Featured Interview With Giorgio Onorato Aquilani
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My name is Giorgio Onorato Aquilani. I was raised in central Italy, in a small town near the border with Tuscany. It’s a quiet place surrounded by countryside, and in many ways it’s the perfect environment for imagining stories and building worlds. I live with my wife Stefania and our three children: Beatrice, Alberto Onorato and Vittoria. Our house is also shared with three Shih Tzu dogs: Zoe, Peach and Milou (sounds absurd but they are the alter egos of the three chilidren! same characters and in some cases… moody behaviours!)
Beyond writing, I’m also the creator of The Kingdom of Santa Claus, a narrative universe built around the idea that wonder is something people often lose sight of as they grow up, but never truly lose. So my work, in any form, is all about the mission to tell "grown ups" that Magic is still there for them!
Many of my stories grow from that simple idea.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I think my fascination with stories started very early, even before I understood that writing could become part of my life. Like many children, I grew up surrounded by stories! But the real turning point came later in life, when I began to realize that stories are can be more than entertainment. Their meanings, speaking through wonder and metaphors, are ways of understanding ourselves, our memories, and the invisible threads that connect childhood and adulthood (to me, a so called "adult", should be a brilliantly evolved child… and not someone thinking about magic with nostalgia or skepticism).
Anyway, that realization slowly pushed me toward writing. For me writing is totally about exploring meaning, wonder and the emotional moments that shape who we become.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’ve always been drawn to writers who use imagination to explore deeper philosophical questions. Authors like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Italo Calvino, Hermann Hesse, and storytellers like C.S. Lewis have influenced me a lot. More recently I developed a true and empathic enthusiasm for the work of Matt Haig.
What I admire is the way they combine simplicity and depth. Their stories can be read by young readers, but they also contain layers that adults discover later in life. That is something I try to do in my own writing: create stories that work on different levels depending on where the reader is in life.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest novel is called Back to Magic. It is a cross-generational story about the moment in life when we believe magic has disappeared forever… and the discovery that it might still exist if we choose to see it again. The story follows Luca, a writer who has slowly lost his sense of wonder as adulthood becomes practical and predictable. But when a forgotten connection from his childhood suddenly reappears, it leads him toward a hidden world reshaping one of the oldest cultural myths we share: Santa Claus. Yes… the book has also a revolutionary revelation that will bring adults and children share and enjoy the existence of Santa Claus in real life, finally explained!
What begins as a personal journey slowly reveals something much larger: a hidden mythology where imagination, memory and identity are deeply connected. The novel is the gateway story into a larger narrative universe called The Kingdom of Santa Claus, where different stories explore the same world from different perspectives: children who still live inside wonder, and adults who think they have lost it. Back to Magic will be published in Italy in 2026 by Fabbri Editori (Mondadori Group). The idea for the book grew over several years, because the central question stayed with me for a long time: What if the magic we believe we lose growing up was never really gone?
Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles
Giorgio Onorato Aquilani’s Website
Giorgio Onorato Aquilani Facebook Page
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