Everyone to Flip (but check the address)

Tomorrow marks the start of the sixth edition of Flip, the Pomigliano d’Arco Independent Literature Festival, but this time attendees will need to check the address carefully, otherwise they risk turning up at the wrong place: the events will be hosted at Palazzo Lancellotti in Casalnuovo, five kilometres further west. It is certainly curious that the Pomigliano festival is being held in Casalnuovo – it must be a local tradition: this summer, the Pomigliano Jazz festival took place in Avella, Cimitile and the crater of Vesuvius – and even more peculiar that a row has flared up over the move. Il Mattino and the Naples edition of Corriere della Sera report that the reason is a falling-out between the mayor of Pomigliano and a bookseller on the event’s organising committee. Before delving into the more or less juicy details (reports suggest that the mayor demanded the bookseller’s exclusion and that the other organisers decided to relocate out of solidarity; the council has issued a statement claiming it never refused to fund the festival – which covers about a third of the costs – and accusing the bookseller of pursuing ‘personal gain’ in breach of constitutional principles), we must ask ourselves whether we really care. 

Flip is a major free event attended by some big names: this year I will be going to hear Irvine Welsh, Mariana Branca and Kevin Barry. It did not just spring up out of nowhere, but stems from a social fabric featuring six bookshops for every forty thousand inhabitants – a figure unrivalled in Italy – around which cultural associations have sprung up, some more politicised than others, and some rather likeable. This is the only significant aspect, as it brings visitors to Pomigliano – or rather, Casalnuovo – from Milan, Rome and the whole of the south, as well as drawing in large numbers of readers from the surrounding areas. Let us therefore consider the Flip (which will not be renamed Flic) not through the lens of local squabbles but of cultural interest: the only thing that matters is that the festival takes place and, from the perspective of Milan, Rome or the countries of the international guests, five kilometres count for nothing. Once they realise this, you’ll see that the institutions will fall into line.