The bright side of purgatory
Plus, the mysticism of Furio Jesi and Afro-Italian art
For the past few weeks, walking around Florence, it’s been impossible not to think about Dante. As you probably know if you’re reading this, 2021 is the 700th anniversary of the poet’s death and here - in the city where he produced so much of his work - the tributes are ubiquitous. Some have been interesting: the 24 hour English language reading marathon, the exhibit at the Uffizi, a screening of Francesco Bertolini’s iconic silent film in piazza Santa Croce. Yet what’s struck me most is how much memorializing has been focused around a single book: Inferno. Dante’s HELL is a masterpiece, and an enduring statement on morality, politics and art. Yet it is, of course, only the first in a cycle of three less-often discussed canticles. I was therefore pleased to come across a wonderful piece in the New Yorker this week by Judith Thurman which looks not at Dante’s underworld, but at Purgatory. For Thurman, this book is vital reading for pandemic times. Not because its grey endless days offer some superficial parallel to lockdown. On the contrary, quoting W. S. Merwin, she wants to emphasise that purgatory is the only place of hope in these cosmic poems, “[because] there is none in Hell, and Paradise is fulfillment itself.” You may be over-Dante’d by now - I get that - but I really recommend you bookmark Thurman’s essay for a slow, long read over the weekend. In a sea of puff pieces it’s the most nuanced panegyric I’ve read so far. So here’s the link again.
With only a couple of weeks to go until Italy’s local elections I’ve been poring over the polls in a pretty wonkish fashion (so you don’t have to). The long and short of it is this: the right-wing coalitions have totally dropped the ball on this one and the centre left PD and affiliates are therefore on track to redouble support in major cites: Milan, Bologna, Naples for sure and, more tentatively, Rome and Turin. Good news right? During my googling I also came across some quite fun stories about the north Italian village of Morterone, the smallest electoral area in the country which boasts 11 residents in winter and 31 in summer. Until a few weeks ago there were no candidates here and it looked as if the entire comune would be nullified and merged with that of a neighbouring village. At the last minute, though, two candidates stepped up, neither of whom were born in the town, and neither of whom live there. On the left there’s Andrea Grassi, a representative of the Partito Gay who is proposing to open the town hall for 3 days a week in the name of democracy. On the right is Dario Pesenti, a conservative who wants to open a mini market to “make the village more like Switzerland”. The local population don’t seem to care much either way. As one resident put it in an interview below: “I’ll go out to vote but I don’t know who I’ll vote for […] Spoil my ballet? Maybe!” Whatever the prospects for the PD and co it’s a sentiment I fear extends well-beyond this isolated community…
The ICI in London is getting back into action after a sleepy summer. To mark the autumn they’ve been drip feeding a series of video essays about Furio Jesi, the self-taught philosopher, critic and mystic who was active in the 60s and 70s counterculture movements. If you don’t know Jesi’s work I’m not surprised. He’s barely remembered here, let alone abroad. He was, however, a key figure in the neo-avant-garde and he produced a lot of original interesting essays, poems and pamphlets. I’ve only read his book Festa, a Rabelaisian manifesto on the power of comedy, in which he proposes a theory of revelry as a means of disrupting “bad spiritual logic”. The ICI’s three part series, though, goes deeper into his other works like Spartakus, an anthopological study of protest symbols, and Secret Germany, which explores how the Nazi-Fascists appropriated and abused mythology to construct their ideology. It’s niche stuff - perhaps - but the videos make it all pleasingly accessible. The first episode, narrated by the author Alberto Toscano, is particularly worth a look.
Art and culture: re-inventing canons
It’s been a while now since I’ve covered any local - Florentine - news. This month, though, there’s something really worth drawing attention to. The Associazione Culturale BHMF (Black History Month Florence) has finalised a partnership with the SRISA gallery in piazza San Marco to open a Black cultural centre in the city. Usually the association’s events are confined to the month of February. Now, in a step forwards, they have a permanent hub to host “creative research connected to the cultural production of Afrodescendant peoples and cultures.” It is, apparently, the first physical space in Italy dedicated to the Black Culture of Italy and it will be open for residencies and national and international researchers. The opening exhibit is by Georges Senga, a Congolese photographer, and there’s a new library too. Follow the project on Facebook or Instagram for regular updates.
Sticking with Afro-Italian culture: I’m just catching up with the August edition of the online magazine Words Without Borders which is dedicated to the work of Afro-Italian Women Writers in translation. The issue explores how “in the face of xenophobic rhetoric and policies, Black Italians have pushed their country to confront its colonial past and engage with its present diversity.” Featured authors include Igiaba Scego, who has an essay on racism in the school system, Djarah Kan, who imagines the voice of a Malian immigrant killed by a Calabrian white supremacist, and Marie Moïse, who has written about grappling with and celebrating her Haitian heritage. There are also poems by Rahma Nur, a regular contributor to the wonderful journal, El Ghibli. My favourite of the pieces, through, is an excerpt from Ubah Cristina Ali Farah’s Il comandante del fiume. It’s called ‘Bambi’ and it describes the experience of a Muslim teenager in Rome who is forced to confront some uncomfortable details about a failed suicide bombing on the London Tube. You can read the full story - in English - here.
Recipe of the week: Pici al sugo finto
I had the overwhelming urge to make pasta from scratch this week. It’s one of those things that, working from home, isn’t as hard as you’d think. All you need really is a 30 minute break in the mid afternoon to make the dough, then you can roll it out and cook in the evening. I went for Pici, which are thick noodles, basically the Italian equivalent of udon. They’re pretty easy to make, and after a few tries I’ve now got the hang of them. In the spirit of not over eating meat I also prepared a quick ‘sugo finto’ - a ‘fake sauce’ - which is a typical Tuscan topping of vegetables, tomatoes and wine (that gives all the impression of ragu without any need for mince). This isn’t at all tricky to pull off, but Emiko Davies’s recipe is the is best I’ve come across and worth bookmarking for reference. You can find it in her book Aquacotta, or online here.
That’s it for this week - as ever I do hope you enjoyed this instalment. If you haven’t already, please do follow the ‘Week in Italy’ Facebook page, or my twitter, for a few extra links and easy-access to the substack archive. If this email was forwarded to you, or you’re accessing on the web and would like to receive further updates, you can subscribe using this link below. Thanks!
About Me
My name is Jamie Mackay (@JacMackay) and I’m an author, editor and translator based in Florence. I’ve been writing about Italy for a decade for international media including The Guardian, The Economist, Frieze, and Art Review. I launched ‘The Week in Italy’ to share a more direct and regular overview of the debates and dilemmas, innovations and crises that sometimes pass under the radar of our overcrowded news feeds.
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