Liceu’s Blog

Just behind the sea

Originally uploaded by liceu.

Ithaca
As you set out for Ithaca
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon – don’t be afraid of them:
you’ ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon – you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbours you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind -
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaca always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.

Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

K.Kavafis

Auschwitz 29th January 2007

Originally uploaded by liceu.

I’ve been in Poland to celebrate the day of the Memory, the day the world commemorates the Shoah. I visited Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps, and I’ve been deeply touched by this experience.
As a friend of mine has commented, visiting places like these is not like “viewing an horror film”, like one could imagine bearing in mind the documentaries that depict those tragic facts.
Walking among the paths between the “blocks”, touching the ground on which so much in innocent blood has flown, in fact, did not only arouse horror for all the sufference that took place there, but also made me desire and hope with even more need a better world, a world where such orrible things couldn’t be even imagined, where respect and peace are values deeply set in all houman hearts.
Is it only a dream? I don’t know. I hope not.

I was wandering about writing something on my blog (the Italian one), but I’ve soon abandoned my idea. Italian is my own mother tongue, and I expect from myself to be a bit more serious using that language. English, instead, gives me a perfect excuse: my primary task is to find words, so that ideas are less relevant, and I can feel more free to put down anything comes out from my mind.

It’s a foggy evening, during a winter much more warmer than usual, here in Italy. Out of my window I can only see some lights from the street. The tower clock of the parish is faded and blurry, lost behind some pines.

I have just returned home from a week of isolation in my flat at the University. I’ve spent a week studying and preparing three exams which will be my only aim for next week.

Days of loneliness, days of concern about university. Days of dreaming, days of hope for the future. A jazz cd is paying in the background. It’s late, OK, the volume is as low as possible. Some cello “pizzicato” notes, a soft piano.

Goodnight

4th November

Originally uploaded by liceu.

The 4th of November is a particular day here in Italy.
It’s the anniversary of the end of the I World War, and it has been celebrated for a long time as the “Day of victory”.
Later on, the original meaning of this celebration, so closely related to war and death, has faded.
Nowadays, indeed, while commemorating all the people that lost their lives during wars, or serving the nation, we reflect about the issue of mantaining our country united and in peace.
I hope that a day of war might become a day of peace.

———–
PS: I quote from wikipedia some infos about Italy and the WWI
“At the beginning of World War I Italy remained neutral, claiming that the Triple Alliance had only defensive purposes, and the war was started by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, both the central empires and the Triple Entente tried to attract Italy on their side, and in April 1915 the Italian government agreed (London Pact) to declare war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire in exchange for several territories (Trento, Trieste, Istria, Dalmatia). In October 1917, the Austrians, having received German reinforcements, broke the Italian lines at Caporetto, but the Italians (helped by their allies) stopped their advance on the river Piave, not far from Venice. After another year of trench warfare, and a successful Italian offensive in autumn 1918, the exhausted Austro-Hungarian Empire surrendered to the allies on November 4, 1918, soon followed by the German Empire.”

An end-summer trip

Originally uploaded by liceu.

It has been a weird week. I’ve just come back from a two-day stay in Alessandria to manage my application for next university year and I’ve found a terrible weather: a whole day of rain and storm, with temperatures that leave no dubt: it’s autumn.
Thursday, after the meeting with the professors about next year schedule, I’ve taken a train and I reached the sea.It’s only a two-hours trip, and it doesn’t cost much: just about 5€. I’ve been in a village that is close to the widely-known Portofino. There still were lots of people lying in the sea shore and having swims, but the overall mood was a bit sad. The fact of being alone in this trip made me even more melancholic.

…and this blog is not dead. I’m just having boring days, and i’m looking for an inspiration for this site. Should I focus on personal/intimate issues or rather post topics about things I’m interested in?

And another question is language. I’m quite familiar with English, but I think Italian would suit better my ideas. Let me think. As soon as the university starts, I will find my way…

Another shot of Biella

Originally uploaded by liceu.

Just a photo from Flickr to make the idea…

I’ve just uploaded to Flickr some photos I’ve taken during a quick trip to a mountain site 10km far from my town. It’s fairly the only thing people come to see when visiting my region, and there is a reason:on one hand there is avery famous sanctuary built about 400 years ago, known among whole Italy.
People comes here for a one-day visit or even to spend a fortnight, sleeping in the monastic-style rooms that are let for just a few bucks (less than 40$), and on the other side is a real paradise even if you just love trekking.
There are panoramic routes, accessible also if you haven’t any alpinistic skills: the Mucrone Mount (over 2000mt) is the classic choiche for a day out.
But I’d better stop now, I’m speaking like a tourist guide!
Anyway, this is the thing I like most of my town: if you decide to do something exciting, you can just get in a bus and in a few mins you are in the wild nature!

How yesterday was exciting, so today has been boring! I’ve been in front a PC for the whole day, trying to repair my old computer, whose OS (win98) has crashed and I couldn’t make it run yet. I was getting desperate, until I found a Slax Linux live CD. Now I’m trying to connect it with my laptop, at least to backup my data (and my photos, expecially!)

Well, another day has passed. And, someway, my blog is slowly growing up. See you

When I started to set up my own website, i found it very relazing: I could relax drawing the layout, choosing the appropriate colours and elements to fit in every page, still remainding the creation of contents!
But the ease of use of this WordPress blog is a practical joke! I have no excuses, I must focus on contents.
So, I turn around. What can I see? My room, okay. But, in a broader sense, my tiny town, the alpine landscape that I depicted a lot of times, and a nation, Italy, wich is, in my opinion, such a Pandora box of contrasts and odd things that needs to be told. And I shall try this difficult task, for my beloved readers!
So, see you soon to next post. I think I won’t have the patience to sit down and drop a line every day, so, you’d better to subscribe to RSS feeds (or similar) to get updated with my world.

Bye bye!

Welcome to my brand-new english-speaking blog.

From this site i primarly aim to describe my daily life, either if i'm only an young italian university study. I will try to get my own perspective on the world, from a truly Italian point of view.

Se you next time!