No Place Like Home, If You Live In Italy

“Making mental connections is our most crucial learning tool, the essence of human intelligence; to forge links; to go beyond the given; to see patterns, relationships, context” ~Marilyn Ferguson

When I wrote my Architectural Reflections last week I was essentially commenting on how it was once church structures that were dominant in cities but that the new structures in which we invested our imaginations were symbols of commerce (New York skyscrapers) or of excess (Vegas casinos.) What I did not talk much about is the history that is contained in the buildings themselves.

I am thinking this morning of European architecture, especially Rennaissance era buildings into which so much human creativity and imagination has been poured. The trigger for this was an email from our friend Mario Monasterolo, a historian in Northern Italy. Upon reading Sunday's comments on Pavarotti, Mario sent me these photos from Modena, where Pavarotti's life originated.

What's fascinating is that my father-in-law was there during the war, and described his emotions in response to Modena. Mario took the time to locate the passage from Bud's war memoir, And There Shall Be Wars.

Mario wrote, "Pavarotti was born in Modena; Bud was there and wrote wonderful words!" Then cited these:

"It was nice to go through Modena, a city of over 150.000. There were no old narrow streets here, and there was a really tall 290 foot cathedral. Parma was another city worthy of forfeiting a furlough in order to see... Saving these cities had to have been part of the glory of the war..."

These were scenes that made an impression on a young man from rural Northern Minnesota.

When you do a Google search for the words "European architecture" an astonishing array of images is now at your fingertips, courtesy the Internet. Some people have loved Italian architecture so much that they wanted to bring it home with them to America. In fact, that is exactly what John Ringling, youngest of the Ringling brothers did, purchasing a fifteenth century opera house from a village outside Venice, dismantling and reassembling it in its entirety in Sarasota, Florida.

With so much history on every street, in every villa and vista, it's no wonder that people like Mario Monasterolo have developed a passion for making connections with the past, bringing it to life in the present so we can enrich our futures.

Thanks, Mario, for these images and all the rest.

The Never Ending Story

A nice email again from Mario in Northern Italy. The magazine is now in print featuring the story my father-in-law, WW2 veteran who published his war memoirs and memories, which culminated in the villages near Torino and Racconigi.

I remember when I first saw some of Bud's photos from the war. He showed a picture of a road where every tree had every branch splintered and stripped bare of leaves. The devastation of the war had been vividly captured.

But Mario's letter this morning shares the brighter side of this war, the warmth and hope that had been inspired by the arrival of the Americans.

Dear Ed. Since our first mail, I have never spent so much time without writing. The fact is that we have been so busy organizing things... But my main difficulty was (is) how to express the feelings and the consequences of the article about Bud. All people were touched, and we had been waiting for such a reaction. But now, all people have begun remembering, also the younger ones: my grandfather used to tell me… My aunt… My father in law…

One surprising meeting I had was with a young man from Murello. It’s a small town seven km from Racconigi, were Bud used to go dancing and having dates. This man told me that an old aunt of his always used to remember those young Americans; there was one who reached Murello by jeep and offered “caramelle”; those sweeties were inside a tobacco can. One evening the soldier wasn’t near the jeep and the children opened the can so as to give a look inside, being prepared to receive “caramelle” later. The can was full of tobacco!

Maybe the man wasn’t Bud but I listened to the story and it was just like if Bud was there speaking to me.

Today and tomorrow we’ll have all magazines in kiosks and libraries; then we’ll be able to collect bookings of And There Shall Be Wars and organize orders and shipping. Our Mayor wants us to have another public presentation on the main square, during our summer feasts. A never ending story! But a beautiful story.

Now I’m busy preparing the second issue, but no longer stressed: I’ll write you again soon, so as to go on keeping in touch. A town-wide kiss to Bud and your whole family. Mario

If you are interested in seeing this feature story, in the new historical magazine "Terre di seta", I have uploaded it to my personal website and it can be viewed here: articolo_bud.pdf

According to Mario, “Terre di seta”, that means “a silky country”: a very original part of their agricultural past was bound to silkworm breeding and in the pre-industrial production of threads. The magazine will deal with all aspects of everyday life in their past, mainly based on personal memories and private archives, hence Bud's story was a natural fit for their leadoff issue. The magazine is the product of a non-profit cultural Association supported by local private sponsors with no public help. It is a product of volunteers, although they are all professionals, headed up by Prof. Bartolo Gariglio, deputy director of the History Department of the University of Turin.

May we all remember our histories, and pass their lessons on to future generations.