Grazia Verasani

"My approach to the noir genre is always existential, I carry out investigations into feelings. For this reason I am also addressing readers who do not like detective stories in the strict sense, because blood is not abundant in my books, and the mere conflict between good and evil, crime and solving the crime, do not interest me. I prefer to move between the shadows, the chiaroscuro, talk about anxieties, observe society through what I call "a cold reflection on feelings". But in the end, beyond genres, all books should tell a mystery, investigate what Dostoevsky called "the mystery man". And the greatest mystery is love [...]."

"women are not afraid to admit their weaknesses: we always play with our cards exposed."

"I know mature women, with multiple degrees, who take continuous injections of botulinum. Another own goal. The more society wants us to be young and desirable, the more we acclimatise to a market demand where looking our best is a guarantee of "being loved". What a mistake... But I put a lot of trust in male intelligence, the kind that chooses companions of the same age, that prefers personality (charm) to a smoothness (whether fake or authentic) without character. In ancient times, streets were called "wrinkles". Isn't it wonderful? In this image there is all the crossing, the transit, of those who have walked, generation after generation, on the earth. And the sweetness of growing old like the alleys and stones of a city that has seen a lot..."

"Bologna maintains mysteries and has its own very metaphysical atmosphere despite being an earthly city. I think it is a city that lends itself very well to noir also because all the of porticoes on one side protect you from the sun and rain but also risk taking away the sky, the horizon, they are suffocating, claustrophobic protective. The Certosa, the cemetery, is the most open place in Bologna, from there you see everything, the plain, the hills. Even Lord Byron passing through Bologna said that the Certosa was the most open place in Bologna."