In the lecture hall of the State University of Milan it was impossible not to spot Tiziano Terzani on the fly, in that late winter morning, early spring of 2002. Tall, with long hair and beard as white as the habit he was wearing, he seemed to be the very image of the Indian holy man. However, it was enough that he began to speak and the strong Tuscan accent, indeed “very Florentine” to use one of his expressions, immediately canceled this first impression.
Only a few months had passed since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and Terzani had recently published a book that represented an authoritative voice against violence in response to violence. A book that is very topical today given the season that Europe is experiencing: "Letters against the war" (Tea, 2019, pp. 180, also e-book).
I had read in one breath those "letters", some of which were written by the war theater of Afghanistan and I found them strong from an ethical point of view: "Even more than outside, the causes of the war are within us. I am into passions such as desire, fear, insecurity, greed, pride, vanity ... We have to change our attitude. It's time to come out ; it's time to commit to the values you believe in . A civilization is strengthened with its moral determination, much more than with new weapons ”. But there was something else in those pages that struck me with equal force: the passion of man , journalist and writer in telling, describing places, people, encounters, emotions, landscapes. The passion to know without necessarily judging.
