Spirit
Ph. © SK
The Spirit is made of Ideas
He comes out of nowhere, crashes into me, scares me.
He’s old. He’s holding a half-full glass of wine. The other half is consumed by my jacket.
“I was looking for Dionysius.” What accent is that?!
“It looks like you found Dionysus instead…” He won’t understand anyway. I glimpse a smile underneath his curly beard.
“Dionysus is everywhere, here.” He understood. Chapeau.
I sigh. “The ear of Dionysius is not here…”
“I’m not looking for his ear.” He’s serious. It startles me.
“No, it’s actually a cave…”
When he hears the word cave, his brow furrows. He walks past me, advancing into the bleak silence that rules over the city at this time of night.
I myself cannot remember why I am here.
I stare at him as he walks away, leaves me behind. With every step, his sandals show underneath his tunic, the wind scrambling his hoary hair, as he wields his glass of wine as if it were the Olympic torch. He stops, stands still.
His eyes are vacant, his thoughts lost in a hyperuranium. He looks like a Greek statue.
I don’t notice I’m standing next to him again: “Are you feeling alright?”
He breathes in, deeply: “Yes, I’m feeling, indeed”.
“Feeling what?”
“Her.”
I glance around us “There’s not a soul in sight…”
His boasting laugh makes my heart leap. He’s absolutely crazy!
“Of course there is a soul!” his laugh is nuanced. “If you can’t feel it, it’s because it’s not something you can see, or hear. Once again, it’s not about ears.” He drinks. Narrows his eyes: “How can you not feel it?! This city has a soul that’s alive, vibrant, communicative!”
What can I say? “I have no clue what…” he interrupts me, raising his hand.
“That explains why you can’t feel it.” He nods. “You don’t have ideas. The thing is, though, that to get an idea of the soul you must be able to perceive the soul of every idea. Therefore… you must have ideas.”
Last sip: “That’s what the soul is made of, you know? Ideas.”
He drops his empty glass in my hand. Leaves. Disappears.
It’s surreal. I feel like laughing.
The air is freezing. I clutch my drunken jacket.
The soul is made of Ideas.
Cheers: my thoughts are already hiccuping.
SalvoCanto
February 14, 2022
C’era una volta un uomo leggero e sottile come uno stelo, un arbusto, un uccello, e per l’appunto Antonino Uccello si chiamava, come a dire c’era un (in nomine) omen, e sapeva volare per davvero. Volava il suo pensiero, volava la sua scrittura, volava la sua casa attorno a lui.
April 8, 2021
C.I.A.O. - Intercultural Center for Assistance and Orientation, created in Siracusa in the Borgata quarter, is an intercultural meeting-place designed mainly with young migrants who live here in mind, but open to all.
March 26, 2021
In 2014 L’Arcolaio cooperative created Frutti degli Iblei - Fruits of the Hyblean Hills, which provides work for ex-prisoners, immigrants and people in need in the cultivation and processing of typical Mediterranean herbs and the drying of fruit and vegetables produced by local farmers.
March 26, 2021
The social cooperative L’Arcolaio - the spinning wheel - is a symbol of solidarity and inclusion, respect and openess, appreciation and acceptance. It can tell stories of relationships and networks that can generate growth, wealth and redemption.
March 25, 2021
Impact Hub Siracusa is “glocal”, simultaneously global and local, and it has been since the beginning, though it is a city that often tends to move slowly, stuck between its fading petrochemical sector, and its potential as a tourist attraction which is yet to be fulfilled.
March 23, 2021
Greek hospitality has left signs of its presence not just in history books and archeological manuals, but also in art and architecture, wherever the Greeks were present. This was true for Siracusa - the first independent Greek community of the West - and is still true today after twenty-seven centuries.
March 20, 2021
Some sheet music on a stand in the middle of the room, Raffaello’s The School of Athens hanging on the wall. Susi Kimbell welcomes me here, in the library of her center in Ortigia. I don’t know it yet, but those objects describe Susi, and tell the story I’m about to hear.
February 3, 2021
Thanks to the vision and enthusiasm of Prof. Antonino Vittorio, in 2009 the Tecnoparco Archimede opened to the public, dedicated to science, culture and the history of the great genius of Siracusa, Archimedes.
Articoli
Complete index of published posts
Click here
- Palazzolo Acreide (2/14/2022)
- C.I.A.O. (4/8/2021)
- L’Arcolaio – Frutti degli Iblei (3/26/2021)
- L’Arcolaio – Dolci Evasioni (3/26/2021)
- Impact Hub Siracusa (3/25/2021)
- The Culture of Hospitality (3/23/2021)
- From Scotland, with love (3/20/2021)
- Tecnoparco Archimede (2/3/2021)
- Davide Bramante (1/26/2021)
- Exedra ARTS (1/22/2021)