Everybody has a story to tell. Have you ever thought about it? It’s natural for almost all of us. You meet a friend and you tell your story, whatever it is: love, friendship, fun, experience, work.

Your stories, as mine, are a treasure, something that no one would never know, except for the chance you give us to listen to you. And every story has its own value: entertain, make us think, give us some rest from a difficult situation, or just give us the pleasure to share something with a friend or a perfect unknown person.

Every aspect of our life can be the subject of a story telling. But do you know how to write it so that it can amuse and charm? Do you know how to build it so that it can offer suggestions, advice and something to think about to those who are listening?

Learning to storytell in Portico di Romagna

I met Giovanna Conforto last summer. A lovely, Irish look like, amazing woman, with the natural talent of making every story “The Story”. She had already been here, leading a group of storytellers coming from all over Europe. I first had the chance to see how a story can be set up and from that event I asked Giovanna for an interview and so I did.

Now, after a few month, she became the director of the Italian Story Telling Center, the first school created in association with Emerson College London (http://www.schoolofstorytelling.com/). The school has its headquarter at the new open library of Portico di Romagna, not the smallest in the world but almost.

The open library: let’s spread the culture

A couple of rooms, full of books in all the most improbable languages in the world. Here the books are free to be read. You do not need to register on a list, just chose a book and start reading, this is a real example of the sharing economy. Are there lessons to be followed? Not in the way you intend. Story telling is a technique made of some steps you need to learn but, most of all, is something you need to handle. It’s like a toolbox that you do not know yet but will offer you a method. Maybe you will never use it, but once you have it , you will hold a treasure in your hands.

The Center will officially open its activities with a special event, a Christmas tales workshop, in the borough where every year, every person of the community creates his/her own nativity. If you want to join us (I will be there, obviously!), please check this link and find out the next events and all the informations about this school, unique in Italy.

http://www.italianstorytellingcenter.it/en/courses/christmas-tales/