The book Ho Cambiato una Vocale by Rossella Mamone tells a story that is at once intimate, brave, and universal. It is the story of a life lived for fifty years behind a mask, and the struggle to finally breathe freely without it. At its center is Andrea Paola Iannotti, a woman from Latina who was once known as Andrea Paolo, a husband and father of four, a man to the world’s eyes but never to her own. The book unfolds the long and painful path that led her to change not only a vowel in her name, but the very shape of her destiny.
Rossella Mamone, known for her empathetic and detailed storytelling, takes on this true story with deep sensitivity. She doesn’t sensationalize Andrea Paola’s transition; instead, she guides the reader through the layered complexity of a life spent pretending to fit into an idea of normality that others had imposed. For decades, Andrea Paola lived in what she herself calls “a lie,” one she told to protect her family, her parents, her wife, and her children, while a quiet truth waited inside her. It is a truth born in Zurich, where she grew up in a strict and conservative family. Her father, described as authoritarian and even violent, ruled their home with an iron hand, often forcing her into hard labor and emotional silence. Her childhood, marked by repression and confusion, set the stage for a lifetime of solitude that became both her punishment and her only companion.
