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Italy is mine

... and it owes me a living

Art and Nature, music and literature, animal and human rights, freedom of thought and speech, kindness, culture and education without boundaries.

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Vera da Pozzo, an Italian expat in Paris.

From the Island of the Sun to the Isle of France.

My pseudonym Vera da Pozzo is a pun alluding to what I care about most : truth and loyalty, depth and insight. In my mother tongue, the syntagma "vera da pozzo" means a puteal, but it could be a female name followed by a family name. Water is indispensable for living, and we need to keep it pure and unpolluted; it is the same for truth.
I write in English because I love this language since my childhood and also because English allows me to have a more detached view on both Italy and France. The title of my personal website and blog is a paraphrasis of the verse "England is mine and it owes me a living", from Morrissey's song "Still Ill", released in The Smiths debut album "The Smiths" on 20th February 1984. As Italy had nothing to offer to young people like me, I decided to throw my arms around Paris, as Oscar Wilde did, and I am still here. Like francophone actor Lino Ventura, I am and I will always be Italian.

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Habemus Album!

Oh, I knew, I surely knew, I absolutely knew that it would happen soon. I have always been and I will always be impervious to the Jinxes and other Sad and Bad People whose happiness depend on other People actual, guessed or hoped unhappiness. Sing and shine in the Darkness as always, Silver Boy. Be Young, be Foolish, be Happy... Be YOU. Vera da Pozzo An Italian in Paris 9th January A. D. MMXXVI (C) Vera da Pozzo (C) Italy is Mine (C) Italy is Mine and It owes Me a Living Belo

A Message in the Snow

Such a beautiful place for writing a message in the snow: the best spot in my favourite Parisian park. Vera da Pozzo Paris, 7th January A. D. MMXXVI Post, writing in the snow and photos by me. (C) Vera da Pozzo (C) Italy is Mine (C) Italy is Mine and It owes Me a Living #amessageinthesnow #SnowinParis #snow #winter #natureisalanguage #Morrissey #YourerightItstime #ciao #VeradaPozzo #ItalyisMine #italyismineanditowesmealiving

I soon returned to Paris...(Grazie mille, cara Befana!)

Just before switching my smartphone to the flight mode, yesterday, I found some good news. If Morrissey-solo was just an informative forum, it would be a fantastic place, but there are too many angry, bitter and nasty people who seem having nothing else to do in their life than complaining, bitching and mobbing: I guess that All You need is Me is dedicated to them, and probably If You don't like Me, then don't look at Me too. Even if I had to go to work today, because Epipha

A Smile is Forever

Near a tree, I saw this short sentence: The memory of a smile stays forever. I still remember, as if it was yesterday, the reasons, the moments and the people (humans and animals) that made me smile, and I also remember very well the smiles I put on other people's faces, especially when these people are dear to me. Someone Very Special will smile again soon. Vera da Pozzo Italy 4th January, 2026 (C) Vera da Pozzo (C) Italy is Mine (C) Italy is Mine and It owes Me a Living #a

Just a Prayer

An electric candle And simple words Here's my Prayer For the Ones I love On Earth and Above Vera da Pozzo 3rd January A. D. MMXXVI Somewhere in the North of Italy Poem above and picture below by me. Thanks to pareidolia, I see the head of a lion in the capital of the column behind the Holy Virgin Mary. I am glad to have preserved the gift of Imagination when I grew up: it is what art, poetry and literature are made of. (C) Vera da Pozzo (C) Italy is Mine (C) Italy is Mine and

The Perfect Blue

I wish to dedicate to a very special and important Friend the picture below, and the other photographs I took today and posted here. I took the picture above by accident, this morning, while following the flight of a Magpie I had just photographed (see below) but I got instead this Perfect Blue. I did not resize this picture because I wanted it in its whole size and its absolute blueness. Around midday, I was strolling near the river and I took many pictures. The fresh water

Two more Good Omens for 2026

True friendship is one of the most valuable things in life and certainly one of the most important things to me, so I was glad to find these quotes from the Baci chocolates I picked on New Year's Day. The first quote: No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth. ( Robert Southey ) The second quote: True friends are always free to separate, without separating ever. (Alfred Bougeard) Vera da Pozzo

A Good Omen for 2026

The message from the Bacio chocolate I picked on New Year's Morning is a quote by the great writer, aviator and hero Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, one of my favourite authors. To me, the meaning of this quote is: do not adjust your life to what has no meaning to you, by sacrificing your dreams to a plain and insignificant existence; put your dreams at the centre of your life, instead, and make them (or at least most of them) true, because you live once and, at the end of the day

Felice 2026! Happy 2026! It takes Courage to be Happy

2025 is over. Welcome, 2026! Two good quotes for a Happy New Year. The first quote, by an anonymous author, is often written on mural street art in Italy: Per essere felici ci vuole coraggio. It takes courage to be happy. As I haven't found the source of this quote, I do not trust the vague, non sourced informations found on Internet, attributing this phrase either to Karen Blixen or to Martha Woodroof. Few days ago, I saw and took a picture of a decorative magnet with this s

A Bit of Beauty

Many things to write here and many things to draw (also for a collective exhibition in Paris which will start in one month) and a message to send to... So, for today, I will just share a bit of beauty I have found on YouTube . Enjoy Frog's gentle adventure ... In a world where mediocrity and copy-and-paste contents generated by an artificial non-intelligence get a lot of undeserved attention and applause from the masses, the patient, sensible and sensitive artwork of someone

You're right, It's time... for Christmas News

Christmas Time is the perfect time for some good news, and here is one from Morrissey : the new album, long-awaited and recently renewed before its release, is coming soon, and the new tracklist is known. After his post about Sire Records , last week (I was so busy I just had the time to copy, past and send to a French friend the link to Morrissey Central's post), we finally know the new tracklist of this album, whose title Without Music the World dies has changed, because t

Vigilia di Natale / Christmas Eve

You brought the Sun last Year, but Without You the Sky is sad now, and Grey Clouds pour Tears from Heaven The Sun shines elsewhere this Year Where We both come from, but You Will never come back there nor here Still I feel Your presence and I know You want Us all to be Happy on this Christmas Eve Thus, here is my Special Gift for You: Wrapped in Shiny Smiles and Songs There is my Joy To the Unique and Irreplaceable One Vera da Pozzo Somewhere in the North of Italy 24th Decemb

The Old Lady hasn't lost her appeal

Europe may be old, but her appeal to Morrissey is intact. See You next year, somewhere in Europe . Be young, be foolish, be happy. (C) Vera da Pozzo #TheOldLadyhasntlostherappeal #Europe #Morrissey #MorrisseyinEurope #tour #Morrissey2026 #music #news #VeradaPozzo #ItalyisMine #italyismineanditowesmealiving

Saint Cecilia, Patroness of Musicians

Among the Italian Saints, Cecilia is one of my favourite ones, et pour cause : music is in my life since the beginning, and even before my birth, thanks to the radio and my parent's and siblings' good taste. During the few days I spent in Rome, three months and a half ago, after Morrissey's concerts in Lucca, Rome and Catania, I had not the time to visit the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, but I visited it many years ago and quite hurrily - which is not in my habits,

Do your best and don't worry

When Nothing seems to happen And You're stuck on a Desert Island There is Something coming along, and You'll find it sooner than You imagine So please, no more Tears Falling down from Your Eyes: Do Your Best and don't worry If the Dawn seems to be late And the Darkness is too heavy When your Black Dog bites again I hear You crying de profundis: Through Your Voice I feel Your Pain And It's running through my Veins For I know well what It means Since I was eight, sad and helpl

2nd November 1975 - 2025: Pasolini vive e lotta insieme a noi - Pasolini is alive and keeps fighting with us

Pier Paolo Pasolini was killed fifty years ago. His friend Ninetto Davoli remembers him and expresses his joy to see how many young people are interested in Pasolini's works and message. You can see and listen to Davoli's short interview here and also enjoy a longer interview (Ninetto Davoli in conversation with Corrado Augias) here . Unfortunately, there are not English subtitles for non-italian speaking people. I was not even born when Pasolini died; his murder was planned

November, remember

You should have been with Us now Rembering and not being remembered Why did You have to go? The Unanswered Question Stays steadily in my Mind And -alas! - I still cannot find The Key of this sas Enigma But I can light a candle and pray For You and all the Beloved Ones Vera da Pozzo, Paris, 2nd November 2025 Below: pictures taken by me today in one of my favourite Parisian churches. I seldom attend the Mass: I have always preferred the churches when there is nobody. This after

Why I did not attend Johnny Marr's concert in Paris and why I do not regret it

Johnny Marr is undoubtedly a very talented and skilled guitarist and he did a great work when he was just out of his teens in a crowded and extremely lively music scene in Manchester and The Smiths came "to disturb the peace", as James Baldwin said during his famous talk at New York City's Community Church in 1962. In a crowded and extremely lively music scene in Manchester, The Smiths emerged as a band of "ordinary boys" who did not just want to be famous, but who were det

20 October 1986 - 2025: Happy 39th Birthday, "Ask"

Last year I had not the time to write something about one of my favourites songs by The Smiths, but I made this drawing, taking my inspiration from the Australian sleeve of the single. Here is my artwork: Below, the Australian sleeve for Ask , with Cemetry Gates as the B-side. Photograph by Jo Novark. Cemetry Gates is another of my favourite Smiths songs: I was blessed to listen to both of these songs live, at my very first Morrissey's concert at the Paris Zénith in 2009.

Happy Birthday, Oscar Wilde

Below: my personal homage to Oscar Wilde on his birthday page in my diary. As I was (too much) busy last Thursday, I made this drawing on Friday. Drawing made by me with a black Bic pen and three Damascene rose blossoms. (C) Vera da Pozzo (C) Italy is Mine (C) Italy is Mine and It owes Me a Living #HappyBirthdayOscarWilde #OscarWilde #literature #art #life #drawing #artwork #Morrissey #VeradaPozzo #ItalyisMine #italyismineanditowesmealiving

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