Marking the anniversary of 28 December 1908, we leaf through “Scylla and Charybdis”, a notable publication by the Association of the Italian Periodical Press, for the benefit of the Regina Elena patronage for earthquake orphans. A publication that was of great help, after that catastrophe, to alleviate the suffering of the wounded, and helped the survivors to live a harsh new reality with dignity. Salvatore Barzilai, president of the Association that promoted that book, reported the opening contents in the prefacewhich consisted essentially of literature and art; that is, the works of illustrious people with clear fame far beyond Italy. And again Barzilai expressed unchanging gratitude to those who cooperated in the success of that initiative, which in fact was appreciated everywhere. And thanks to the many volumes sold, the welfare contributions proved invaluable.
Considering the various authors of the 159 pages one by one is not possible here. There are 62 writers and 54 artists. A bit random, but not so much, we will mention a few. Only three lines, but an important one, were signed by the author of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of which we report the translation kindly prepared by the professor. Giuseppe Di Giacomo: “Dear Lord, together with the whole world I am saddened by the disaster that has struck Italy, but I am sure that with Italy’s courage and unshakable faith you will be able to heal everything, best regards”.
From Frédéric Mistral (Nobel Prize 1904) to Jean Carrère, (we report directly from the French): “My dear Carrère, in my tragedy, La Rèeno Jano, I idealized as best I could the ancient relations of the Two Sicilies with Provence. In memory of this historic brotherhood I sent some verses of that tragedy to the Association of the Italian periodical press”. For example, “of when Cèleusme sings in the galley, sailing between Charybdis and Scylla”. And then, The destroyed springs! By Luigi Capuana, who began thus: “It took just one minute, just one minute of nefarious impetus of the unreasonable Nature for so many promising springs, smiled from the sky, from the earth and from the sea of Messina, to be destroyed forever”. I will remember, he promised, “a few names dear to me”. Therefore he went through several volumes of verse and prose, poor young authors now buried under the rubble, and he seemed to see them around him, to hear their voices, to see their smiles… among them Angelo Toscano, Giuseppe Rino, and Giovanni Trischitta , who went to die in Catania. And again, Edoardo Giacomo Boner and Placido Cesareo, “who were something much more than a happy promise”.
Luigi Capuana believed Tommaso Cannizzaro dead, and imagined him buried in the ruins of Villa Landiwhere the “multilingual poet with a broad lyrical flight lived in the almost solitude of the Peloritana countryside”: he mourned him, but the poet from Messina was very much alive, it was just not easy to get close to him. He was in Catania in the Vittorio Emanuele hospital, next to his wounded daughter… and Capuana, leafing through those volumes again, “driven”, he confessed, “by an acrid religious curiosity”, to search in those youthful pages for the feverish pulsations of a time, cultivating the illusion of a remainder, of a life expectancy of their authors.
Clearly enchanted, Giovanni Verga wrote thus: “In the dismay of the saddest hour and the immense disaster, those Messina survivors, deprived of everything but firm on the ruins of their unfortunate city, firm in the love of their native place, in their courage, in their determination and in the faith that it will rise again, they are a great comfort, a great pride for their brothers from every part of Italy. Long live Messina the undefeated!”.
In the photo
Rare double and therefore panoramic postcard sent from Messina in 1916, but dating back to previous years. Collection Cesare Giorgianni