Ordinary policemen who meet on the streets of cities. Agents of the “next door with the qualities and defects of normal citizens”. They are the officials described by Francois Morlupi, the Italian-French writer who gave life to the Monteverde Five series. Noir novels, set in the Roman neighborhood of Monteverde, reached their fourth chapter with the release of ‘The game of opposites’, published like the previous ones by Salani.
Book that will be presented Thursday 20 June, in Rome, in the Municipal Council Hall in via Fabiola at 5.30 pmin the presence of the President of the Municipality Elio Tomassetti, the writer and the head of the local police station Fabio Germani.
At the center of the novels written by Morlupi, there are “ordinary people with many qualities and with many defects. My commissioner Ansaldi – the writer tells AdnKronos – suffers from anxiety, weighs 120 kilos, is a hypochondriac. Like his colleagues he is fragile”. When he started writing, in fact, Morlupi wanted to “start from the principle of creating common, ordinary characters, with many facets. Policemen with nuances, with whom the reader can easily identify. Which he evidently succeeded because all the readers told me which can be seen a lot in Commissioner Ansaldi”, admits Morlupi.
The criminal stories are therefore set in Monteverde, a neighborhood where Morlupi has lived “for several years. It’s a neighborhood that has brought me immense luck because the series is doing very well.” The books are “among the best-selling crime novels in Italy, they have won many awards and, next year, it will be translated into Spain”. Furthermore, , states the writer, “we have over 70 thousand readers. Monteverde is the ideal neighborhood for my five policemen. I describe it as if it were Caracas, in every investigation there are many murders. But in reality the neighborhood is not like that at all. It is an elegant area rich in history. Mameli died in Villa Pamphilj, Cornelis Escher (the Dutch engraver and graphic designer who lived in via Poerio ed.) and Pierpaolo Pasolini lived there. Every time I put some gems in my novels, remembering for example what Caproni and Rodari taught us. It is a neighborhood rich in history and anecdotes.”
“Rome – adds Morlupi – is the sixth protagonist of my novels. I don’t want to describe the city with classic stereotypes, but the fact that in every neighborhood there are wonderful historical gems. I also want to underline that Rome is one of the few capitals in which citizens are not just numbers. In the city you experience your neighborhood as if it were a village. To me Monteverde seems like a village”. A suitable place to “put these five characters with many qualities into play”.
‘The Game of Opposites’ is the “fourth book in order of release although in fact it is the second in chronological order. It is in fact the sequel to ‘Mortal Formulas’ which was the first investigation of the Monteverde Five. This is therefore the second investigation of the team and is set halfway between Bulgaria and Rome. I like the play of opposites between these two different worlds.” In this sense “I have my Ansaldi collaborate with his Bulgarian alter ego for an investigation that is a little more international”, concludes the writer.
From the reality experienced in a local police station to the imagination of Morlupi’s pages: officials like Commissioner Fabio Germani who has been head of the Monteverde police station in Rome for two years, exactly that where François Morlupi sets his ‘five of Monteverde’, under the orders of commissioner Biagio Maria Ansaldi. “Commissioner Ansaldi would technically be the manager of Monteverde with all the strengths and weaknesses,” says Commissioner Germani interviewed by AdnKronos.
“Before me – specifies the commissioner – there is a real history of officials who worked in this office. Today I am here but there have been many illustrious managers before me, I am the latest in a series of ‘Ansaldi’. It is exciting and beautiful to represent the inspiration for a story that has a large following and continues to win awards. There is emotion but we live our daily lives peacefully. Morlupi’s books talk about Monteverde, relaunching this area beautiful where I arrived two years ago after leading the Fidene Serpentara district. We are not characters but people. Monteverde’s team of 5 really exists here. Each of us deals with five particular sectors including that of ‘red codes’ and that of territorial control. Each of us has our strengths and weaknesses. But – he still wants to point out – we are people rather than characters”, says the commissioner who talks about his activity, underlining that “our mission is to always be there. It’s our prerogative.”
“Our job – he states – is to serve and help citizens, listening to them and trying to understand where the critical issues are and then intervene. The beauty of this office in Monteverde, and of the team that is working with me, is the synergy that exists with the friends of the Carabinieri, of the Guardia di Finanza, with the Municipality, with the local Police”. , he explains, “of networking: we listen to citizens and intervene together to solve concrete problems. A team effort that is giving excellent results not only in Monteverde, thanks to the coordination implemented “by the Police Commissioner throughout Rome, following the instructions of the Prefect”.
“We in Monteverde are committed, but it is a choral activity under the guidance of the Police Commissioner and the Prefect. We combat degradation and promote decorum”, says the police director who returns to reflect on the events narrated by Morlupi. “They are important noirs and detective stories, but here in our small way we solve concrete cases. For example – he underlines – we have identified and arrested perpetrators of scams targeting the elderly. Then there is a section of this office dedicated to the so-called ‘red codes’, a team of experts who are working on gender crimes, sentinel crimes, or domestic violence”, highlights the commissioner who recalls the
reopening, on August 4 last year, of police station at the San Camillo hospital. “It’s a new police force that is teaching, an integrated security system in which San Camillo security guards also operate. There is the anti-violence center and the ‘Donna H24’ help desk there.”concludes Commissioner Germani.