If numerology belongs to the ancient Egyptians, then you should know that “The snake and the pharaoh”, the new book by Marco Buticchi, which comes out on Tuesday 27 September in bookstores for Longanesi (with illustrations by Consuelo Buticchi), is the twentieth of his production. Indeed, no, the twenty-first, because there is an unpublished one, which has been lying in the drawer since the Eighties. And again, which is the fourth dedicated to the land of the pharaohs and that the writer of Lerici every five consecutive novels – we are on the sixth – takes a license and changes something in the course of his work. But we cannot tell you, in this case, what. You will find out.
Marco Buticchi
Buticchi, it takes a bit of mystery. Is this what attracts you to the history of ancient Egypt?
“Yup. I’m interested, I’m passionate about all the gears that turn and never come back. How did they get so evolved four to five thousand years ago? How did they manage to build the pyramids? There are many because they are still outstanding. One of these is the life of the child pharaoh. But it’s all a fairly random and legendary world. For example, biblical events fail to place Moses exactly in history. Just as it is not possible to establish who is the pharaoh referred to in the Bible. Some say it is Ramses II, others think it is Amenofi IV, then Akhenaton, who intervenes in the clash between Thebes and Memphis by building a city of him, which he calls Akhetaton, where he goes to stay and where he is the only god. This is the first example of a monotheistic religion of the past. Let’s think, therefore, what must have been between him and Judaism. They are the only religions that have a single god. In common? It is not known “.
Amenofi IV is Nefertiti’s husband.
“The most beautiful queen of Egypt. Amenofi IV with Nefertiti has six daughters, but is unable to have a son, who instead will have with a concubine or secondary wife, whom he will call Tutankhaton and who will become Tutankhamun when he ascends the throne. He is the child pharaoh, who will reign from 8 years up to 18 years doing important things, despite his age. But behind him works the Grand Vizier Ay, who will become pharaoh himself when Tutankhamun dies. A death, precisely that of Tutankhamun, on which the mystery weighs ”.
And there are also mysteries about the finding of the tomb of the child pharaoh by Howard Carter and George Carnavon. Also linked to Italy, for Villa Altachiara in Portofino.
“Lord Henry Herbert Carnavon, aristocrat, Freemason, British conservative politician, the story is known, he lands in Portofino, climbs on the back of a mule up to the slopes of the Promontory, falls in love with that view, buys some plots of land and builds a large villa, which becomes Villa Altachiara. Henry is the father of George, a joker who runs in a car and who will also have a terrifying accident in 1901, with permanent damage. The doctor suggests that he go warm during the English winter and points out Egypt as his destination. And there Carnavon arrives and gets passionate in the history of the pharaohs. Here he also meets Howard Carter, one of the most famous Egyptologists of the time, who has fallen into disgrace. The two form a partnership with an iron conviction: they will discover a great treasure. On November 4, 1922 – therefore a hundred years ago – the shovels of their excavators hit a step, the first of a series that leads to a sepulcher, the only one that is partially inviolate: the greatest treasure ever found is extracted from the bowels of the earth. Before. But above all, papyri have been found, which are inventoried and then disappear, of which Carter himself says they can change, revolutionize the history of monotheistic religions ”.
And that’s the secret of the novel too, right?
“Yes, ‘The Serpent and the Pharaoh’ opens on the infant who will be given the name of Moses, goes through the secret of the papyri and reaches the moment when Hitler invades Poland. Think of the value of this secret, linked to Judaism, at the time of the advent of Nazism. So much so that everyone is interested in Moses, from Hitler to Sigmund Freud ”.
And Villa Altachiara?
“It’s part of the mystery. It should also be borne in mind that George Carnavon’s father was a conservative politician and Freemason, formerly Pro-Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, while his son George’s wife, Almina, was the natural daughter of Alfred de Rotschild, a family that will finance Zionism “.
Do you believe in the curse that is wanted on the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun and on Villa Altachiara itself?
“Well, the curse hangs throughout the novel, in which a snake-doer appears. I don’t know if it exists, but gossip certainly exists. Carnavon concedes the news of the century, namely the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, to the Times. And the other newspapers tie it to their finger. So much so that the will be forced to organize an inspection of the tomb with all the warheads, which he would not want to do. And when Carnavon dies from a mosquito bite, even if presenting strange symptoms of poisoning, a competing newspaper still angry at the insult brings out the story of the curse ”.
Always the fault of the journalists. Let’s come to her instead. When did you write this new novel? We know of his dual role as writer and seaside and tourist entrepreneur in Lerici.
“I started the research last September, which continued during the winter and then I started writing to deliver in June. The writing part is the funniest part “.
A book a year? Has the next one already started?
“Not yet, but I have some ideas.”