The life of Ada Rizzo is built on solid roots and traditional values. Optimistic, cheerful, curious, and creative, she is interested in art and psychology

Ada Rizzo was born in Sicily in 1960. Her life is built on solid roots and traditional values. Optimistic, cheerful, curious, and creative, she is interested in art and psychology. She loves to cook and adores music.

After a thirty-year career at IBM Italy, she decided to reinvent herself. For several years now, she has been a Life Counselor with a humanistic-relational approach and a Facilitator in Mindfulness. In 2021, she published her first novel with a strong autobiographical tone titled “Volevo il tacco dodici?” which received an honorary mention at the intercontinental literary award “Le Nove Muse.”

In 2022, she published her second novel “Iris Ali di Vetro,” which addresses the delicate topic of eating disorders (ED). In 2023, she published her third novel “Novanta battiti al minuto”, a true story that tackles the sensitive issue of heart transplantation, for which she received the Jury Prize at the “International Literary Art Award Cygnus Aureus 2024”. In 2024, she published “Ventiquattro Carati”, where she addresses the theme of gender-based violence, a work awarded at the “International Literary Art Award La Via dei Libri”.

Due to the subjects covered in her books, the author has received several recognitions, including the “International Award for Peace and Human Rights Defense Italy 2023”, the “Civic Merit Award for Solidarity and Inclusion of People with Disabilities 2023”, “Solidarity Award for Art and Civic Engagement 2024”, “Reconocimiento Internacional Mujer Destacada 2024” for her dedication to art, culture, peace, and social justice in the world. In 2024 she participated in the international cultural project for peace and the defense of human rights, from which the anthology “Art without Borders” was born, a poetic collection that brings together 36 international poets and artists. Her piece “Nel silenzio del mondo” is part of this anthology. Life has taken her everywhere. Love has brought her home.

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

In the silent night, a cry 

Another story of stolen dreams 

Fragments of life cast aside next to a woman who weeps for her body, her soul 

No more smiles, no more promises 

Shattered dreams rolling on the ground like beads from a broken necklace 

She is a warrior without weapons, yet even so violated, she is not an object, a shadow in the dark, 

She will rise again as she is the strength of those who do not give up, she is the mother, the witch, the sister, the daughter, she is all of us women who fight to shine.

She is a full moon of light, an explosion of fire. 

She is the infinite woman, the creator of life who defies every pain and from the darkness… is reborn!

***

WOMEN

Women who uphold an uncertain and suspended world 

Women whose arms, if lowered, would cause the very sky to fall 

Do you see them? They are as strong as white cliffs battered by the Maestrale winds of life 

Do you hear them? Often they sing in the dark, but they are not crazy; they summon courage to chase away fear. 

And at night, they dream of a buttery future that they will spread on their slices of bread at breakfast in the morning, adding love for their children. 

They are strong because they have had no other choice, but they need a warm embrace, time, and tenderness to confront the violence that dances in the dark. 

In the silence of night, they dry their tears, gather their dreams, and keep them like small glimmers to illuminate a dawn that is yet to come. 

Their hands interweade threads of courage, strength, and fragility like weft and warp of an invisible fabric that wraps around and supports their souls. 

As the world moves at the mercy of the winds, the women remain steadfast and radiate light like a beacon in the midst of the storm. 

One, none, a hundred thousand women walking lightly and unrelentingly along their path, shining because they have chosen to denounce the violence disguised as love… 

They have chosen to continue shining despite everything.

***

I, SURVIVOR

Cover photo of novel ‘Twenty-Four Carats’ by Ada Rizzo

As I exit the courtroom, I look at my rapist, or rather, I challenge his gaze so fiercely that he lowers his head. I could tell him, “If you’re hoping my heart will explode and that I will die, forget about it!” Instead, I say, “Know that there were moments when I feared I wouldn’t make it, but I managed to get through it. The rape was not just an unfortunate incident during a night of sex. You planned it all. Stop pretending. You punished me because I said no; you raped me because you saw me as your property, a thing, a possession of yours. You showed me no respect; you humiliated me, erased my identity. You couldn’t handle a rejection. You were a bastard! I hardly have words left. No, I doI find them, and they pour out like a raging river: I didn’t consider you a man; you were a beast!

That was not love. It was hate, violence, power, dominance, control. It was all the worst that can be done to a woman.

You are the cause; I am the effect. It was you who threw me into that hell, you who kept me submerged in that darkness, time and again. That night, on life’s chessboard, you chose to knock down both towers, and we both fell.

You devastated me inside, taking away my self-esteem, my privacy, my joy, my time, my intimacy, my security, my identity, my very voice. In the early days, I could hardly speak. When I started to do so, I stuttered… I couldn’t master the words to express the violence you inflicted upon me. I had to struggle and relearn how to look at and accept my body. It felt so violated, dirty, that I didn’t want it anymore. I wanted to forget it… like you might with a nightmare. You can’t give me back the life I had before that night. It’s embarrassing how fragile and delicate I still feel. I move through my new life like a child learning to walk alone, without an adult as my safe harbor. You have no idea how hard I have worked to piece together the parts of myself that shattered that night. It felt like living in a cage, with the invisible bars tattooed on my skin, and most of all in my emotions, in that part deep within me where I could no longer find comfort and peace.

There are times when I don’t want to be touched. I want to tell you that the damage was done primarily to me. You should have never made me fight so long to prove something so evident from the very beginning: I am the victim; you are the guilty!

What happened that night cannot be erased. However, we both have a choice: we can allow it to destroy us, or we can confront it. I have accepted the pain; you accept the punishment. In a sense, we cannot save ourselves alone. I want to tell you that, aside from ourselves, it is always the other who can save or destroy us. You tried to annihilate me, to objectify me, stripping me of my identity. Those who listened to me with interest, affection, and empathy restored my dimension as a human subject.

There have been times when I felt so vulnerable that I was destroyed by trauma, but over time I became resilient enough to overcome it and regenerate.

I walk away from the courthouse with my head held high, aware of my strength and resilience. My voice was firm, my words clear and unequivocal. I’m rebuilding my life, and I won’t let my past define my future.

(Excerpt from the novel ‘Twenty-Four Carats’ by Ada Rizzo)

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Published under International Cooperation with "Sindh Courier"