Written on 2 February 2024, updated on 26 June 2026
“After secondary school [and following my time in Brazil, at Carrefour], I moved to Paris where, after a year at Sciences Po [Political Science], I enrolled at the Sorbonne. I graduated with a degree in history in June 1986.
For my dissertation , I conducted research into the South Tyrol issue after the Second World War, working with materials held in the archives of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. My hard work earned me the honour of having my work published. The Ministry brought the thesis to the attention of the Italian government, and the work was published by Franco Angeli Editore, with three reprints. A modest success. I was passionate about my studies and was tempted to continue at university. (…) At that time, however, I did not feel a true calling for teaching and was uncertain. For me, devoting myself to historical research would mean doing something purely theoretical. I am struck by a doubt: do I want to remain amongst books and archive documents, alone, seeing hardly anyone, for long days on end? Or do I want to work, engaging with the real world every day?” (p. 129).
These were the doubts of Franz, the university professor in M. Kundera’s novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, published in precisely those years (1982):
“With hindsight, I’ll realise that I should have put up more resistance to our father’s insistence, which I didn’t do. I’ve regretted it. I realised too late – when I’d already been working at the company for some time – that I would actually have enjoyed teaching. So I gave in and went to work at Esselunga (…). All in all, however, looking back, despite the negative things that have happened to me since 2004, I’m glad I chose the world of work and supermarkets. Esselunga has been a great passion of mine.” (p. 132).
Speaking of photos and friends, I’m sad to say that, unfortunately, Soraya passed away on 19 June 2026 after a long illness, leaving a huge void in the album of my Parisian memories.
I fondly remember Patrick Charignon, Clèmence de Bieville, Nadege de Peganow, Fabrizio Chiesa – standing next to me in the white shirt in the 2019 Rosey photo – Francois Comba and Sophie Thomas Gèrard, whom I still hear from or see from time to time. In Paris, I also met Marco Della Seta, whom I was delighted to see again recently, whilst Pierre Trocheris passed away many years ago.
