on in women’s heads?
Female sexuality has always been a complex and mysterious force. The feminist movements of those years redefined it, claiming the importance of female pleasure. I don’t know how the new generations live it today. I believe that achieving a more mature relationship with one’s sexuality requires a deep awareness of oneself and one’s needs and the ability to reclaim one’s pleasure. Something not obvious in Alice’s time. And maybe not even today.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the revolutionary gets his hands on Alice. Still, she doesn’t leave him. Is this sad destiny of subjection really inherent in women?
In Alice’s case, fortunately, it is an isolated episode (after all, she had already received many beatings at home from her parents). When he lays his hands on her, the revolutionary is in a daze due to his coma. Alice is only 18 years old but she is perfectly aware of the seriousness of what happened. She doesn’t leave the revolutionary because she doesn’t want to admit she has failed, but above all she doesn’t want to go back to her paternal home. Yes, unfortunately women often tend to “normalise” and justify episodes of domestic violence. This also applies to psychological violence, which is often underestimated. The first step is to learn to recognize it as such.
What she recounts was the era of possible dreams. Unfeasible, but at least with a semblance of reality. Today there are very few dreams. Was it the political ideal that put so much fuel into the heart?
True, in the seventies everything seemed possible. Often, however, those dreams inexorably collided with reality. As we know, unfortunately, communism gave rise to authoritarian regimes. But I think we should never stop believing in the ideal of a more just society, which fortunately is still very current. And then those movements paved the way for greater emancipation and fundamental rights like divorce and abortion. Today the most important revolution is that of women!
Alice’s brother, Marco, is first a fascist, then becomes a communist. He remembers someone…
Sure, it reminds you of my brother Antonio Pennacchi, Strega Prize 2010. A person with an exceptional talent, whom I loved very much. He was my idol (he was the sixth child, I was the seventh). He has always protected me, he was a very important figure in my life, as was Laura Pennacchi (in the book Sofia, the fifth daughter), economist and undersecretary with Minister Ciampi in the first Prodi government.
What is left of those mythical and legendary years. Am I the last bastion of a dream?
They were years full of contradictions, excesses and violence. But they were also years full of hope. The ideal of a more just communist society precisely – has remained a myth. Today I would settle for a “good government”. I strongly believe in Europe. I think that education has a fundamental role in forming citizens of the world who are respectful of the environment and of diversity. In the end, the big revolutions we have to fight for today are the protection of the environment and the commitment to inclusion and gender equality.
Speaking of ideals, have you seen the latest film by Nanni Moretti, The sun of the future? What impression did she make on her?
I liked it very much. I have found a Moretti who is lighter and willing to question himself. Self-deprecating, poetic. The brilliant idea of changing the course of history, with the PCI condemning the Soviet invasion of Budapest in 1956.
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