Sant’Elia began his literary career in 2012 with Dentro la mia vita, followed by Gli uni e gli altri in 2015 and Il cancello di ferro battuto in 2020, works that together form a kind of literary trilogy. Throughout these writings, he has earned recognition for a cultivated contemporary napoletanità joined to a broader universal sensibility.
In Dentro la mia vita, readers encounter Vittorio, a choreographer who directs a ballet company. The novel draws the reader into the little-known world of historic dance, often regarded as exclusive and distant from popular taste. Beneath this artistic setting unfolds Vittorio’s hidden existence, marked by solitude, mystery, and involuntary isolation.
Gli uni e gli altri centers on three solitary figures: Vittorio, Eddy, and Susanna. Vittorio is restless and searching; during a stay in Naples, he seeks answers to unresolved questions within himself. Eddy, a cultivated bookseller, devotes himself to his work with quiet discipline, while Susanna appears as an elusive and enigmatic presence. Their lives converge in the great Parthenopean city amid the almost magical atmosphere surrounding an ancient bookstore.
In Il cancello di ferro battuto, Vittorio recounts his life through continual movements between past and present, creating a kind of social and generational photomontage. His reflections span childhood memories, youthful experiences in the Italy of the 1960s and 1970s, the promises and transformations of postwar prosperity, and the artistic and human searches that accompany him into the present day.
Born in Naples in 1957, Sant’Elia has long distinguished himself as an eclectic dancer, choreographer, and teacher of classical and modern dance. Since 1980, he has performed with many of the great Italian opera and ballet institutions, including the Teatro di San Carlo, the Opera di Roma, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and the Teatro Regio di Torino, among others.
In 1982, he joined the RAI dance troupe for the celebrated Saturday evening program Fantastico 3 alongside Raffaella Carrà, with choreography by Sergio Japino. The following year, he appeared in Fantastico 4 with Heather Parisi and choreography by Franco Miseria.
Beginning in 1984, Sant’Elia devoted himself increasingly to choreography, founding the “Espressione Danza” school and later the “Compagnia di Balletto,” through which he staged many of his own productions. In 2002, he served as choreographer for the well-known RAI 3 Neapolitan television series Un posto al sole. He has also worked in cinema as both a screenwriter and director of short films presented at various festivals.
Beyond his novels, Sant’Elia is the author of Cappotto d’Inverno, a collection of poems and stories, as well as the children’s books Il Galeone Magnifico and Il Viaggio di Tippi. He has likewise promoted numerous cultural initiatives throughout Campania and supported the work of other authors, including Ester Papa and Angela Santoro in their book and documentary Maronna re le Grazie, an ethnographic study of faith and tradition surrounding the Madonna delle Grazie di Acquavella in the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park.
~ By Antonio Isernia
