Il calamaro gigante

Of the sea we know nothing, however, we delude ourselves to the contrary: we spend a day at the beach and think we are looking at the sea, instead we see only “its peel, its salty, shimmering skin.”
Perhaps it is because just below is a life so different and mind-blowing that it seems impossible to us. A young boy learns this to his cost when he has to draw his favorite animal at school, but he takes on the laughter, pens and pencils of the whole class, because out of so many beautiful animals in the world he chose the giant squid, “which does not exist.” Instead the giant squid does exist, however, it is too big and strange for our tired way of looking at reality, in fact until yesterday we considered it only a story. But how do you put “only” in front of stories? Stories are everything, they are what brought us into the world and give meaning to our journey. So let us set out, on this magnificent drifting crossing, by land and especially by sea, chasing dreams, passions, the impossible. Together with those who to the call of the giant squid and the wonder have always answered, against everything and everyone: fishermen from the Antilles and priests from Emilia Romagna, English explorers and garbage collectors from Pontedera, grandmothers who talk to their dead husbands at dinner, girls who stop walking in order not to step on ants, children who lower themselves into a hole where a treasure has been waiting for them for fifteen thousand years. Pursuing their huge and impetuous dream, they drew equally incredible and exciting stories that are their lives, are ours.
Adventures that are minimal and resounding, everyday and unique: together they form a shimmering sea that – like the real sea – is big and full of wonders. Aboard these pages we sail to the surprising, amusing, moving discovery of the wonders of Nature and thus of ourselves, for the most incredible story is precisely reality.
How much incredible, absurd wonder exists there underwater, but also above, and all around. Knowing it scares and sweeps us off our feet, but we should be happy: part of that boundless wonder is us.