London as a second language

This collection is the first step toward a larger project, a travel book for the adopted city.

That is what London is for millions of its inhabitants. These five short texts, written in Italian and translated into English, or written directly in English, approach London and leave London, then approach it again. Because London is permanent transit, transformation and tremor. London is a number of different realities next to one another: some interact and mix, most barely touch or acknowledge each other. London is multiple migrations, is extreme multiculturalism yet somehow monolingual, is savage finance and medieval guild, is brutalist and royalist, safe and uncertain, in this precise moment its mayor is Muslim and the air is damp and tropical.