Nearly forty signatures covered the whiteboard in our editorial office—the one we usually use to sketch out plans for upcoming issues. This time, it served a different purpose: to record the names of everyone who came to visit us on Saturday, April 6, to celebrate forty years of Ombre e Luci. The handwriting ranged from Sergio Sciascia's, the magazine's first editor, and Paola and Maria Monica Gammarelli's, who hosted our offices in their building for over thirty years, to the younger hand of Enrica Riera, a valued collaborator for some years now, and our newest neighbors Manuela and her daughter Elena, whom we often see peering out the upstairs window. They were joined by a strong contingent from Rome's Fede e Luce community, friends and young people from Naples and Milan, and finally our reporters and bloggers. Each one enriched the celebration with emotion and memory.
«We arrive at the office on viale di Valle Aurelia,» Nora Buccheri recalls, «and finally I meet the editorial staff in person. They were already setting everything up. I pitched in and blew up balloons that kept popping. Then a breeze picked up and some flew away. Antonietta and I waved goodbye with our hands, had a good laugh, and talked about our parishes.» Both reporters, Nora Buccheri and Antonietta Pantone met for the first time at this festive occasion.
«Talking with Nora,» Antonietta adds, «I realized that what I write, however small, is being read and understood by someone. I was shocked when Nora told me she knew me because she'd read me on the website. My work as a community reporter started, but I felt something was missing. I'd lost hope after covid, but in the end my own blog became real thanks to the Ombre e Luci team. It's one of my many dreams come true, and I actually did it!»
On the Fede e Luce website, Valeria Antonucci summed up the celebration in a few crisp lines: «That afternoon was simply wonderful! Beyond eating and drinking, we danced to all sorts of songs, talked about our work, sang 'Happy Birthday,' and watched YouTube videos telling the story of our magazine. Some of us spoke at the microphone. We all had fun, but also grew a little emotional when one of us recalled Ombre e Luci's founding editor, Mariangela Mazzarotto.» Valeria is referring to Rita Massi's account—Rita was on the editorial team during Mariangela's final years. Alongside Rita, Huberta Pott, Sergio Sciascia, Angela Gattulli, Giovanni Grossi, and Claudio Moriggia took the microphone, sharing stories, reciting poems, and offering the gathered crowd a kind of greatest hits from the magazine—a distillation of old and new unforgettable pieces.
«I feel fortunate to be part of this editorial team that has journeyed through so many chapters to reach forty years,» Antonietta concluded. «Before me, so many important people gave life to this magazine. I thank you again, my dear readers, because every time you give me the strength to keep going and tell more of the reality around us—our struggles and our disabilities.» Here's to the next forty!