Ten Minutes with Fabrizio

(Day 14 of 30 – story crumbs from the world of Loveandpizza.it 🍕)

I’ll be honest with you: I expected this one to be hard work.

Fabrizio’s the quiet one; the one who hangs back and watches. So I sat down braced for one-word answers and a great deal of meaningful silence.

Reader, I was wrong. Get Fabrizio onto the right subject, and the quiet man turns out to have rather a lot to say: thoughtfully, warmly, and with a dry humour that sneaks up on you when you’re not looking. He’s reserved, yes. But he’s also, it turns out, exactly the sort of man you could happily sit across a table from for an hour and never once think to check your phone.

He kept a couple of cards close to his chest; the important ones, naturally. But he was a gentleman about every single one.

Me: Napoli, in three words.

Fabrizio: [considers it properly] Loud. Ancient. Alive. Though Napoli would tell you three words is nowhere near enough; and Napoli would be right.

Me: “Ancient”… Is that the archaeologist in you talking?

Fabrizio: [a smile] Guilty. I studied Archaeology. Spend a few years learning to read what’s buried under your feet, and you never quite walk through a city the same way again. Napoli has three thousand years of people loving and arguing and building right on top of one another. I find that comforting, actually. You’re never the first person to feel whatever it is you’re feeling.

Me: That’s rather profound for a Tuesday.

Fabrizio: [laughs] You did ask.

Me: What’s the first thing you notice about a person?

Fabrizio: Usually the thing they’re hoping I won’t. Not to catch them out. It’s just that people are simply more interesting than the version they lead with. The trick is not to mention it. It tends to alarm them.

Me: Coffee order?

Fabrizio: Espresso. Standing at the bar, thirty seconds, the way it’s meant to be drunk. I’m a little suspicious of anyone who needs a comfortable chair to enjoy a coffee. [beat] Present company excepted, obviously.

Me: …Smooth. Okay, I have to ask. There’s a rumour, which I’m fairly sure Carolina started, that you might be, ah… [lowers voice] connected. Camorra. Care to comment?

Fabrizio: [genuinely amused] Ah. So she told you about that. [a soft laugh] She had a whole theory about me once, our Carolina. Quite the elaborate one. Now, whether she turned out to be right, or hopelessly wide of the mark… [a small smile] that’s one of the many things you’ll just have to read the book to find out. I’m giving nothing away.

Me: You’ve mentioned pizza rather fondly there. Is there a story?

Fabrizio: [a pause; then, warmly] There might be. But you’re fishing now, and I’m not quite that easy. Some things are better read than told. 😌

Me: Are you a romantic, Fabrizio?

Fabrizio: [considers this longer than the others] I think… I’m someone who pays attention. I notice the small things: what makes someone’s face light up, the thing they mentioned wanting three weeks ago and assumed you’d forgotten. And then I try to make it happen. It was never about how much you spend, or how grand you can make it look. It’s about whether you were actually listening. [softly] I’ve had my heart handed back to me before, too. It teaches you to mean it, when you say it.

Me: And Carolina? What do you make of her?

Fabrizio: [a smile] Ah. That’s the one question I’m not going to answer; and I suspect you knew that before you asked. Some things belong in the book, not a blog interview. Ask me again once everyone’s read it.

Me: That’s the most anyone’s ever said by saying nothing.

Fabrizio: [lightly] Then I’ve said just enough.

And that was Fabrizio: thoughtful, funny, clever in a way you don’t see coming, and far, far warmer than “the quiet one” ever lets on. He answered nearly everything… and the one thing he wouldn’t, he declined so graciously I almost didn’t notice he’d done it. Almost.

Now I understand the fuss.

Well, that’s the main cast. You’ve met Carolina and her paper armour, Lisa and her truth-telling, Luca and his grand certainty, and now Fabrizio and his still waters. Four people, one city, and a story I cannot wait for you to read.

And speaking of the city: over the next few days, we’re stepping out of the interviews and into the world they all live in. Napoli herself. The real streets, the real places that found their way into the book, and why this gloriously loud, chaotic, beautiful corner of Italy stole my heart (and Carolina’s). Andiamo. 🇮🇹

But first, the big question. Tell me: is Fabrizio everything you hoped, or are you holding out for Luca? The comments are getting heated, and honestly, I’m here for it. 👇

Dani. x

P.S. Loveandpizza.it is coming back in English, Italian and Portuguese. Save your slice and you’ll be first to know the moment your edition’s ready. 🍕