Never waste a good crisis.Winston Churchill Six months after the first official covid 19 case in Italy, this is how Venice looked like: Venice, October 2020, a few weeks before the Covid-19 second wave explosion It is weird and unsettling to see the famous Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) almost deserted, a place that … Continue reading Covid-19 Lessons
Living the Cozy, Comfortable Decline of Europe
How distant it seems the time when the Italian Renaissance maestros set the standards by which any artist would have been measured since then. When the French revolutionaries established the principles on which modern republics and liberal democracies are rooted. When the British built enduring physical and cultural infrastructures all over the lands of their … Continue reading Living the Cozy, Comfortable Decline of Europe
I Don’t Belong Here
CreepRadioheadWhen you were here before...But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo,What the hell am I doing here?I don't belong here.I don't belong here.Source: LyricFindSongwriters: Mike Hazlewood / Albert Hammond / Colin Greenwood / Jonathan Greenwood / Edward O'Brien / Philip Selway / Thomas YorkeCreep lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, BMG Rights Management Creep is … Continue reading I Don’t Belong Here
Translating Stephen King and the American Imagination
The title of this post is the same of the workshop that I attended recently. It was organized by the same foundation that arranges the pordenonelegge.it literary festival, which I talked about here. This annual workshop is conceived by Laura Pagliara, a professional translator who collaborates with the foundation. It mainly targets aspiring translators and … Continue reading Translating Stephen King and the American Imagination
Saudade and Identity
Saudade is a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves.source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade Portuguese is a language known for its intrinsic musicality (Important update: my friend Matteo pointed out to me that this it true for Brazilian variant only). When you listen to a person speaking … Continue reading Saudade and Identity
You Play to Win, Don’t You?
At first sight, this question sounds rhetorical to the majority of people living in the western world. We should not take for granted the answer, however. Some weeks ago I wrote a post on victory. Right after writing it, coincidentally I had the chance to discuss on another blog a different topic related to victory … Continue reading You Play to Win, Don’t You?
Pursuing Equilibrium
Equilibrium: a state or feeling of mental balance; composure When I first thought about this post, I wanted to entitle it "Pursuing the truth." However, I then realized that this would have represented an improper use of the word "truth." The truth and all the issues related to it are probably one of the most … Continue reading Pursuing Equilibrium
Immortality for the Masses
In this previous post, I talked about a literary festival that I attend every year called pordenonelegge.it. As stated there, this event provides regularly much material for this blog. This post is an example of a topic—immortality—which I have been thinking about for a while and which was discussed by one of the writers who … Continue reading Immortality for the Masses
Roots — Part I
Several years ago, a friend of mine lent me a book on the history of my paternal grandfather's and my father's hometown. This small village, where I lived for most of my life, was founded in the Middle Ages and has witnessed many historical events, such as the war European principalities and city-states fought against … Continue reading Roots — Part I
Northeast Italy Looking for a New Societal Balance
Northeast Italy is where I live. It is famous for the successful economic model that it implemented during the last decades of the 20th century. This model was characterized by a myriad of small, very flexible companies that adapted quickly to the market. In combination with the competitive devaluation policy carried out by Italy before … Continue reading Northeast Italy Looking for a New Societal Balance
