A CITY OF THINKERS
While the athletes of the world
will soon descend upon this city for the Olympics, it is amazing to
think of
who once walked these streets. Nostradamus
apparently left a piece of his “code” on the Stone
of Turin, symbols
that apparently unlock secret texts of prophecies, and in 1556 scrawled
“NOSTRADAMUS STAYED HERE” over a doorway in Torino. Black masses are rumored to take place
underground, with believers insisting that Torino,
home of the famed shroud, is also the center of the magical universe,
with the
gates of hell beneath the many sidewalk cafes.
It is perhaps a happier thought
that Erasmus graduated from the university of this city, as did
many
others of note. One night while walking
around, trying to get my bearings, I came across Via Gramsci,
and with a
little prodding, discovered that Antonio Gramsci attended
university in Torino in 1911 on
scholarship, several years before he
was arrested because of his opposition to Mussolini.
At his trial, Mussolini said of Gramsci, “We
have to prevent that this mind continue thinking.”
Gramsci’s writings, which he produced in
prison, have been amongst the most influential on my own work, and it
was quite
amazing to find myself on a street named for him. Another
graduate of the university was Primo
Levi, who was born in Torino in
1919. Levi enrolled in the university in
1937, but
a year later the Fascist government created a series of laws that
prevented
Jewish students from pursuing higher education.
In spite of the new “racial laws,” as they
were known, Levi graduated
with a degree in chemistry in 1941. Sent
to a concentration camp in 1944, he gained freedom in 1945 and returned
to Italy to write Survival
in Auschwitz.
While not
native, Mozart enjoyed visiting Torino
quite frequently, and Friedrich Nietzsche, who famously loved Italy, often came to Torino
to write, and experienced some of his early bouts with madness in the
city. The only madness I hope to
experience is that which the Games bring, and it’s not long now. And as the athletes arrive, I hope they take
some time to walk the streets that Erasmus and Gramsci and Levi did –
they’ll
be in good company.
