This article is not an interview, but a rare form of autobiography that I hope to make as fluent as possible for you. My name is Martina Tripi and I am the narrator of Laurels Apron. Laura and Paolo asked me to dedicate the September article to myself, an honor, but also a great undertaking.
I have always lived in stories
As in speaking, when writing about yourself there is always the risk of becoming a little self-referential. I don't want to turn this episode of Germogli into a Curriculum Vitae nor even into a diary entry but, as I did for all the other protagonists of this column, I want to tell you about myself.
I am a Sicilian who grew up in Veneto and live in Treviso with my family. Basically, I perfectly represent the category of dreamers, of "silly, as they may seem” sang Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) in La La Land, those whose stories of courage end up among these virtual pages. To make a long story short, I'm a copywriter: I deal with texts, stories and content.
Of course, it really takes courage today to have a dream and it also takes courage to decide to work in the world of culture and words, like I do.
For as long as I can remember I have always written: letters, diaries, stories, notes. At thirteen I knew Shakespeare by heart. In high school, however, I liked the tragic and romantic stories of the great nineteenth-century novels. I went on the hunt for overwhelming and impossible loves, then I imagined I was Arthur Rimbaud or one of his reincarnations.
If I went back, I would like to go to classical high school and then literature; instead I studied art and the academy of fine arts. I felt the urgency to express myself in every way possible, transforming everything I felt and thought into a manifesto.
The beginnings: blogging, cooking, food writing
It's still a bit like this, I write out of urgency. I live with the regret of having neglected pen and paper too much, preferring the computer, but keeping up with the times is necessary in every sector.
Precisely for this reason, a few decades ago, I opened a cooking blog called Vanilla Extract. I was twenty years old and in my daily life I dedicated myself to cultivating the proverbial plan B, that is, being an office employee, but as soon as I could I got in the kitchen and tested recipes.
At the time, food mania had exploded, with MasterChef and other television programs in which everyone cooked. The blogs were not, however, just virtual recipe books: I liked them because the recipes became the excuse to write about everyday life. It was also then that the culture of recipe books that combined cooking with lifestyle arrived in Italy, thanks to Csaba dalla Zorza, who you see on television today on Real Time, but who at the time ran a publishing house called Luxury Books.
In the footsteps of Martha Stewart, very famous in America, Dalla Zorza brought to our country a new way of writing about cooking and the profession of food writer.
Inside the stories of others
In 2020 I won a collaboration with The Republic Guides. After having written so much about cooking, I could finally try my hand at a real editorial project. The first guide I worked on told about Venice and its islands. Covid-19 prevented us from traveling, so I spent my days on the phone with chefs and restaurateurs, islanders and tourism professionals. One day I was also assigned the first important interview: Arrigo Cipriani, the owner of the legendary Harry's Bar.
Since then, many important names have followed. Not only personalities from the restaurant sector, but also sportsmen, such as Alessandro Del Piero and Sofia Goggia, and artists of the caliber of Red Canzian.
Interviewing people is my favorite part, no matter who they were. On the phone or in person, I take out my recorder and immerse myself in these unedited lives that then demand to be transcribed with profound care. I always feel obliged to give back to these people, or characters, as I felt them, honoring the openness and generosity they gave me by telling their stories.
Writing is a craft
Whether for an editorial project, a company blog or a podcast, the study and research phase is definitely my favorite, because it allows me to open my mind, learn, discover.
The difficult part is keeping an eye open to wonder, escaping from mechanisms to optimize, as every profession requires. Sometimes I seem a bit naïve because I remain soft in calculating my working hours, but how do you harness a piece to be written in a pre-established time?
When I was studying art, my painting teacher would make us step back several times while we were working on a painting. It served to verify the perspective, but also to look at one's work with a more detached gaze. Sometimes it was necessary to let everything settle for a day or two, for a new and decidedly rested approach. It's like this for me with writing too: I can't throw out a piece mechanically, I have to go back to it again and again, weigh the words, which together must have an almost musical harmony.
Writing, the kind that resists AI, at least, has an artisanal nature. So yes, I feel like a craftsman in all respects.
Where wonder lives
Today artisans and visionaries are also the main protagonists of my stories. I always try to work with brands and professionals who share my values and I do the same when I choose an editorial project.
Visionaries do not necessarily work with their hands, but build new worlds. What certainly unites us all is the desire not to give in to speed and an enchanted gaze towards the world. But don't get us wrong, we are well aware that the most enchanting things have to be found with difficulty, which is why we then take great care of them.
Repetition is one of the greatest enemies of wonder, which is why I trust that there will always be room for those who choose to dedicate their lives to creating something unique.
As for me, I borrow the words of the French writer Michel Tournier to conclude this article: “Reality infinitely surpasses the resources of my imagination and never ceases to fill me with amazement and admiration”, and as long as that's the case, I won't be able to stop writing.
Where you can find me
- You can read me on Instagram and in my blog, which today is called Mimì in Cocotte ;
- If you want to listen to me, however, you can find me on Spotify and on all the listening platforms with Cooking readings e Stories in the cart ;
- In the bookshop, however, you will find me with two guides for the whole family: Treviso: instructions for use e Venice: instructions for use .
Sprouts is the new column dedicated to the stories of those like us who have decided to put our heart and soul into planning a dream. Every month here you can read a new story.
