THE OXFORDITALIANASSOCIATION

TRINITY, 2017

TOIA MAGAZINE # 79

IN EUROPE’S DRAMA: THE ENIGMA OF ITALY

Italy is a country of many faces. It is much admired and at the same time feared. It is the ninth-largest economy in the

world, with a reputation for high-quality manufacturing. It dominates the global market for luxury goods. Its creative designers ensure it has many of the world’s most recognisable brands. And yet for all its Mediterranean flair it’s the country that troubles Europe’s leaders more than any other.

Italy frequently baffles outsiders. It has a history of innovation, yet the economy has flat-lined, unemployment

remains stubbornly high and public debt has reached dangerous levels. Banks are struggling with bad loans that are a drag on recovery. Many of the country’s best and brightest move abroad.

Italy is feared because its economy is too big to rescue. It suffers from a cumbersome bureaucracy and inefficient legal system and reforms are often met with resistance.

It is a founding member of the single currency, but many believe that the Euro has delivered stagnation rather than prosperity. Most Italian politicians support the European project whilst at the same time resenting Germany’s insistence on

austerity; they argue for a European union where the burden of debt is shared.

Italy was a founding member of what became the European Union. The Treaty of Rome, signed sixty years ago, gave birth to the European Economic Community. Increasingly, however, voters are turning towards anti-establishment parties. Within a year, Italy will hold elections. The rest of Europe is uncertain what voters will do. Will they vent their frustration by turning away from mainstream parties and taking a chance on more radical parties who oppose immigration, further European integration and staying in the Eurozone?

www.fcagroup.com www.cnhindustrial.com

A LECTURE BY GAVIN HEWITT, BBC NEWS, NEWS EDITOR

Matteo Renzi, 56th ex-Prime Minister of Italy

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Gavin Hewitt

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On its shores, Italy has shouldered responsibility for the tens of thousands of migrants who have crossed from North Africa. Rome believes that the rest of Europe has not shown enough solidarity in helping Italy manage a major humanitarian crisis. Italy is now embarking on a new initiative in trying to persuade Libya to police its unstable borders.

Europe is living through a turbulent period and at the centre of this drama is Italy.

Gavin Hewitt is one of the BBC’s most distinguished television journalists, widely acclaimed for his breadth of knowledge and expertise - most particularly on the future of Europe. He is known for his effortless interweaving of the stories of ordinary people with the high drama of politics. From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the 9/11 attacks to Hurricane Katrina, he has reported on most major world events over the past 30 years.

Between 2009 and 2014 he was the BBC’s Europe Editor, covering the tensions between the EU and the UK and the Eurozone crisis. As the BBC’s News Editor, Gavin is one of the leading commentators on the Eurozone crisis and the European Economy, and is able to offer a unique and important insight into the key issues, the politics of Brussels and the challenges involved in Europe returning to growth.

i The Mary Ogilvie Lecture Theatre, St Anne’s College, Woodstock Road, 7.30 p.m. drinks reception, 8.00 p.m. lecture, on Thursday, 11 May, 2017 Entry: Members £2, non-members £5, students under 30 free of charge

For further information go to www.toia.co.uk

Beppe Grillo, Italian comedian and political activist

An uncertain economic climate is causing turbulence in Italy

Italy was a founding member of the EEC, now the EU

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SACRO GRA

TOIA MAGAZINE # 79

“An utterly beguiling documentary prose poem, an unclichéd love letter to Rome itself” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“An impressionistic mosaic of life lived in Rome, sometimes quirky, sometimes laugh-out-loud” Screen Daily

Gianfranco Rosi’s portrait of life on and near the Grande Raccordo Anulare has its own charm, novelty and waltz-of-life serio-comical élan. We meet the tree surgeon recording the “music” of palm weevils; the villa owner lending his home for movie shoots; the eel fisherman crying woe on river ecology; and other humble flotsam or jet-set jetsam of this whirly, multi-class world.

Rosi cites Italo Calvino as his muse – Invisible Cities (Le città invisibili) with its apocryphal Marco Polo diaries – but the film is sui generis. It takes diverse stories and compacts them so closely they become a new kind of mineral: a preciously striated specimen sample of Planet Greater Rome.

Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary Sacro GRA is a road movie, but only in the most literal sense. It was shot around the Grande Raccordo Anulare, or GRA, Rome’s equivalent of the M25, and is made up of fly-on-the-tarmac vignettes from the lives of the people who live and work around its 42-mile circumference.

The ‘Sacro’ part of the title is a gag: the Italian name for the Holy Grail is il Sacro

Graal, and Rosi’s suggestion seems to be that by supping from this enormous saucer, profound and perhaps not-so-sacred truths about the Roman character will be revealed.

The GRA is the same chaotic loop that Fellini chugged merrily around in Roma (1972), his camera crew spotting student protests, feuding motorists, male and female prostitutes touting for business in lay-bys, and, in an unforgettable,

90 minutes Italian with English subtitles

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dreamlike shot, a white horse darting through the filthy, nose-to-tail traffic.

Rosi opens his film with a title card quoting Fellini’s narrator, who describes the road as “surrounding the city of Rome like a ring around Saturn”. Rosi shows us present-day Rome as a tattered Saturnalia, beaten down by economic hardship but spiritually and sensually unbowed.

A nobleman, fallen on hard times, rents his palazzo to a gossip magazine as the backdrop for a supremely tacky Photo Casebook serial. Two Fellini-esque ladies of the night guzzle mozzarella in a camper van and gripe about a recent arrest for indecent exposure. An elderly eel fisherman in a wooden cabin on the banks

of the Tiber, reading the newspaper aloud to his wife. These are hidden lives and untold stories, picked out of some cosmic dust filter.

In the film’s most memorable sequences, we see a pest exterminator eavesdrop on a great nest of weevils chewing up a palm tree from the inside. “Hundreds and hundreds of mouths gnawing, sucking, destroying,” he says in the film’s closing moments. “It’s the sound of the orgy, the repulsive feast.”

That’s as close as Sacro GRA comes to reaching a conclusion, which may frustrate anyone hoping for the kind of whizz-bang state-of-Rome declamations you find in Fellini – and, more recently,

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i Film screening in the Lecture Theatre, Rewley House, OUDCE, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford, Monday, 24 April, 7.30 p.m. In Italian accompanied by English sub-titles. All welcome. £2 donation suggested

A photograph of dictator Mussolini’s dust-covered car is among images in a planned summer exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery.

The east-London venue will look at everything from dust from wartime destruction to domestic dirt in the show (7 June – 3 September 2017). Images will include a photograph of Mussolini’s dust-laden car, abandoned in a Milan garage after the Italian dictator was shot dead by Italian partisans near the end of the Second World War in 1945.

A Handful Of Dust will trace “a visual journey through the motif of dust from aerial reconnaissance, wartime destruction and natural disasters to domestic dirt and forensics.”

The exhibition title has been taken from the line “I will show you fear in a handful of dust” in TS Eliot’s poem The Waste Land.

A photograph capturing the demolition of Kodak’s headquarters in New York and an image of a glass bottle mutated by an atomic bomb are among the works by 30 artists and photographers going on show.

Some Italian words don’t really have an equivalent in English. We include some of them here (from The New European).

Campanilismo Local pride, attachment to the vicinity (literally, bell tower-ism).

Cavoli riscaldati The result of attempting to revive an unworkable relationship. Translates to “reheated cabbage.”

Cicisbeo An acknowledged lover of a married woman.

Forbice Pickpocketing by putting the index and middle fingers into the victim’s pocket (literally, scissors).

Gattara A woman, often old, who devotes herself to stray cats.

Imboscarsi To lie in ambush or to evade military service or to avoid working or to retreat to a secluded place to make love (literally, to take to the woods).

MUSSOLINI’S CAR TO FEATURE IN LONDON PHOTO EXHIBITION

LOST IN TRANSLATION

in Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty. But think of Rosi’s film as the acoustic B-side to Sorrentino’s: a rough and ready, unsanctioned tour of the Eternal City’s fraying seams.

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“L’energia vitale di Simonetta Agnello Hornby è un tutt’uno con l’energia trascinante della sua scrittura” Andrea Camilleri

Born and raised in Palermo, Sicily, Simonetta Agnello Hornby graduated in law and has lived in London since 1972.

In 1979, she set up Hornby and Levy, a law practice which specialises in all aspects of family law. It is based in Brixton, an area of London rich in immigration and cultural exchange. In 1997 Hornby and Levy published Caribbean Children’s Law Project, a seminal book on the law relating to children in Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago. It remains a salient and unique work. Agnello Hornby was a part-time lecturer in Child Care Law at the University of Leicester and for eight years part-time president of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.

La Mennulara (The Almond Picker), Simonetta Agnello Hornby’s first novel, was published by Feltrinelli in 2002 and has subsequently been translated into numerous languages worldwide; it was

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SIMONETTA AGNELLO HORNBY IN CONVERSATION INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR SIMONETTA AGNELLO HORNBY IN CONVERSATION WITH PROFESSOR EMMANUELA TANDELLO, CHRIST CHURCH

Simonetta Agnello Hornby

Professor Emmanuela Tandello

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For further information go to www.toia.co.uk

TOIA MAGAZINE # 79

L’ora di pranzo era passata da un pezzo; il timballo di pasta al forno scuoceva di minuto in minuto. I Tummia aspettavano Pietro in salotto, irritati. “Andiamo a tavola! Muoio di fame!” diceva Carolina, diciassettenne. Fu ignorata: sua madre, Giuseppina, si lamentava con il marito per avere assecondato il fratello nella bizzarra idea di acquistare Fuma Vecchia. “E poi, come ti venne in testa di indirizzarlo a tuo cognato? Tutti lo sanno che Ignazio Marra non è altro che un socialista dalle mani bucate, che ha rovinato la vita di tua sorella e dei figli... non gli affiderei una lira!”

“Basta aspettare! La pasta sarà immangiabile!” piagnucolò Carolina.

Il pensiero della pasta scotta turbò i genitori. Stavano discutendo l’opportunità di mandare Leonardo dai Marra per riportare il padrone a casa, quando Pietro fece il suo ingresso nella stanza. Compitissimo, si scusò del ritardo: “Ma ho un’ottima giustificazione: il cuore!”. Annunciò che si era innamorato di Maria, la figlia di Ignazio Marra, e che intendeva formalizzare il fidanzamento al più presto. “Grazie Peppino, per avermi suggerito di comprare Fuma Vecchia. Ci passeremo le estati, accanto a voi!” E Pietro si fermò, in attesa delle congratulazioni per il secondo intreccio di parentela tra i Sala e i Tummia. Nessuno dei tre parlò.

“Zio, e Maria che cosa ne dice?” intervenne Carolina osando dire quello che le premeva.

“L’ho vista soltanto da lontano. Ne sarà contenta, quando ci conosceremo,”

Simonetta Agnello Hornby’s latest novel is Caffè amaro (Feltrinelli, 2016), “una rovente storia d’amore che copre più di vent’anni di incontri, di separazioni, di convegni clandestini in attesa di una nuova pace”.

We have the pleasure in reproducing a chapter from the novel with the permission of the Publisher Feltrinelli.

Una giornata che lascia tutti perplessi

the recipient of the Alassio 100 libri prize, the Forte Village Literary prize, the Stresa prize for fiction and the Premio Novela Europea Casino de Santiago.

With Feltrinelli, Agnello Hornby has also published La zia marchesa (2004), Boccamurata (2007), Vento scomposto (2009), La monaca (2010), La cucina del buon gusto (with Maria Rosario Lazzati, 2012), Il veleno dell’oleandro (2013), Il male che si deve raccontare (with Marina Calloni, 2013) and Via XX Settembre (2013). She has also published Camera oscura (Skira, 2010), Un filo d’olio (Sellerio, 2011), La pecora di Pasqua (with Chiara Agnello, Slow Food, 2012), La mia Londra and Il pranzo di Mosè (Giunti, 2014).

In November 2016 Simonetta Agnello Hornby received the award of Grand’Ufficiale dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia. The award was conferred by Sergio Mattarella, the President of Italy, and was presented by Pasquale Terracciano, the Italian ambassador to the UK.

Simonetta will be in conversation (in English) with Professor Emmauela Tandello, University Lecturer in Italian, Oxford. Professor Tandello has a first degree in English Literature from Padua University, an M.Phil and a D.Phil from Oxford. She taught at Cambridge and UCL before being appointed at Christ Church, Oxford. Her research interests include Contemporary Italian poetry (in particular the poetry of Amelia Rosselli), Modernist drama (Pirandello), 20th century poetry and Leopardi.

Two intelligent women in conversation promises to be an evening to spark new ideas in a dynamic and brilliant context of exchange.

i The Mary Ogilvie Lecture Theatre, St Anne’s College, Woodstock Road, 7.30 p.m. drinks reception, 8.00 p.m. lecture, on Tuesday, 23 May, 2017 Entry: Members £2, non-members £5, students under 30 free of charge

Hornby has written several award-winning

bestsellers

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rispose lui, tranquillo, e guardò la sorella; fu un brevissimo incrocio di sguardi, perché Giuseppina ebbe un mancamento: scivolò sul divano, il capo reclinato sulla spalliera, e diligentemente svenne. Senza scomporsi, i due uomini si spostarono verso il balcone, e da lì osservavano Carolina, abituata ad accudire la madre in quei frangenti; le passò i sali sotto le narici e prese a pizzicarle le dita, le orecchie tese a carpire la conversazione tra il padre e lo zio. Pietro intendeva partire immediatamente con Leonardo per Fara: avrebbe informato il padre delle sue intenzioni e sarebbe ritornato in serata. “Guiderò io stesso l’automobile!”

“Noo!” gemette Giuseppina, rinvenuta proprio in quel momento. “No... no... non farlo! Non guidare, Pietruzzo...” E un altro stinnicchio la fece accasciare contro la spalliera.

Gli uomini rimasero davanti al balcone e la contemplavano con un certo tedio. “Che cosa consigli?” chiese Pietro a Peppino.

“Ti devo informare che in casa Marra i denari scarseggiano. Lui è un bravo avvocato, ma le sue idee politiche non sono gradite ai proprietari terrieri, che non dimenticano il suo incauto coinvolgimento a favore delle canaglie, ai tempi dei Fasci. Insomma, ha pochi clienti che pagano bene. Oltre ai figli, Ignazio mantiene in casa sua due eretiche, la sorella e la figlia di un amico piemontese scomparso o morto non so come, e un ragazzo di diciotto anni, figlio del rettore del Convitto Nazionale, un toscano, morto durante i Fasci, nel ’93. E forse dà pane e companatico a qualche fimmina palermitana... di cui mia sorella non sa nulla, ci capiamo? Denari per la dote non ne avrà, deve pensare all’università dei figli maggiori.Te ne parlo perché tuo padre ai miei tempi contrattò a lungo sulla dote di tua sorella.”

“Sarà ben diverso, nel caso di Maria,” rispose altezzoso Pietro. “E comunque il mio chiedere consiglio aveva a che fare con gli svenimenti di tua moglie.”

“Ah! Promettile che guiderà Leonardo e poi fai come meglio credi.” E Peppino, offeso, si allontanò con il pretesto che voleva parlare lui stesso con Leonardo.

Pietro si avvicinò alle donne.“Zio, ma se Maria non sa nulla e non

ti conosce... il fidanzamento allora non c’è ancora?” chiese Carolina.

Pietro non ebbe il tempo di risponderle.“Tu!” sibilava una voce fioca,

proveniente dal divano. “Tu!” Riversa, il braccio destro alzato, Giuseppina puntava l’indice contro il fratello. “Tu che ti vanti dell’amicizia di principi e granduchi! Tu che passi la vita negli alberghi più eleganti del mondo! Tu che ami ricevere in casa da gran signore! Tu che ti senti collezionista di quadri!” La voce guadagnava forza e veleno a ogni frase. “Tu che ti consideri un esperto d’arte!” Poi, stridula: “Tu, adesso vuoi una moglie paesana che non conosce il mondo e nemmeno Palermo?! La figlia di un socialista che non ha una lira?! Mi fai ridere. E ne riderà assai anche nostro

padre!”. Ciò detto, si accasciò sui cuscini, gli occhi che roteavano minacciosi come se frugassero nel cervello. Pietro non rispose. Giuseppina si sollevò ostentatamente a fatica e, sforzandosi di controllare il tono della voce, riprese: “Se proprio vuoi una moglie di Camagni, prenditi questa figlia mia, che per giunta è nobile!”. Senza dar tempo al fratello di controbattere, si rivolse a Carolina: “Te lo prenderesti, tuo zio?”.

Era giunto, finalmente, anche il momento di Carolina, che aveva ascoltato tutto: sdivacata e a gambe larghe, era svenuta nella poltrona del padre.

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EROS AND METAMORPHOSIS IN OVIDA READING AND LECTURE BY PROFESSOR NICOLA GARDINIITALIAN STUDIES AT OXFORD IN COLLABORATION WITH TOIA

TOIA MAGAZINE # 79

On this special evening, 2000 years after Ovid’s death, Nicola Gardini will discuss the interrelatedness between eros and metamorphosis in Ovid’s opus, constructing the trajectory of his discourse on the human individual from his early love poetry up to his exile poetry. Nicola will also read passages from Mandelbaum’s translation of the Metamorphoses.

Nicola Gardini lives in Oxford and Milan. His novel, Le parole perdute di Amelia Lynd (Feltrinelli, 2012) was awarded the Viareggio Prize in 2012. He teaches Italian Literature at the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of Keble College. His most recent book Con Ovidio. La felicità di leggere un classico (Garzanti editore) has just been published in Italy by Garzanti.

He spares some time from his hectic commitments and prodigious writing, researching and teaching schedule to speak to TOIA about his bestselling publication Viva il latino. Storie e bellezza di una lingua inutile (Garzanti, 2016), already on its ninth impression only a year after publication.

What turned the kernel of an idea into the decision to write Viva il latino. Storie e bellezza di una lingua inutile? I wrote Viva il latino at the invitation of my agent. Latin is in everything I do – my fiction, my poetry, my academic research. Yet, I would never have thought of writing a book such as this.

I did accept his invitation readily. But what book was I to write? A grammar of Latin? Some kind of Latin literature? A history of the Latin language? I ended up rejecting all of these options. I felt I should write something personal and involving, a homage to the beauty of Latin and to the happiness it has been giving me since I was very young; a book which would allow for autobiographical digressions, textual analysis, and apologetic statements all

Professor Nicola Gardini

Titian’s Diana and Actaeon

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For further information go to www.toia.co.uk

at once. I ended up writing a “biography” of literary Latin, using the canonical authors as moments punctuating and underpinning its long life. I showed how Latin progressively enlarged the scope of its syntax and vocabulary. Its history makes up a story of triumphs and discoveries. I took great pleasure in selecting the most pertinent examples and in translating them. Translation was an important issue: I wanted my reader to take on board that translation is central and that I, the author, am fully committed to practising it in my book.

Why study Latin today? What’s its relevance? Could you encapsulate your thoughts in this regard? Latin means a great deal of practices, approaches and purposes: historical, linguistic, stylistic, grammatical, political, and philosophical. Also, the degrees of linguistic speciality can vary a lot, and the relevance of Latin changes accordingly. If one studies Latin seriously, he or she aims to get the necessary tools in order to read the original texts. These texts are goldmines of knowledge of all sorts; a cultural genome, from which the foundations of Western civilisation (politics, morals, literature, vocabulary) have derived. Latin is science, like physics or chemistry. Its objects are words, writing, and meaning.

Generalist publications on the Latin language have been a prolific genre in many European countries. Their tone, at least in the UK, is often characterized by jocularity or quirkiness; let’s think for a moment of Harry Mount’s best-selling Amo, Amas, Amat … For those planning on reading your book, can you describe how it is distinct and what makes it stand out?My tone is affable and welcoming. I often refer to myself as a student of Latin in order to make my account more concrete and committed. Nonetheless, I treat Latin as a serious thing. Latin is complex and demanding. It is art and thought. We must relate to it with great intellectual responsibility. Every Latin word is a universe of meaning in itself. Latin can be funny, of course. Latin’s vulgar words

i The Pusey Room, Keble College, Parks Road, 7.30 p.m. lecture, on Wednesday, 31 May, 2017 Entry: free of charge. All welcome

are funny. Indeed, I included a chapter on Catullus’ foul language. Still, even foul language must be understood as a cultural artefact, demanding a rigorous approach of the student. Readers of my book may conclude I have a pretty sacred sense of what we generally refer to as the past.

Echoing the perhaps ironic subtitle of your book, in the final chapter you refer to the diatribe between the inutilisti, who consider Latin as defunct and otiose, versus the utilisti, who conversely champion its enduring usefulness. Could you expand on your stance in relation to these opposing factions? Latin is neither useful nor useless. It’s a fundamental part of higher education. As simple as that. I reject all polarisation between sciences and humanities. There’s just one science – a multifarious, eclectic discourse, including all disciplines, which attempts to describe and possibly explain all reality, visible and invisible, personal and collective, physical and spiritual. I don’t think Latin is better than mathematics. I just think it’s as important as mathematics in the framework of universal knowledge. I like mathematics. I like physics. People who hate Latin should know that passionate supporters of Latin can be found among outstanding physicists or mathematicians. A friend of mine, Guido Tonelli (a member of the research team that discovered the Higgs boson) thinks that translating a Latin passage takes the very same abilities one needs in a laboratory: analysis, speculation and experimental application.

Is there an author from the Latin tradition to whom you feel particularly close, in the vein of Petrarch’s love for Cicero which induced him to compose an epistolary declaration to his venerated hero?I am particularly fond of Tacitus. I admire

the very original procedures by which he constructs meaning: shortcuts, semantic distortions, idiosyncratic word order, suppressions of relevant bits of information that the reader must infer by analysing the structure of the whole sentence. Tacitus teaches us that truth is never fully ‘tellable’: it always derives from interpretation.

Turning our attention to Ovid (who died 2000 years ago), he seems to be the poet’s poet and he has exercised a prolonged influence, over the centuries, on Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton and more recently Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney. What qualities in Ovid’s oeuvre enthral and intrigue so?Ovid is elegant and easy, playful and evasive, spectacular and encyclopaedic. These qualities may be appealing in themselves for many readers and writers. But there’s something more important about his work, something archetypal: myth without mythology, models of human passions and behaviours. Gods, goddesses, nymphs, are still there, but they act like ghosts, instincts, symbols.

Statue of Ovid in Sulmona

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Ernest Hemingway is most often associated with Spain, Cuba, and Florida, but Italy was equally important in his life and work. Richard Owen will explore Hemingway’s visits throughout his life to such places as Sicily, Genoa, Rapallo, Cortina in the Italian Alps and, most significantly, Venice and the Veneto.

Hemingway first visited Italy during World War I, an experience that set the scene for A Farewell to Arms. The writer then returned after World War II, where he would find inspiration for Across the River and into the Trees. When Men without Women was published, some reviewers declared Hemingway to be at heart a reporter preoccupied with bullfighters, soldiers, prostitutes, and hard drinkers, but their claims failed to note that he also wrote sensitively and passionately about love and loss against an Italian backdrop and the significance of Italy in the writer’s life.

Hemingway returned to Italy again and again, and the places he visited or used as inspiration for his work are many. His love of Italy never left him. “Sometimes I think we only half live over here. The Italians live all the way” Hemingway wrote to his sister Marcelline after his return from the Italian-Austrian front in 1919. It was

HEMINGWAY IN ITALYA LECTURE BY RICHARD OWEN

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Ernest Hemingway was stationed in Italy during the

First World War

Richard Owen

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also the country in which he met the first great love of his life, Agnes von Kurowsky, and the last, Adriana Ivancich. Agnes and Adriana were the two women for whom he felt overwhelming passion, one when he was not yet twenty, the other when he was fifty.

At the same time, the inspiration goes both ways: the fifteenth century villa Ca’ Erizzo at Bassano del Grappa, where the American Red Cross ambulances were stationed, is now a museum devoted to the writer and World War I. Showing how the Italian landscape, from the Venetian lagoon to the Dolomites and beyond, deeply affected one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, Richard Owen will demonstrate that this country belongs alongside Spain as a key influence on his writing—and why the Italian themselves took Hemingway and his writing to heart.

Richard Owen was the Rome correspondent of The Times for 15 years. He was previously the paper’s correspondent in Moscow, Brussels and Jerusalem, and also served as Foreign Editor. Owen has written several works of non-fiction including Crisis in the Kremlin: Soviet Succession and the Rise of Gorbachov, Letter from Moscow and Lady Chatterley’s Villa: DH Lawrence on the Italian Riviera.

His most recent book is Hemingway in Italy, published by Haus Publishing. A book signing will follow the lecture.

For those who would like to read Richard’s works further – beyond the focus of the evening’s lecture - his book, Lady Chatterley’s Villa: DH Lawrence on the Italian Riviera, complements his focus on Hemingway in Italy. In search of health and sun, DH Lawrence arrived on the Italian Riviera with his wife Frieda, and was exhilarated by the view of the sparkling Mediterranean from his rented villa, set amid olives and vines. But over the next six months Frieda became fatally attracted to their landlord, a dashing Italian army officer, and Lawrence wrote two stories prefiguring Lady Chatterley’s Lover: Sun and The Virgin and The Gypsy; both tales of women drawn to earthy, muscular men. Drawing for the first time on the unpublished letters and diaries of Rina Secker, the Anglo-Italian wife of Lawrence’s publisher, Owen reconstructs the drama leading up to the creation of one of the most controversial novels of all time, and explores DH Lawrence’s passion for all things Italian, tracking his path to the Riviera from Lake Garda to Lerici, Abruzzo, Capri, Sicily and Sardinia.

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i The Mary Ogilvie Lecture Theatre, St Anne’s College, Woodstock Road, 7.30 p.m. drinks reception, 8.00 p.m. lecture, on Tuesday, 6 June, 2017 Entry: Members £2, non-members £5, students under 30 free of charge

For further information go to www.toia.co.uk

Agnes von Kurowsky

Hemingway served as an ambulance driver with the

American Red Cross

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Testamento

Ai nuovi milanesi di colore

A certi che so io lascio tutto e agli altri niente.E le poesie belle agli amicie ai nemici le brutte.E le cose di valore? Le cose di valoreai nuovi milanesi di coloreche per due lire ci fanno i vetri luccicanti(oh nostri innocentissimi emigrantiper due lire venuti da lontanocon i vostri negozietti in una mano).E lascio i miei fiori al mio giardinoe alla terra gentile che mi starà vicinoci faremo senza voce compagniae buongiorno morte e così sia.

P.S.ma fammi figlia mia due finestrelleper qualche volte salire a riveder le stelle

From Una quieta polvere, Milano, 1996

Vivian Lamarque (born in 1946) is an Italian poet and translator. She has translated La Fontaine, Valéry, Prévert, and Baudelaire and has written for the newspaper Corriere della Sera since 1992. Her first book of poetry, Teserino, won the Viareggio Prize for debut works in 1981, and she has won numerous prizes since. She has published eleven volumes of poetry and numerous short stories, and the majority of her poetry is collected in her Poesie 1972–2002 (Oscar Mondadori). Her most recent collect, Madre d’inverno established further her reputation and is available on kindle and as a print book. In this age of isolationism, anxiety over borders and how to enforce them, this poem with its spirit of inclusiveness, is an apposite one.

POETRY MATTERSTIME TO REFLECT …

For further information go to www.toia.co.uk

C’è un giardino chiaro, fra mura basse,di erba secca e di luce, che cuoce adagiola sua terra. È una luce che sa di mare.

Cesare Pavese

The summer is a glorious time of year and in the Autumn you can sometimes wonder if you have used it wisely and to the full; so there is absolutely no excuse not to come to the TOIA Garden Party. It will be outdoors, it will be summer and it is going to be held in the most pastoral and lovely of North Oxford locations, near the River Cherwell, thanks to founder members, Gisela and Charles Cooper. This year we predict there will be no rain whatsoever and if there is, we plan to shield you from it.

TOIAGARDEN PARTY

i 2 Chadlington Road, Oxford Saturday, 24 June, 2017 5.00-7.00 p.m. TOIA Members and Guests only. Members £3, Guests £5

Asides from taking in the beautiful setting thanks to our hosts, it will be an opportunity to enjoy a convivial afternoon. Come and relish all things Italian, including wine, food and company. Let’s celebrate the conclusion of this (academic) year’s diverse and dynamic TOIA programme.

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3 double bedrooms, 3 showers, 1 bathroom, garden, BBQ. Peaceful setting in chestnut groves with stunning views of the nearby medieval hilltop village of Roccatederighi, within walking distance and boasting 5 restaurants and a wide range of services. About 1 1/2 hours from Pisa airport and 35 minutes from the coast with miles of public beaches and pine groves. £500 – £750 p/w depending on timing and numbers. Contact 0775 143 4267 or david@haenlein.co.uk

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY HOUSE IN SOUTHERN TUSCANY, MAREMMA

GARDEN APARTMENT IN THE BEAUTY AND TRANQUILLITY OF THE ETRUSCAN COUNTRYSIDE

Two-bedroom furnished apartment (sleeps 5) with own patio, garden and garage. Fully equipped modern kitchen. One of two dwellings in a 4-hectare ruralproperty in Bracciano Regional Park, yet close (50 km) to Rome. Ideal for relaxation, sports and visits to Lake Bracciano, or the many delightful nearby places of interest: Tarquinia, Bracciano, Viterbo, Trevignano, Terme di Stigliano, Sutri and, of course, Rome itself.

Available throughout the year: weekend (from £240), weekly (from £400) or monthly (from £900).

For further information and photos, please go to: www.casadellaluna.com

The natural beauty of the medieval town of Taormina is hard to dispute. The view of the sea and Mount Etna from its jagged cactus-covered cliffs is as close to perfection as a panorama can get, particularly on clear days when the snow-capped volcano’s white puffs of smoke rise against the cobalt blue sky. Villa Britannia is a centrally-located small and exclusive boutique B&B, ideal for those with a love of food and wine, as well as those wishing to discover the multifarious cultural heritage of Taormina and Sicily more widely. Enjoy local cooking classes with Louisa, Etna wine tasting and traditional Sicilian bread making and much more. For further details and special events, see: www.villabritannia.com

EXPERIENCE SICILY: STAY – COOK – CREATE AT A CHARMING BOUTIQUE B&B IN TAORMINA

Family apartment, Dorsoduro. Sleeps up to eight – 3 doubles, 2 singles, 2 bathrooms, and terrace for meals. To rent for one week minimum or more.

Contact Margaret Pianta on 01494 873975 or via email: pianta@btopenworld.com

VENETIAN CHARMS IN DORSODURO

2-bedroom, 1-bathroom flat, within a family-owned villa in Alassio, zona Paradiso, 10 minutes’ walk from the beach and the centre of town. Alassio hosts an English library with over 20,000 volumes, a legacy from the past, and the Hanbury Tennis Club, a real gem, which contains some legacy memorabilia, ideal for tennis fans and anyone interested in playing tennis whilst on holiday. For further information and availability, contact Rupert Parmenter 00 39 331 6139126 or email rupert.parmenter@yahoo.com

THE ITALIAN RIVERIA AND ALASSIO’S FASCINATING PAST: FLAT TO RENT

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THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON

MICHELANGELO AND SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO, 15 MARCH – 25 JUNE 2017

This spring the National Gallery presents the first ever exhibition devoted to the creative partnership between Michelangelo (1475-1564) and Sebastiano del Piombo (1485-1547), featuring exceptional loans, some of which have not left their collections for centuries.

Having met in Rome in 1511, as Michelangelo was finishing his decoration of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Sebastiano and he became friends and began collaborating artistically.

Their meeting sparked a remarkable 25-year friendship and partnership; yielding outstanding works of art that neither could have created without the other – against a backdrop of war and religious conflict, but also of great intellectual energy and artistic innovation.

Central to the exhibition are two of their collaborations: the Pietà for S. Francesco in Viterbo (c.1512–16) and The Raising of Lazarus, painted for the Cathedral of Narbonne in France, and one of the foundational works in the National Gallery Collection.

The exhibition also features the exceptional loan of Michelangelo’s The Risen Christ (1514–15) from the Church of S. Vincenzo Martire in Bassano Romano, Italy, and a cutting-edge recreation of the Borgherini Chapel in S. Pietro in Montorio, Rome – decorated by Sebastiano to partial designs by Michelangelo.

Comprising paintings, drawings, sculpture, and letters documenting correspondence between the artists, this groundbreaking exhibition presents works of striking force and originality.

Set in 5 acres of olive, almond, fig and fruit trees, this simple but elegant casa, with attractively vaulted ceilings, offers the following spacious accommodation:

• 2 double bedrooms in main house, additional double bedroom in annex, all with ensuite shower rooms

• A comfortable entrance hall/sitting room

• A fully equipped kitchen-cum-dining room with double French doors leading to a large patio offering plenty of seating, an outside dining room and built-in barbeque

There is a good sized swimming pool (13 x 4.5m) with electric cover and private surrounds.

This rural retreat is 7 minutes’ drive from the historic town of Ceglie Messapica, one of the oldest towns in Puglia, and near to the popular towns of Ostuni and Martina Franca. Ceglie has been identified as the gastronomic centre of Puglia and boasts many excellent restaurants.

For further information contact 07818 452405 or nikki@opvl.co.uk

RURAL RETREAT IN 5 ACRES OF OLIVE GROVE, PUGLIA

ELEGANT TERRACED HOUSE AVAILABLE IN HIP AND CENTRAL JERICHO, TRINITY TERM 2017

Quiet, elegant Victorian terraced house in hip, central Jericho, close to University departments and Colleges. Two double bedrooms (1 en-suite), 2 shower/wcs, small garden, efficient central heating, fireplace. 5 to 15

minutes to transport hubs, shops, cinemas, Thames, lovely walks, etc., free WIFI. No parking. £2500pcm + utilities (negotiable). Please contact joellemann@gmail.com

TOIA is an Oxford-based cultural association for those interested in any aspect of Italy and its culture in the broadest sense: language, art and architecture, travel, politics, history, literature, music, food and wine, or other. No knowledge of Italian is required to enjoy its diverse programme of events. The annual subscription is £15 renewable each November (£23 for couples, £6 for students under 30, and £6 for members living more than 40 miles from Oxford). Further information, with an application form, is available from the Membership Secretary or downloadable from our website: www.toia.co.uk. The TOIA Magazine is published three times a year. Members and non-members alike are welcome to attend our events; membership brings with it benefits of reduced entry charges, a termly copy of the magazine and you will be supporting a non-profit organisation promoting all things Italian.

THE OXFORDITALIANASSOCIATION

We are pleased to announce that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and CNH Industrial have generously agreed to sponsor your new-look TOIA Magazine

WHO WE ARE:

CHAIR: Professor Martin McLaughlin, Magdalen College, Oxford OX1 4AU Email: martin.mclaughlin@magd.ox.ac.uk

VICE-CHAIR: Dott.ssa. Luciana John, 6 Chalfont Road, Oxford OX2 6TH Email: lrjohn@yahoo.co.uk

SECRETARY: Spencer Gray,Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DPEmail: toiasecretary@outlook.com

TREASURER & CURATOR OF THE ROWE TRUST: Dott.ssa. Luciana John, 6 Chalfont Road, Oxford OX2 6TH Email: lrjohn@yahoo.co.uk

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY: Dott. Dante Ceruolo,University of Oxford Language Centre, 12 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HTEmail: toiamembership@outlook.com

WEBSITE CONTACT: http://toia.co.uk/contact/

MAGAZINE CONTACT: toiamagazine@outlook.com

TOIA Events: at a glance24 April Film, Sacro Gra,

Lecture Theatre, Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, 7.30 p.m.

11 May Lecture, In Europe’s Drama: The Enigma of Italy, Gavin Hewitt, The Mary Ogilvie Lecture Theatre,

St. Anne’s College, 7.30 for 8.00 p.m.

23 May Simonetta Agnello Hornby in conversation with Professor Emmanuela Tandello,

The Mary Ogilvie Lecture Theatre, St. Anne’s College, 7.30 for 8.00 p.m.

31 May Lecture, Eros and Metamorphosis in Ovid, Professor Nicola Gardini,

The Pusey Room, Keble College, 7.30 p.m.

6 June Lecture, Hemingway in Italy, Richard Owen, The Mary Ogilvie Lecture Theatre,

St. Anne’s College, 7.30 for 8.00 p.m.

24 June Garden Party, 2 Chadlington Road, Oxford, 5.00 p.m. TOIA members and their guests only

www.fcagroup.com www.cnhindustrial.com