PROJECT

The idea

Each of us pondered by several  years the idea of writing  the story of 20,000 Italians expelled from Libya in 1970.

Our wishes remained wishes until  spring 2008  when,  by a coincidence,  we exchanged an e-mail message.

Suddenly we started to work together and in a few months we  collected  our ideas and our thoughts to give life to 

" Castelli di sabbia" (Sandcastles)  the book you may find  below

 We were able to do this project together in a few months even though we never met in person, (not yet)  but  we feel  as though we have  known each other forever.

How

We decided   to  not publish this collection of stories and thoughts

(unless someone was crazy  enough to pay us for it)

 but to make  the book available for  free to everybody  on  the web 


Why 

We have written  mainly for ourselves , to recall what happened to us against our will. 

Our tales  are dedicated to all the children of Tripoli and Libya in general who have been uprooted from their homeland, hoping that they can, now as  adults,  write additional  stories. 

Over  years we have explained many times  what  happened and why it happened. This book  is also a gift to all those who do not know of this matter now forgotten, but not resolved. 

 Our memories are a warning to all people  who knowingly or negligently have allowed this to happen. 

It was allowed to infringe  international laws, destroy the cultural identity of an entire community,

humiliate human beings but especially to steal the children's childhood and drop all this into oblivion.


 If this is not enough,   you can read the introduction before you read the book

 Introduction

(translation  adapted  from the original)

 We  kept  those  memories in our hearts  for almost forty years living as  though suspended in a dream beyond real life.

We met on the web with two lines in an e-mail message and immediately came the idea to write the book. 

We have opened the drawer of memories and decided to give some of our thoughts. 

Maybe that when we were children in  Tripoli we also crossed paths  without knowing it. 

Now  that we wrote together, discovered fragments of forgoten life,  shared the wonder of us children discovering  a new world like the first time that we saw the fog in Italy.

 We grew up in different places but we have been attached to  the same despicable labels.  

We are now proud to be here and  proud of our origins, happy to live the present without sacrificing our roots.

 This  tales collection  is composed of  two complementary  parts,  

two  different points of view  and differen views  from those of official chronicles. 

The point of view of two  children who had to learn quickly  to deal  a radical change of life.  

Perhaps one day we will meet even in person, but basically it is as if we have known each other forever. 

  Patty and Max


CASTELLI DI SABBIA

"Sandcastles"  is available only in original Italian version

copertina castelli di sabbia

Download "Castelli di Sabbia" in PDF format PDF (300 Kb)   August 2009 

italian language version only

The file is in PDF format and you can read it with a viewer such as Acrobat Reader © available for free on the web
and generally installed on most computers.
 The file should open automatically in a new window from which you can save it a with a new name.
Depending on the configuration of your browser may be that this is not the case,
 in which case you can select the link, open it with  right mouse button and save the file to open it later.
 For further information please contact us at the e-mail address listed in the  INFO page