Published on 23 aprile 2008
my life changed in the 8o’s when, for the first time, i read the comics by andrea pazienza on “frigidaire” magazine. the truth, the strength, the deep honesty of those stories made me become, perhaps, an adult. andrea was born may 13, 1956 in the province deep south in italy. in summer he goes on holiday at gargano. he has a brother and a father water colour fine artist. after matric he moves to bologna to attend DAMS university. there he bumps into 1977, the “metropolitan indians”, scozzari, the skiantos band and also heroin. he is a genious, or even better, as he refers to himself in fact a rockstar. his most famous character is “zanardi” , his alter ego. few years ago the director renato de maria makes a movie dedicated to andrea called “paz”. it is not the first time that spaz ends up in a movie with one of his stories: paolo virzi in his “ovosodo” copys (without any mention to him!) the exact words from the story “estate”. virzi, you are a great director, really, and ovosodo was a great movie, but fuck you could at least mention pazienza, isn’t it? once i met and even took a photo of pazienza. at a party here in milan, somewhere i have one slide with him. he had two very small eyes. once i went to his house and bought three of his pieces, that i cherich with great jealousy, amongst them a beautiful zanardi launching a love arrow. andrea pazienza dies of overdose june 16, 1988 in montepulciano. that day my youth also ended, and the 90’s started. “because patience has a limit, not me.”
