Identity card
Name: Giovannella Pecoraino, but everyone calls me Guenda(lina), my middle name.
Years: 57 and a half (the "medium" is important!)
Qualifying: researcher
Work location:: INGV Palermo
Field of activity: Geochemistry of fluids
Motto of life: One of everything…without hurting anyone (including myself)
Favorite color: blue
Geology and opera, geochemistry and sailing. Guenda Pecoraino, researcher of the Palermo section of the INGV, lives her life as a scientist combining her passions inside and outside the laboratory, between study, research, regattas (possibly in pink) and opera arias that smell of childhood . All without forgetting the long walks by the sea in her Mondello. We asked her a few questions to get to know her better.
What or who directed you towards Geology studies?
In high school I loved chemistry and animals, first I wanted to be a vertebrate paleontologist, then I studied volcanology with Prof. Mariano Valenza and geochemistry with Prof. Marcello Carapezza and I changed my mind…
In the subjects of the STEM area the female presence is not very large. What fascinated you about geochemistry?
I would say the passion for chemistry that the scientific high school left me and the possibility of learning to listen to the Earth that "speaks to us" through chemical reactions.
As a child, what did you dream of becoming when you grew up?
As a child I wanted to be a doctor, specializing in orthopedics. I was very lively and often I broke a few bones… I already felt my degree in my pocket!
The most exciting moment of your career?
My first talk on the sidelines of an international congress.
What made it so exciting?
The fact that it was the first opportunity for me to compare myself with so many internationally famous personalities, whose scientific articles I had studied until then.
Is it difficult to reconcile research work with private life?
Yes, a bit... I don't have schedules, I often leave... Sometimes I even forget to cook because I'm focused on something.
What's the first thing you do when you get home?
Sofaooooo, only 5 minutes though!
In your opinion, what is the scientific discovery that would change the history of the geochemistry of fluids?
Find THE precursor to a volcanic eruption or earthquake.
A city you've visited that has remained in your heart and one you've always dreamed of moving to?
In 2003 I went to San José, Costa Rica for the first time. The always smiling people, the sea at the perfect temperature and a lot of volcanoes made it the perfect place for me!
What would you have liked to discover, among the discoveries of the past?
That the earth is round.
Is there anything in particular that you would say to today's Flat Earthers?
That it seems incredible to me, today, having to witness this "debate": the sphericity of our planet has been demonstrated mathematically both several years ago and more recently by lunar expeditions and satellites. It's really hard for me to believe that there are people who believe the Earth is flat…
What's your X-Factor?
The lightheartedness.
Is there something that makes you anxious?
Yes, the height. I suffer terribly from vertigo. When I have to climb to the top of an unknown volcano, I have to do autogenic training starting a month before. But once it's done, I don't think about it anymore. Iron willpower and love for my work make me overcome all fears.
Listen to the music?
Yes. Pop, jazz and opera. My father studied singing as a tenor when he was young. In the morning while he shaves he always sings some romance. As a child I used to sing in imitation of his big voice.
Is there an operatic aria that comes to your mind often?
“Let's free in happy glasses”, a waltz from the first act of Giuseppe Verdi's Traviata. But my favorite ones were two arias by Giacomo Puccini: “Nessun dorma” by Turandot and “Un bel dì vederemo” by Madama Butterfly. I always sang them out loud!
Why is blue your favorite color?
I suppose for the love I have for the sea.
Favourite book?
I really like reading. I love Pennac and Baricco.
What titles would you recommend from these authors and why?
“Oceano mare” by Alessandro Baricco, a masterpiece, and the volumes of “Malaussène” by Daniel Pennac, to be read by everyone, from first to last!
If you had to remember one of your "first days" which one would you remember?
I would like to remember the day of my birth, when I was born. It must have been very emotional.
What do you do when you're not a researcher?
I take long walks, read, go hiking, meet friends…
The place of the heart for your walks?
The seafront of Mondello, in Palermo: from Capo Pellegrino to Capo Gallo.
What makes you feel good?
The sea... It relaxes me a lot.
Your best luck?
Doing a job I love and living a stone's throw from Mondello beach.
Do you have a hobby?
Reading.
What is your possible mission?
Always improve.
What would you like to improve about yourself?
Well, I think I'd like to always improve on a professional level: perfect myself, study, always keep up to date.
Favourite sport?
The sail.
Sportswoman on the field or on the couch?
Definitely on the field, indeed on the sea! I am part of the crew of Giuggiola, a Platu 25. A 7,5m racing sailboat.
What role do you have in the crew?
I am both a drizzista and a tailer: we are a small team so very often we end up covering multiple roles. The drizzista takes care of the halyards: he hoists the sails, raises the spinnaker, performs rather complex maneuvers in regattas such as trimming or releasing some ropes, straightening a sail and lowering the jib, or vice versa. The tailer, on the other hand, is the one who personally manages the sails, the jib and the spinnaker.
The most exciting regatta?
Definitely the first: there were really bad winds and seas so for the first time I experienced the difference between the course I had just completed and a real regatta. And then it was my first regatta with an all-female crew! We tried to put together our own team entirely in pink, but the plan then fell through because we were too few.
How did you get into sailing?
I had an uncle who was a sailor and when I was a child he often took me on a boat with him, but the thing that, after so many years, brought me back to sailing was a holiday in Lampedusa about 5 years ago. I always went to a small beach where there was a couple who ran a sailing school and who worked a lot with the children. One day I decided to approach this lady and I asked her: “But do you also do courses for old people? Because I want to do it too!”. And it all started like this: I returned to Palermo, I inquired about the schools in the area and I started sailing again.
Can it never be missing in your suitcase?
The swimsuit, even when I go to Milan.
The trip you haven't taken yet and the one you think you'll never take?
I haven't been to Iceland yet. It is a journey that I hope to make soon because for those who do my job it is perhaps THE journey: it is full of volcanoes and very particular geothermal phenomena, geysers… In short, it is extremely fascinating from a geochemical point of view. On the other hand, I don't think I'll ever go to the South Pole because it's very difficult to make such a trip. It has been a dream of mine for years, but for now I've put it aside: of course, if a colleague from INGV were to need geochemistry for one of his expeditions to Antarctica, I'd be ready to go!
Do you have a place of the heart?
A small dammuso, the typical "house" of Pantelleria. I fell in love with it when I went there for the first time, in 1994, later also becoming responsible for surveillance of the island.
What made you fall in love with it?
I was walking around the narrow streets of Pantelleria with a very dear friend of mine because her cousin had received a small inheritance and wanted to invest it in a dammuso. We were accompanied by a broker, because at the time there were no agencies on the island but there was just the "little man" who would guide you around. When we arrived in front of this dammuso it was love at first sight: I looked at my friend and asked her "Can we buy it?", her answer was "Yes!", and so since then I like to think it is it was he, the dammuso, who chose us.
Are you more sweet or savory in the kitchen?
Savory. I hate sweets, I don't like them!
Favorite dish?
Crustaceans, molluscs and the arancinA, feminine as they say in Palermo.
One thing you understood “when you grew up”?
That to become young, really young, it takes a lot of time (Picasso).
A quality that you recognize in the female gender and one in the male gender?
Creativity, open-mindedness. A quality for boys… It's difficult… Creativity, open-mindedness… I'm joking of course! I don't believe in gender differences.
What do you keep from your childhood?
The love for my parents (now almost centenarians), nature and animals.
Last question: what is the song that you would never stop listening to?
“You've got a friend”, naturally in the version of its author, Carol King.