The radiant mind

Text by Eliana Liotta, with scientific supervision by Michela Matteoli, taken from the book The Radiant Mind by Eliana Liotta and Michela Matteoli, published by Sonzogno.

In a time when knowledge work is increasingly influenced by technology, artificial intelligence, and information overload, understanding what nourishes and protects our mind becomes an ever more important skill. Essayist Eliana Liotta and neuroscientist Michela Matteoli tell this story in the staged lecture based on their bestseller La mente radiosa (Sonzogno, 2026), created in collaboration with the Piccolo Teatro di Milano.

Through a literary and scientific dialogue, the authors take the audience on a journey through thoughts, feelings, and foods that nourish our intelligence and brighten life.

Interspersed with their words, and amplifying their meaning, are passages from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello: music supported by a rational architecture yet at the same time deeply emotional, in a sort of echo of the structure of the narrated text. The bare voices of the authors and the instrument intertwine to remind us that our brain continuously changes as we live and that we can always become better people.

As Corriere della Sera wrote, the essay The Radiant Mind explains that "the health and longevity of the brain depend on both material and immaterial nourishment" and that "we are the result of every shared dinner, every laugh, every love."