Michele D’Ignazio: “What is your particular sign?”

Beauty grains in France, satellites that suggest the full moon in Spain, simply in Italy. Often considered with a negative meaning. Why? A question that Michele D’Ignazio he has often placed himself growing up, because moles are the peculiarity that characterizes him since the first day of life, since the doctor who gave him birth saw for the first time the giant mole that occupies part of his shoulders.

Only several years later, growing up, Michele D’Ignazio transformed him into his “giant cloak”, a superpower that he decided to tell in his “My particular sign” published for Rizzoli. Because recognizing your particular sign can make us stronger.

Why did you decide to tell your story?
«The idea had been maturing inside me for some time, but it was decisive one September morning, during one of the many meetings at school: there was a little girl, her face and legs were studded with many small moles. I got excited. I recognized myself. From that moment I began to understand that my story could be useful and important for many people, not only for particular children, as I have been, but also for parents, adults. Because this is also the story of the grown-ups who helped me when I was little, who stood by me, giving me courage and joy, making me discover the magic and wonder of every particularity ».

How would you describe your particular sign?
“There is an anecdote to which I am very attached and which I tell in the book. In a school in Rome, a little girl asked me:”But what do you have in your eye? “Tbefore times I have imagined an imaginative answer such as: “I was stung by a mosquito” or “I have a pupil eclipse”. But the truth is, the first thing the children taught me was sincerity. And it really is a great lesson for anyone. So, returning to the question, I replied: “A mole”. The children did not break down, they greeted me with a smile and left the classroom to go to the canteen. Yet, while I was rearranging books and drawings, one of the children ran back to class, stood in front of me and exclaimed: “You have a lot of imagination because you have the mole in your eye!”. It looked like a scene from a movie. Such a clear sentence. The need to go back and express that thought of hers. Here, the particular signs are this: they create amazement, wonder, fantasy. They are a plus. We all have more than one and in the book I speak of moles, small and giants, but not only ».

Have you ever felt “different”, not accepted?
“I had a very happy childhood and have never felt uncomfortable. Some difficulties came with adolescence. In the book, for example, I tell about basketball. Many of my peers wanted to show their muscles, their arms, their shoulders starting to form and become those of a man. But I didn’t want to show my superhero “giant cloak”, the big mole I had on my shoulders. It was a secret and neither I nor the world were ready yet. I was a little ashamed, but I also felt that showing and showing off was not my way. In fact, I discovered books and music. And I have developed a particular attention towards my inner part. It is a beautiful paradox: the body that makes us discover the importance of everything that is not corporeal, that goes beyond matter ».

You grew up going to hospitals a lot, how do you remember them?
“The book begins like this: “I know it sounds weird, but I have good memories of hospitals. ”Actually, I mean playing with memories and memory I realized that my relationship with hospitals was not one of resentment. But of … feeling. A feeling that contains a thousand others. A story that contains many others. I was excited to tell my “adventures” in hospital and I saw the same emotion reflected in the eyes of those who listened to me. Well, I don’t want to be misunderstood, it would be better if there were no people in this world in need of care. It would be better if there were not even one hospitals. However, this is not the case. But if I have become what I am in large part I owe it to the difficulties I had as a child, which made me strong. Hospitals are a border territory. Between the life outside, which you see from the windows, and that in the wards. Between health and disease. Sometimes, between life and death. Like all borders, they are places of great impact. They make us rediscover our deepest humanity and make us question many aspects of life: what will happen to me? Who is behind that mask? What will life be like once you get out of here? ‘

Why is it important to discover your particular sign? How can we encourage boys and girls to do this? Not to be ashamed of their uniqueness?
“It is important, through the story and sharing, to make it clear that particular signs make us unique, reminding us that we are part of something great and mysterious. To always have respect for. It is also essential to convey the importance of telling. It is our true superpower. It allows us to enhance what happens to us, makes us mature, creates incredible bridges with the stories of others. It’s important not to hide or be ashamed of your particularities, but it’s a time-consuming process. Too much haste, at times, risks making us fall into the opposite extreme: flaunt and exhibit our own particularity ».

I ask you the same question that you asked yourself in the book, why in Italy we talk more often about moles in the negative?
“It is a cultural peculiarity. In France they call them moles: grains of beauty. In Spain moles, because they are satellites and suggest the full moon. And in English skin mole. Skin means skin while Mole stands for mole: an expression that evokes the brown mounds that moles create in the ground, emerging on the surface. Very imaginative! Language is something powerful and words have weight. By positively changing the idioms and their meanings, we change our outlook on the world. And consequently we change ourselves and the world around us ».