Among the Treasures of Mercanteinfiera

A poignant painting of a mother and child by
Aleardo Villa (1865-1906), a native of Ravello

Previous: The Less Pleasant Side of Italy
 
Much of my time in Parma was spent at the 45th Fall Mercanteinfiera, an international fair of antiques, modern design, and collectibles. Imagine eight enormous exhibition halls, some resembling airplane hangars, filled with dealers from every corner of Italy and beyond, offering an astonishing array of objects spanning centuries of history.

Sifting through the countless treasures, I encountered many fascinating and beautiful things. Among the most exciting discoveries for me were works by the great Neapolitan artist Vincenzo Gemito. Yet as remarkable as the objects themselves were, I found the conversations with their owners even more rewarding. Many were eager to discuss the history, provenance, and peculiar circumstances surrounding their wares.

While inquiring about a drawing of Gabriele D’Annunzio, one merchant asked where I was from. When I replied Brooklyn (I always say Brooklyn before New York or America), he seemed genuinely astonished. Apparently, he held a rather low opinion of Americans’ knowledge of European history and could scarcely believe my interest in the subject. I wasn’t quite sure whether to feel offended or proud.

Conversations with several other dealers also opened doors to objects not publicly displayed. Among the more curious discoveries were supposedly “scandalous” photographs of Yukio Mishima and D’Annunzio, brought out for my private inspection. Why these particular images were kept hidden away remains a mystery, especially considering the abundance of erotic art openly exhibited throughout the fair.

Despite the many things I would have liked to purchase, I exercised an unusual degree of restraint and came away with just two personal acquisitions, a carved mano fica amulet and an old monocle. Not a bad haul, considering I was there for work and the temptations were considerable.

Next: The Many Pleasures of Parma

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, October 13th, Feasts of Beato Gerardo, Santa Chelidonia di Subiaco, and St. Edward the Confessor

A dramatic coastal scene by Giuseppe Casciaro (1863-1941),
A native of Ortelle, in the province of Lecce, Apulia

A striking drawing and a bronze bust by Vincenzo Gemito (1852-1929),
a native of Naples and one of Southern Italy's most celebrated sculptors

Two expressive bronze sculptures by Gemito, capturing
the vitality and character of everyday life in Naples

View of the Gulf of Naples with Mount Vesuvius, tempera on
paper by unidentified Neapolitan painter, 18th-19th century

Nocturne in the Gulf of Naples with Mount Vesuvius in Eruption,
oil on canvas by unidentified Neapolitan painter, early 19th century

Two richly adorned busts of San Gennaro

Three works of religious art depicting Santa Maria Maddalena
(left and right) and San Francesco di Paola (center)

 A reliquary of Santa Agnese (left) and an assortment of
elaborately decorated reliquaries and devotional objects (right)

An assortment of ornate reliquaries containing relics of various saints

An assortment of historic chivalric and military decorations, including insignia of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, distinguished by its red cross and the Chi-Rho monogram of Christ

A medal awarded to soldiers who fought in the 1849 Sicilian Campaign under King Ferdinando II of the Two Sicilies (left), alongside two magnificent decorations of the Royal Order of San Gennaro (center and right), one of the most prestigious chivalric orders of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

An ornate decoration of the Royal Order of San Gennaro, featuring the patron saint of Naples in episcopal vestments, surrounded by a jeweled cross and the order’s Latin motto, In Sanguine Foedus (“A Bond in Blood”)

A replica of the Prussian Order Pour le Mérite, featuring a blue enamel cross, royal crown, and the French inscription Pour le Mérite (“For Merit”), one of Prussia’s most prestigious military decorations

Three magnificent examples of European military headgear, featuring elaborately decorated helmets with gilded fittings, ornate crests, and distinctive plumes, reflecting the pageantry and martial traditions of the 19th century

An assortment of antique flintlock and percussion pistols, featuring wooden stocks, engraved metal fittings, and the distinctive craftsmanship of European gunsmiths of the 18th and 19th centuries

Three portraits of Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863–1938), the celebrated poet, novelist, and soldier, represented in two sculpted busts and a framed drawing

A colorful assortment of vintage tinplate wind-up motorcycle toys

A vintage Moto Guzzi Galletto, the distinctive Italian motor scooter produced between 1950 and 1966, combining the practicality of a scooter with the engineering of a motorcycle

Two striking crowned skulls, one silver-toned and the other gilded, evoking the memento mori tradition and the transience of earthly power, wealth, and glory

Two macabre examples of memento mori art: a pair of elaborately dressed
skeletal figures (left) and a haunting sculpture of a skull-faced
Franciscan friar (right), reminders of the inevitability of death
and the fleeting nature of earthly existence

A reclining female figure, possibly Cleopatra, depicted in the final moments
of life, with an overturned drinking vessel and a scepter beside her,
suggesting a tragic death by poison

An elegant assortment of decorative antiques

An eclectic assortment of antiques, including an ornate belt from a traditional Sicilian folk costume depicting San Giorgio slaying the dragon (left), two elaborately dressed marionettes in medieval armor (center), and a whimsical ceramic caricature of Totò, the beloved Neapolitan actor and comedian, holding a bowl inscribed Doppio Brodo (right)

Two elegant examples of decorative art featuring female figures: an Art
Nouveau-style absinthe dispenser supported by a silver-toned maiden
(left) and a gilded sculptural lamp depicting a nude woman
holding an illuminated globe aloft (right)

An intriguing assortment of figurative art, including a bronze sculpture of a kneeling nude woman (left), a vintage photograph of a reclining female nude (center), and a sculptural composition depicting two embracing women (right), celebrating the beauty and sensuality of the female form

Formal Fundraiser Luncheon for the 115th Anniversary of Blessed Karl and Empress Zita's Wedding

The Less Pleasant Side of Italy

Parma railway station

Previous: Reflections Upon Returning from Italy

Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first.

JFK and Rome’s Fiumicino Airport were predictably crowded, overpriced, and slow. I nearly missed my flight home after being subjected to a “random” explosives screening. The food aboard both flights was dreadful, bordering on an act of culinary terrorism.

Rome’s train terminal was worse. Traveling to and from the airport, I occasionally felt as though I were riding the New York City subway, with its cramped seating, foul odors, and conspicuous lack of manners. The Northern Italian countryside remains beautiful, but traveling by train through the cities revealed another, less appealing landscape, with refuse and graffiti everywhere.

The Northern Italian countryside, viewed from the train

I have little patience for those who defend the vandalism of public and private property under the pretense of artistic expression. If you wish to deface your own home or business with the scrawlings of so-called street artists, that is your prerogative. Imposing them upon everyone else is quite another matter.

Hammer and sickle graffiti in Parma

My hotels in Rome and Parma were both near the train stations, areas I discovered, through personal experience and conversations with locals, have reputations for crime and drug activity. In Parma, some of it appeared to unfold openly. I encountered young foreign men who appeared to be dealing drugs and visibly strung-out European girls who looked prematurely haggard. I noticed similar scenes around certain monuments and fountains.

If such things are readily apparent to an occasional visitor, surely they cannot escape the attention of local authorities. As in the United States, those entrusted with maintaining public order and safeguarding the welfare of their communities seem to have other priorities or are hamstrung by inane bureaucratic and political obstacles.

None of these experiences diminishes my affection for Italy. Much of what troubled me is hardly unique to the country, but reflects problems increasingly prevalent throughout the Western world. Italy remains a place of extraordinary beauty, history, culture, and tradition, possessing a richness that the failings of contemporary society cannot entirely obscure.

Next: Among the Treasures of Mercanteinfiera

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, October 12th, Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar

First Pontifical High Mass of a Nine Month Novena of Masses in Massachusetts

Meme Dump AG4IN

In this fourth installment of our Columbus Day meme dump, we explore the lighter side of meming. Happy Columbus Day!

Also see: Meme Dump, Meme Dump (Part Deux), and Meme Dump III: Return of the Memes

Solemn Pontifical First Vespers at the Faldstool at St. Paul's Oratory in Warren, Massachusetts

Reflections Upon Returning from Italy

Ponte di Mezzo and the dry bed of the Torrente Parma

Previous: Reading Rilke in Italy

My recent trip to Parma was brief but edifying. Business took up much of my time, though I still managed to explore, indulge in the food, and appreciate the simple pleasure of being there. I also found time to read, visit a couple of museums, and engage in conversations with a wide variety of people.

As always, Italy left me with much to contemplate. Certain experiences reaffirmed what I have long admired about the country, while a few gave me reason for concern. The journey stirred a mixture of thoughts and emotions, some positive and others less so.

For now, I am still sorting through it all. In due course, I hope to share my observations in greater detail.

Next: The Less Pleasant Side of Italy

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, October 10th, Feast of San Paolino di Capua

Photo of the Week: Statue of Calliope, Vatican Museum

Photo by New York Scugnizzo

X Convegno Tradizionalista di Napoli Capitale — Nella Tradizione il Futuro del Sud

Brief Excerpt from Transformations of Eros by Vladimir Solovyev

Terracotta lekythos in the form of Eros, 2nd half of the 4th century BC,
Metropolitan Museum of Art (photo by New York Scugnizzo)

"When Eros enters into an earthly being, he at once transforms it. The lover feels within himself a new power of infinity; he has received a new and mighty gift. But then inevitably arise the rivalry and antagonism of the two parts or tendencies of the soul — the higher and the lower. Which of them is to appropriate and turn to its own advantage the mighty power of Eros, so as to become infinitely fertile or generative in its own domain and its own direction? The lower soul desires an infinite creation on the physical plane only — a negative, evil infinity, accessible solely to victorious matter; a constant repetition of the same fugitive phenomena, an eternal hunger and thirst without satiation, a living emptiness never to be filled, an infinity and eternity of Tantalus, Sisyphus and the Danaides. The sensual soul drags down the winged Eros and puts a bandage over his eyes, in order that he should maintain life on the plane of material phenomena, preserving and fostering the law of evil infinity, and working as a servile tool for the irrational immensity of material appetites.

"But what will the infinite power of Eros give to the higher intelligent soul? Will it direct it to the contemplation of the truly existent, ideal, cosmos? But such contemplation is already proper to the mind by its very nature, and is practiced without the aid of Eros. And Eros himself is, by his nature, not a theoretical or contemplative power, but one which is infinitely creative. The nature and the results of the activity of Eros, when he is subject to the lower sensual soul, are sufficiently well known, not only to men, but also to animals and plants. But what then does he impart to the soul which has risen to something higher than the service of mortal life? Where can this soul produce its offspring — not of Apollo, not of Hermes, but of Eros? Not in the world of Ideas and of pure, divine minds, for that world is the abode of what is unchangeable; of what neither needs nor has the power of reproduction in its own eternal domain. But generation in the non-existent does not befit the winged and clear-sighted demi-god when he is free and not in bondage to the lower physical soul, which deprives him both of wings and vision. Therefore, for his true creative power there remains only that boundary line of the two worlds which is known by the name of The Beautiful."

* Vladimir Solovyev, Transformations of Eros: An Odyssey from Platonic to Christian Eros (New Culture Press, 1992), pp. 58–59.