Pierre Chiarelli signs his first novel, Amadeo

The former pharmacist, who for almost a decade was the main opponent of Emille Zuccarelli at the town hall of Bastia, now devotes himself to theater and writing. He has written a first novel, Amadeo, a historical fresco and tragic love story between Corsica and Tunisia in the last century.

From the sidewalk opposite, one might believe that Pierre Chiarelli has plunged back into politics, and that he is already campaigning for the next municipal elections in Bastia. The man who made the Zuccarelli citadel shake in 2001 shakes his hands, smiles, responds with a wave to people who slow down and call out to him as they drive up Via César Campinchi.

But make no mistake. The popularity of Pierre Chiarelli, on this morning in October 2024, has nothing political. In conversations, a first name keeps coming up. And it’s neither Emile nor Gilles.

It’s Amadeo.

Amadeo is the name of the narrator of the novel that the former pharmacist published last spring. Amadeo is a lighthouse keeper on the island of Giraglia, where he tries to forget the love of his life, Maria Battistini, whom fate threw into the arms of another man just days after they met .

One evening in August 1919, he discovered on the stage of the Bastia theater a young Tunisian pianist of fifteen, as virtuoso as she was mute. Anena, that’s her name, will turn Amadeo’s life upside down. And uncover deeply buried secrets.

I got up in the middle of the night, took a paper and a pen, and started writing a poem about my grandmother. This is how the novel was born

“I never thought I would write a novel”underlines Pierre Chiarelli, who devotes a good part of his retirement to another passion, late but all-consuming, the theater. “And then one day when we were rehearsing Oedipus the King, with A Filetta, I was humming a tune that I had heard earlier backstage. Jean-Claude Acquaviva had fun with it, and told me that I had the musical ear, I confided to him that it was perhaps due to my grandmother who spent long hours at her piano, and which I heard playing almost daily..

Pierre Chiarelli returns to rehearsals, without thinking about all this anymore. “But a few days later, I got up in the middle of the night, took a paper and a pen, and started writing a poem about my grandmother.”

On the terrace of a café where we sat, despite the threatening downpour, Pierre Chiarelli declaimed the verses which were inspired in him that evening by the evocation, a few days earlier, of his pianist grandmother :

“A rose of joy, and you, Rose, who is no longer here
The Pleyel wooden frame, no longer plays under your fingers
All these notes, matched to the love of your life,
Come back to me in echo at the chance of one night
Tenors, in the middle of such beautiful ferns,
Vibrated more than a Selmer in a timeless chorus
These six voices, coming from the depths of time,
Taught me today that a rose lasts a long time”

Pierre Chiarelli pauses, pours himself a cup of tea, and smiles: “That’s how the novel was born.”

“I had to write down what my grandmother meant to me. There was no longer any doubt about it. My grandfather, whom I adored, always took center stage. And for good reason… He was 14-18, he was a war hero, a street in Bastia bears his name. My grandmother was in the background. I only learned when my father died, for example. that she had spent eighteen years in Tunisia!”

I was inspired by many other things that I have seen, that I know, that I have been told

However, Amadeo is not a true story, the novelist does not fail to remind us of this regularly. “Of course, I was inspired by my grandmother, as I was inspired by many other things that I have seen, that I know, that people have told me. But it was for nourish a fictional story, which could touch everyone. Let us say, to summarize, that Amedeo is an intimate book, but not autobiographical.

>> READ ALSO: Great War: tribute to Pierre Chiarelli, hero of the 173rd Infantry Regiment

In his room at Cap Sagro, between Erbalonga and Sisco, Pierre Chiarelli spent entire nights writing, facing the sea. “Of course, there was the fear of not being able to do it. So the story of ‘Amadeo, I told it to those around me, I don’t know how many times, to make sure that the plot appealed, that we could find interest in it. But deep down I knew that my. my motivations were sincere, so I went all the way.”

The novel, published by Aedis, was released last spring, and it was a great success. “From now on, Amadeo no longer belongs to me, he lives his own life, and I take immense pleasure in exchanging with readers, in listening to what they thought of it, how they understood it… “

Pierre Chiarelli seems fulfilled in his new retired life, between theater stages and signing sessions. According to him, he does not regret his previous life for a moment. “Politics was a fight. And literature is a pleasure.” he says after greeting the prefect of Haute-Corse, who bought Amadeo during a literary meeting organized in Sisco, and who promises to read it very soon.

We can’t help but ask him if he didn’t feel frustrated when he saw the Nationalists win the town hall of Bastia in 2014, he who had been carried in the second round in 2001 by 26.74%. of Bastiais, when he was not supported by any party?

In politics, I ended up understanding, fair play has no place

The response was not long in coming, leaving little doubt about the sincerity of the statement: “Certainly not. What I liked about politics was not so much the victory as the way of obtaining it. I played football for a very long time, and I never got a warning. On a field , I always showed fair play and it was the same in the political arena, except that in politics, I ended up understanding, fair play has no place. I decided to withdraw, after being fourth in the first round of the municipal elections, and I never regretted it.

Pierre Chiarelli will refuse to say more, ensuring that all this is behind him.

What occupies Pierre Chiarelli’s thoughts today is his second novel. He finished it a few days ago. “It will be very different from the first. There is a murder, an investigation, and for the sake of the credibility of the story, I even underwent two hypnosis sessions”.

Here too, Pierre Chiarelli will not say more. He still wants to concentrate on promoting Amedeo, while people continue to offer him literary meetings, several months after the release.

This Saturday, October 19, at 3 p.m., he will be at the central library in Bastia to meet readers.