They are 14 classes at the Tambosi Institute in Trento that yesterday, 3 February 2025, they met Antonio Ferrara, author of the novel Mia, published by Settenove. The writer was a guest of the project “Recognizing and Preventing Gender-Based Violence”, born from the collaboration between Municipality of Trento e Alfid (Secular Association of Parents in Difficulty), with the aim of increasing awareness of this phenomenon among students, parents and teachers.

The project, launched at the beginning of the year, involved six classes in a training course with sector experts such as Emanuele Corn, Leandro Malgesini and Ivan Pezzotta, who have addressed the issue through the movies (There's still tomorrow, Mia) and the literature, with the novel by Antonio Ferrara.

A story of possession and violence

Mia tells the story of Caesar, a 15 year old boy who writes his story from prison. He is there because he has killed Stella, the girl he said he loved. A raw and direct story, which delves into the possession, in jealousy and in obsession that turn love into a cage.

"We don't know what's going on in the mind of a man who kills his girlfriend, the one he said he loved a little while before."he said Ferrara to the students. "I spoiled the ending at the beginning because the real surprise is finding out why. I wanted to tell the reader how it could end if your boyfriend checks your messages, how you dress, if he asks you not to see his friends. If he puts his hands on you. And I wanted to punch you in the stomach.".

The novel is inspired by a true story, that of his daughter's friend. It is the story of Carolina Picchio, the first recognized victim of cyberbullying in Italy, and of Giulia Cecchettin, killed by those who said they loved her. It is the story of too many women victims of violence, told through short, intense chapters like slaps, shiny as a mirror.

“Where is the hope?”

During the meeting, Ferrara asked the students: "Where is the hope?".

A girl answered in

first row: "In us. We are the hope. We are the ones who read, because we can make sure that it doesn't happen again, that it doesn't happen again".