The holy and the mountains

Every year the people of Israel headed to the high lands of Jerusalem where they would worship Yahweh in the temple that he had chosen as his dwelling on Earth. Jesus also made this pilgrimage with the children of his people. His last ascent to Jerusalem led him to Calvary. Likewise, every year, Indians flock to holy sites in the Himalayas, to Mount Kail?sa, and to the source of the Ganges. All over the world, humans answer with one voice when they are called from on high, from where their god, their creator, lives. They make their ascent, almost as though they were returning to their ‘source’, from where all waters come from; these waters flow throughout the land, making it fruitful, but there are also those that mystically restore the soul.

Giuseppe Cederna is a film and theatre actor; he was born and raised in Rome. He has featured in a range of Italian films, including Marrakech Express and Mediterraneo by Gabriele Salvatores, Italia Germania 4-3 by Andrea Barzini, Il partigiano Johnny by Guido Chiesa, El Alamein by Enzo Monteleone, and more recently Nine, which also starred Sophia Loren and Nicole Kidman. His theatre shows include Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus with Umberto Orsini, Anton Cechov’s The Cherry Orchard directed by Gabriele Lavia, Wallace Shawn’s The Fever, Tacalabala! Il racconto del calcio, Il giro del mondo in settantasette minuti, Lennon & John, and Il Grande Viaggio. His first book Il Grande Viaggio is published by Feltrinelli; it is the story of a pilgrimage to the source of the Ganges, a tale of initiation into beauty, the uniqueness of nature, and the sharing of joy and pain.

Mauro Corona is a writer, mountaineer and sculptor. Although he spent his early years in Trentino, he returned to his hometown of Erto, in Friuli, where he and family were caught up in the Vajont dam disaster. He is one of Europe’s most renowned contemporary wood sculptors. He has also written a number of successful novels and stories. An experienced mountaineer and climber, Mauro Corona has opened up three hundred new rock routes through the Friuli Dolomites. In 1997, a journalist friend published some of his stories in daily newspaper Il Gazzettino. This was the start of his writing career. Since then he has published thirteen books, many of which have been translated into foreign languages, including Chinese. His works include Il volo della martora, Mondadori, 1997; Le voci del bosco, Edizioni Biblioteca dell'Immagine, 1998; Finché il cuculo canta, Edizioni Biblioteca dell'Immagine, 1999; Gocce di resina, Edizioni Biblioteca dell'Immagine, 2001; La montagna, Edizioni Biblioteca dell'Immagine, 2002; Nel legno e nella pietra, Mondadori, 2003; Aspro e dolce, Mondadori, 2004; Storie del bosco antico, Mondadori, 2005; L'ombra del bastone, Mondadori, 2005; Vajont: quelli del dopo, Mondadori, 2006; I fantasmi di pietra, Mondadori, 2006; Cani, camosci, cuculi (e un corvo), Mondadori, 2007; Storia di Neve, Mondadori, 2008; and Il canto delle manére, Mondadori, 2009.

Renato Morelli is an ethnomusicologist; he conducted the first of his ethnography and ethnomusicology studies into the minority ethnic languages of eastern Trentino (Upper German dialect Móchena and the Ladin of Val di Fassa), publishing a number of essays on the subject. He has been a director for Italy’s State broadcaster RAI since 1979, during which time he has made a number of ethnography films and won an array of awards. Between 1992 and 1996, he taught Cultural Anthropology as a contract professor at the University of Trento. In 1998, he founded Archivio Provinciale Della Tradizione Orale (APTO), a database of audio and video sources mapping Trentino’s oral and music tradition. In 1999 he founded Destràni taràf, a project covering Klezmer and Tzigane music and culture that placed special emphasis on the promotion of Trentino and European music tradition.