MUNI
ANNA: What values do you find in the family you grew up in?
MUNI: Well, some values I had to build through external relationships because my family is one where people don’t talk by definition. It’s hard to pass on values if they aren’t lived or if you haven’t been accustomed to perceiving things in a certain way. The main value they taught me, I think, is respect for others respect for people, for everyone, in the truest sense of the word and as a mother, I’ve brought this value into my own family.
A: What else have you carried with you?
M: I’ve definitely carried with me a sense of nature, It’s not directly tied to respect, but in a way, it’s connected because you respect people, but you also respect animals, plants, and the nature around you.
A: Why do you think you have such a strong bond with nature? Where does it come from?
M: My bond with nature comes from my solitude.
Her eyes fill with tears, and we get emotional together.
When I was a child, I was alone, my parents got separated when I was little and I had to grow up fast, I used to invent a thousand games, a thousand things… My grandmother lived in a house outside the city, and during the holidays, I was always immersed in nature.
A: What was your relationship with your grandmother like?
M: My grandmother was a very strong woman, in some ways even quite asserting. She was tough in a very male-dominated world, but she was always very autonomous and independent, my family is a patriarchal family. For example, the idea that a woman wouldn’t go to university was never seen as a problem. My mom always told me, “Do whatever you want,” but it wasn’t something she truly believed in or felt driven to encourage, not even for herself.
That was something I didn’t want for my daughters. For both you and Nati (my sister), it was fundamental for me that you pursued a university with passion, that it gave you both an education and a way to sustain yourselves, I wanted you to be truly independent.
A: If you could, what would you change about Italy?
M: There is an urgent need to reform the school system.
I’d really love that because, in my opinion, there’s still a lack of respect, respect for women as such. I don’t want to worry when you go out at night and have to say, “Anna, take a taxi,” or “Be careful,” or “Bring pepper spray with you.”
A: What do you think is your greatest strength? What have you cultivated most in your life so far?
M: That’s a good question, I’d say patience. As time passes, you’d expect to focus more on yourself, yet instead, you find yourself caring for people who may have never taken care of themselves—or of you. Then, they resurface from the past, and it takes a great deal of patience not to tell them off but to say, “Alright, here we go again, let’s find the strength and courage to handle this.”
A: Let’s say that another great quality of yours is the way you always take care of people, It’s not something to be taken for granted, most people wouldn’t do it.