If China invades Taiwan … « Writing a novel has served to understand more »

What is the first memory he has of his father?
Jacopo Rampini: «This image returned to my mind a few nights ago, while listening to music. Costanza and I (the older sister, editor’s note) are young. It is seven in the morning and dad wakes us up with the songs of George Brassens, takes us in their arms and leads us to have breakfast in the kitchen, from the mother ».
Federico connects from New York. Jacopo da Camogli. They have just seen themselves in Japan and will see each other again in Turin to start the presentation tour of The game of power (Mondadori). Federico is the Rampini writer and editorialist of the Corriere della Serathe Father. Jacopo is the theater and cinema actor, his son. This novel written in four hands was born three years ago, from an idea of ​​Jacopo for a TV series. Federico decides to follow him and brings with him all the grapes we know. We are in 2027 and the President of the United States is JD Vance. China is close to invading Taiwan and the United States prepare an answer. In this thriller, geopolitics is intertwined with the life of an Italian family owner of a microchip company that becomes coveted prey. In the middle there are family relationships, successions the power games.

How did the idea of ​​this novel come about?
Federico: «One of the reasons why I participated in this project has to do with the seduction of the fiction. My daily work is glued to the present time. Mine is a profession in some respects even very frustrating, because the world escapes you continuously and displaces you, in this period even more. Using the fiction technique is a way to try to take a step forward: a more courageous operation of the day by day. Jacopo dealt with the characters and relationships between these, I of the world scenario: war of technologies, the invasion of Taiwan, America-China, the use of artificial intelligence « .
Jacopo: «I wanted to write a subject in the wake of the HBO succession TV series. When I made it read they saw us a novel. We have already worked together in writing some theatrical performances, how does America are used for? Our book follows a similar form: I tell really lived experiences and my father, starting from there, makes it a macroscopic discourse. To keep together everything also helped us an excellent team of Mondadori ».

So she, Jacopo, is Gregorio, the young protagonist photographer?
Jacopo: «Let’s put it this way: there is mine. Much of what happens to the protagonist really happened to me. Then, of course, there is fiction, we made certain situations more dramatic, but this story has true. Inside there is also an important part dedicated to the father-child relationship, which takes its cue from us. I wanted to tell a little what it means to be the son of a famous man ».

And what does it mean?
Jacopo: «I read this quote by Cesare Pavese: » You don’t get rid of one thing avoiding it but crossing it « . Three years ago I returned to Italy to write this novel and I also had to face my surname. I lived 15 years in the United States where « Rampini » has no resonance. Returning here, however, everything has changed. I wanted to exorcise this aspect through the book because Gregorio’s path also passes through the figure of his father: Greg escapes from Italy so as not to be « his son’s son ». Now that I am in Camogli I hear people say « that’s the son of Rampini ». It is not always pleasant, it is as if they thought they already know who they are or who already had expectations. There is like the impression of disappointing them a priori. Then, I know that calling me Rampini also gives me opportunities, I don’t want to be a victim: I could not have written this book so easily if I were not the son of … ».
Federico: «The vast majority of my personal and professional life took place far from Italy, I was corresponding to the city such as Paris, San Francisco, Beijing, New York. In those places I could not do anything for my children. Neither for Jacopo D’Actor’s career, nor for that of Costanza, who is a university professor in California: their surname was irrelevant. In Italy it is different, it has more resonance, but our life has been around ».

You have called yourself global nomads.
Federico: «My wife Stefania and my children were conditioned by my work. My children were born in Rome, they raised a little in Paris, a little in Milan. Then California where Stefania taught. After that I disappeared in China, alone. And then New York. Not a traditional life. Even today we are always on a plane ».
Jacopo: «Since I cannot know what it means to live a more normal life, of mine I see only the positive sides. When they ask me where you are in Italy, I struggle to answer. This is why we find ourselves in the city like New York, where there are other individuals like us. In America it is a great classic: « I’m from Bangkok, I live in New York, my mom is French » ».

How do you define your relationship?
Federico: « I let Jacopo speak. »
Jacopo: «Complex is a diplomatic way to get out of it (laughs, editor’s note). Seriously, we have an excellent relationship. Indeed, I add that I learned so much of my father from this last job together. Reading his books, writing with him who has much more experience than me. It was a guide. The other side of the medal, of which, however, is not responsible, is the one we were talking about before. The risk that someone says « is the son of ». The fear of disappointing ».
Have you been afraid in starting this project?
Jacopo: «I would correct the use of the past: I’m afraid. For me it is the first attempt. My father wrote more than 30 books, even if the others did not go well they all worked. I am afraid, but then I know that it was actually an experience that taught me a lot, I learned and read so much. I studied philosophy at the Sorbona in Paris and acting in New York, for me this was also the opportunity to return to Italian « .
Federico: «I live with fear. In the sense that whatever does it always have a dose of experiment. I changed work offices on three continents and every time it was a bet that could have been very bad. I ventured with television that was not my original profession. I take into account the bankruptcy as a possibility. And then there is the other fear that is the accusation of nepotism and familism. Someone will say that it is an ignoble thing to write with your child ».

You live all over the world, but your base is New York. To look at it from here, the America of Trump II looks like in a moment of chaos, sometimes frightening. What is your perception?
Federico: «This theme is also in the book. But as far as reality is concerned, I always try to reassure readers by taking that detachment that is facilitated by my passion for history. The history of this country has never been linear, it is full of tragedies and the crisis we are going through, because it is a crisis in many respects, it is less unpublished than it seems. I have some memories of America after 11 September 2001 that they are not so beautiful. The impact of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq of George W. Bush on the rest of the world, but also within the America itself, was hard. We have already passed from here, just study the 80s of Reagan, the 70s of Carter, the 60s of Kennedy. The 1960s, for example, were of devastating violence that in comparison today’s America seems to me all in all even a more stable country. Historical detachment helps to play down and cure that vice for which it seems that the world is born today. When you say « it’s an unprecedented crisis », you make an error. It is precisely the exact opposite: he has previous ones ».
Jacopo: « For the first time this year I saw a shooting between two Harlem gangs under my house and shocked me. I have always said that New York is safer than Paris or Milan. Now there is more degradation, but nothing compared to other periods, like the 80s, for example. Everything lives on the phases ».

Federico Rampini has often delayed those who, for him, are the negative aspects of Wake culture. What do you think, Jacopo?
«I answer with experiences of life lived. I read a job proposal in New York in which they were looking for only blacks and gays, but not for a role of actor, who is there, but for the production. For years I was with an African American girl, dancer and model, once they said she wasn’t black enough. These episodes are also in the book. Everything, if exasperated, becomes ridiculous ».

What do you look like?
Jacopo: «In addition to the curls? In reality we also resemble each other in the traits of the face ».
Federico: «I start from a difference: he has a strong dowry in human relationships, in sociability, in affectivity, in my opinion I have an extra gear, or even two. We have a secondary trait of the similar character: both are healthy. Jacopo is quite maniacal in the physical exercise. I have always tried, despite a disordered life, to maintain the race and a little yoga, they are two principles of life that I try never to abandon. When he is in Camogli, he runs uphill on the mountain of Portofino, which I envy him a lot. I no longer have that breath there ».

And what are you different in?
Jacopo: «Dad has a much more analytical mind, he was good at mathematics. I have a more artistic mind, I travel more in the sphere of creativity and imagination. Even if I then studied philosophy so I like to read, reason, philosophize. This book reported me to combine creativity and reasoning ».

What did your parents tell her when she explained that she wanted to be an actor?
Jacopo: « They were a little shocked, but they accepted it. »
Federico: «Jacopo does it simple. It was not that easy for me and Stefania to accept her choice, there is a concern because it is a difficult job. But it’s his way ».