AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR, DOCTOR & TRAVEL GUIDE SPECIALIST CORRADO PASSI

Multifaceted Corrado Passi

by Margaux Cintrano

Author, Doctor and Travel Tourism Operator, Corrado Passi grew up in the enchantingly historical romantic Italian city of Verona where he studied Medicine and Oral Surgery and managed his private practice for many years.

A passionate traveler, he decided to set up a travel tourism agency, Unparalleled South African Tours, in Capetown, South Africa, wherein he creates personalized travel services for Italians and foreigners alike.

Also a prolific penner of books, his latest are Capetown and Oltre la Vita Felice, both in Italian but this summer they’ll be available in English too.

INTERVIEW

Margaux: Firstly, where were you born and raised?

Corrado: I was born in Cremona, in the northern side of Italy, but I grew up in Verona, Veneto, where I earned my Degree in Medicine & Surgery and where I managed my private practice for many years.

Margaux: What and who were the catalysts for your decisions to study medicine, which sector of medicine and then relocate to Capetown, South Africa?

Corrado: I did not decide to study medicine driven by a specific passion; I was more into literature and philosophy… At that time, I was specifically involved in oral surgery and oral implantology. In 2003, during a Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, I wondered if this city would have been a nice place to live and to make a radical change in my professional life. And it was. So I decided to move to Cape Town with my life partner, Natalia, and her child, Filippo, and I started becoming involved in the tourism industry – writing in my free time as much as I could. It was a very hectic, very energetic and satisfying period of my life.

Margaux: Tell us about Unparalleled South African Tours.

Corrado: I’ve always been a traveller, so I decided to set up Unparalleled South African Tours (Pty) Ltd, a tourism and travel consultancy company (Tour Operator) which provides people wishing to experience South Africa for leisure and business with personalized travel services, strictly tailor made: consulting and travel planning, transfer from airport to accommodation, a wide, complete range of accommodation establishments (from B&B/guest house to luxurious lodges, villas or apartments), half or full day sight-seeing tours, tailor made tours, self-drive tours, business travel and business networking, car, motorcycle 4×4 hire, escorted, guided tours, off the beaten track tours with experienced guides and sensational safaris.

Margaux: What has been the inspiration to pen three books in such a short time? I am aware that you have recently published two books and you are working on a third, also to be published in 2018. Could you tell us briefly about the 3 books ?

Corrado: I started writing when I was a high school student, and I kept doing it for almost twenty years, but only when we moved to South Africa I realized that I would have liked doing it professionally. The first book, Cape Town (Edizioni Polaris, Jan 2017), is a Guide about Cape Town and the Western Cape including many fictional stories about many different peoples; Oltre la vita felice (Edizioni Polaris, Dec 2017) is a novel about a trip made by a South African woman – a professional – after she looses her child, who died in a car crash; the third, which is being published in June of this year, is set in Italy during the years of terrorism (early ‘80s). All these books have been written within a ten-year period, but I decided to publish them only four years ago. At the moment, I write every day, on a regular basis, for three or four hours per day – I’m currently working on my next book, about which I prefer not to release any further detail until it is on its way to publication.

Margaux: Could you tell us about your latest projects for 2018 – 2019?

Corrado: I’m currently very busy writing and attending evening events, reading and presentations of my books in Italy, managed and planned by my Italian publishing company, Casa Editrice Polaris, and it takes a lot of time and energy. Oltre la vita felice and Cape Town will be translated into English by the end of 2018 and I’m communicating frequently with the professional translator who is in charge of it.
Hopefully I will complete my next book by the end of 2019/early 2020, and this is the main aim I want to achieve by that time, my most important project.

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Images supplied by Margaux Cintrano