The Vetuschi, the rough people led by King Vuttonio

There is, at least in the universe of fantasy, a people who live on a barren and inhospitable peak. They are known as the Vetuschi and are so stupid that they are the first to be surprised that they have not yet become extinct. They are a crude, brutal people, without much common sense, who have as their greatest fun bludgeoning their loved / hated neighbors, the Gnuminids, cultured and refined people, but a little lacking in backbone. Leading the Vetuschi is a king, Vuttonio, who, like all his people, is unable to put two concepts in line without forgetting the first and the same can be said of his most trusted adviser, the parrot Giulebbe. To save these foolish people there is just Klaretta, a four meter high hen who is the wise oracle of the entire population, and Yucchi, the only Vetusco with functioning neurons, neurons that can do little immersed in a universe of great stupidity ... and great comedy.

A few lines to introduce a booklet for children and teenagers aged 9 to 90 years and over, a booklet in which stupidity and lack of common sense become an excuse to play with nonsense, adventure and the overturning of conventions and situations . We are talking about the “Book of the Vetuschi” (Il Castoro publisher, 2021, Euro 13.50, pp. 200) written by Mario Mucciarelli and illustrated by Stefano Tartarotti. A book that from the very first pages raises a question: where does such an absurd people as the Vetuschi come from? Let's turn the question to Mario Mucciarelli: “The people and the adventures of the Vetuschi were born a few years ago, when my son was little and I used to tell him stories to make him fall asleep. Among these were the adventures of an imaginary people, the Vetuschi in fact. My son had a lot of fun listening to them because the Vetuschi were really stupid, they couldn't do anything sensible. It seemed they were only looking for a way to become extinct, to destroy the environment around them. Over time I realized that I had many stories with the Vetuschi as protagonists and I collected them in a book ”.

Reading the book you can feel how you enjoy telling the absurd world of the Vetuschi ... where does this fun come from?

“Writing about such a stupid people, in a certain sense, was liberating, because the Vetuschi seem almost an allegory of us Italians. They make a mess, they combine disasters over and over again, they always seem to be on the verge of being swept away but then they always save themselves, in extremis. And it is not known if they are saved by pure luck or because a minimum of reasonableness takes over. Imagining stories starring a people who are neither evil nor in bad faith, but are just unable to do better has amused me and I hope it will amuse the readers ”.

How did the encounter between your text and Tartarotti's funny illustrations come about?

“I hadn't actually thought about putting illustrations in the book. It was a proposal from the publishing house which, however, soon involved me very much. It wasn't easy: it needed an illustrator with the right hand, a humorous touch, a spirit capable of translating the absurdity and hyperbole present in my stories onto paper. Stefano Tartarotti had these qualities and did a great job and in total autonomy, in the sense that I wanted a dialogue between text and illustrations, not that illustrations were imposed, guided by the text ".

But what will become of the Vetuschi now that he has begun to tell their stories?

"The book tells a self-contained story, but there are still many adventures on this people and the troubles to be done are even more ... at least in my head".