«At first I didn’t like volleyball, I couldn’t stand someone telling me what to do. I’m a hothead»- TV Courier

The songwriter John Caccamo met eight young Italian excellences of the world of art, science, sport, music, dance and culture to reflect on themes of change and future. Each guest began by describing the key changes in their life and career and then answered the questions: «What would you change about society you live in and how? what’s your word of change?».

The collective project «Word to the young» for the drafting of Cultural Manifesto on #Changein collaboration with the Vatican Museums and the MAXXIis the continuum of Caccamo’s latest album «Parola», which collects the appeal of the writer Andrea Camilleri, aimed at young people, to start a new humanism of the word. In fact, each song on the album was inspired by a text of Italian, foreign or contemporary literature interpreted, as an introduction to each song, by precious travel companions: Willem Dafoe, Patti Smith, Liliana Segre and other incredible voices in a dialogue intergenerational.

The «Word to the young» project was born, after the publication of the album, from the awareness that in order to try to start a new humanism, the contribution of thousands of young people was needed. Thus two appeal questions were launched, to which thousands of young people replied in writing. Everyone has chosen a word of change and written a short treatise that summarizes the aspect of society that would change and the concrete ideas to be able to do so. The Manifesto will be published on May 11 by Treccani and will collect the sixty most beautiful texts among the thousands collected. The proceeds from the sale of the volume will be donated to the Andrea Bocelli Foundation in support of scholarships for young people in difficulty. Many important companies and names have collaborated in the realization of the project, including Banca Ifis (main partner), Pulsee Energy and Alessia Zanelli.

The protagonist of the first interview that we publish here is Paola Egonu, volleyball player of the Italian national team, who talks about his professional and human growth. The beginnings at 11, the transfer at 13. Milan, then Novara, Conegliano and Turkey. The challenge of leaving the “comfort zone”, the request for a change for a more empathetic and less selfish society and the hope of the volleyball player in a collective awareness of considering that in all sports people must come before roles on the field .