Rino Alessi
Rino Alessi (1885 – 1970), Italian writer and journalist.
Hope across the river:
[edit]The Madonna of the Sun
In 1912 Bologna did not exceed one hundred and fifty thousand souls and was still almost entirely enclosed within the pentagon of the ancient walls. Cars, even after the famous circuit that had given Nàzzaro international fame, were rather scarce. Electrically powered trams had recently replaced animal-powered ones. The gentlemen rode in a two-horse "landau"; the rich landowners sported "tilburys" with rubber wheels; in winter they wore heavy brick-coloured Casentino coats, with picturesque blond fox or otter collars; but at the time of the afternoon walk they appeared along the promenade, between via Indipendenza, via Rizzoli and the Pavaglione loggias, in "half walnut", ankle-length fur, lined with "rat-musquè" and beaver collar. They looked as if they had just returned from a funeral or were about to go to an official reception.
Quotes:
[edit]- We used to say the "fat Bologna" wanting to allude more than to the weight of the inhabitants, to their carnality, their love for good food and the healthy physiological consequences of this love. The "fat Bologna" was anything but the maze-like conventual world that Ugo Foscolo had perhaps seen in a moment of bad mood. (p. 7)
- Bologna was beautiful, lovable, worthy of being enjoyed with soul and flesh. Behind the bright windows of the Zanichelli bookshop the eternally angry spirit of Carducci still hovered. (p. 10)
- The great dates in Bologna were the «premieres» of the opera season at the Teatro Comunale, in autumn (the Bolognese public boasted, rightly, Wagnerian after a famous premiere in Lohengrin directed by Angelo Mariani) and at carnival, the «flower ball». (p. 10)
Bibliography:
[edit]- Rino Alessi, Hope beyond the river, Cappelli editore, Bologna 1959.
