A duo, Sara and Lety, bonded in an Italian town over their love for words and wine. Named after a song symbolizing youthful spirit, they plan to share tales of personal growth and the rediscovery of life's joys, against the backdrop of their idyllic yet complex local setting.
The Origin of Friendship: How did you all come together and decide to embark on this writing adventure?
We found each other in one of those odd situations that years after you still wonder whether they have ever happened. In 2020, in a full Covid ride, we lived for a year together with two-hundred other teenagers in a small Italian town. For how little choice of socializing we had in that moment, we've always been sure we would have chosen each other in any other possible scenario as well. Although coming from opposite sides of Italy, we grew and evolved in similar ways, loving how intense and exciting life and literature can get. Our friendship flourished while researching this through our creative writing class. We would meet every Wednesday to write together for one hour, which soon became having dinner after, and then meeting for wine earlier. Soon, the school year ended and we were on the Italian seaside, writing and sunbathing and drinking and writing more. Exploring how intense and exciting life and literature can get. Now that we live more than a thousand kilometers apart, we still use metaphors and rhymes to get to know each other and the people we grew into. So, we’re friends who write, and who are unapologetically feeling and exploring life through stories. We embark on this journey to keep doing this together.
Behind the Name: Every team has a story behind its name. What's yours?
In Italy, we celebrate the Monday after Easter, Little Monday, spending the day in nature, eating, drinking and singing with friends. Le Sbarbine is a song from the Italian band “Skiantos” and it was the song of Little Monday 2021. It was the soundtrack of a beautiful sunny and drunk day in the Spring of 2021, the first day outside after weeks of quarantine, it felt like the sky was opening up and life was easy again. We went to the beach, drank wine and sang.
“Sbarbine” translates to “girls who are or want to appear shrewd”. The translation feels wrong. Sbarbine means literally “without beard”, essentially adolescent, essentially inexperienced, essentially young.
When we asked each other what “sbarbine” meant we had two answers. One, sbarbine are women that are living life for the first time. Two, sbarbine are airheads but bravely careless. Their motto is:”I’ll do it, what could happen?” Sbarbine are proudly young, proudly inexperienced. They are naive but it’s their biggest strength.
We want to be drunk and in the sun and proudly naive again. So we need to be sbarbine again.
The Writing Roadmap: We're curious! What topics or themes is each member planning to delve into?
Lety: I spent the summer getting to know my hometown again. After two years of boarding and a year of university abroad, she was like a lost childhood friend. Now, though, I miss her all the time and when I go back she makes me suffer. It took me a bit to understand: she’s not a childhood friend, she’s the worst ex-girlfriend I have ever had. I need to write about her.
In the past month I moved to a new flat, ended my two year long relationship, and found again problems I thought I’ve fixed already. As I fill my empty apartment with free furniture I found online, I learn to cherish the frailty of my third-hand possessions. Held together by tape and hope, I also need time to learn how to hold myself together and find balance again.
