HE WAS LIKE A LEAF – Umberto Saba and autobiographical poems

He was Italian poet, noted for his simple autobiographical poems. Umberto Saba was raised by his Jewish mother, after his father deserted them, when he was an infant. From age 17, he developed his interest in poetry. In November 1910 was published his first collection of poems. https://www.amazon.com/Songbook-Selected-Umberto-Margellos-Republic/dp/0300181752 He established his reputation as a poet with the publication of “The …

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READING BEST ITALIAN NOVELS – The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio

He was born in Paris (France) and died in Certaldo (Tuscany, Italy). He was the son of a Tuscan merchant (his mother was probably French). His father had no sympathy for Boccaccio’s literary inclinations and sent him to Naples to learn business. Giovanni Boccaccio (1313/1375) was Italian poet, best remembered as the author of The Decameron. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdLjE0oMuDk He laid the …

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PAINTING DURING THE PLAGUE –Representation of Black Death time in art

Spreading from central Asia to Russia, this pestilence devastated Europe and left behind despair and sadness. Also the lives of all artist were experienced in its shadow, facing the danger that contagion could seize in their city. Thousands of painters and craftsmen perished during the mid 14th century, and the heart of the European world was torn open. That time, …

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ARCHAEOLOGY OF PLAGUE

Epidemics killed millions of people, when they periodically swept Europe and other parts of the world (the Black Death of the 14th century have killed 50 million people). They were buried in haste, possibly during plague epidemic. Workers who were digging, have stumbled on an ancient cemetery, which contains at least 60 skeletons. In Florence, has been discovered burial with …

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THE MACABRE DANCE – The Death triumph in Clusone, Italy

In Val Seriana (province of Bergamo), there is a medieval building commissioned by the brotherhood of governing. The oratory of the governing of Clusone, http://www.valseriana.eu/arte-e-cultura/la-danza-macabra-el-oratorio-dei-disciplini-di-san-bernardino-clusone/ owns a cycle of frescoes of 1485, all painted by Giacomo de Borlone Buschis. Visiting this site, you’ll find the memory of old fear – the plague. The Triumph of Death and Danse Macabre are …

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WHEN POEMS HAVE BEEN SET TO MUSIC – Eduard Mörike

Everything he wrote, always has its own distinctive flavour. Many his poems have been set to music. He was a German Romantic poet of the Swabian school, in Southern Germany. Eduard Moerike was born in Ludwigsburg and studied Theology at the Seminary of Tübingen (following the ecclesiastical career, becoming a Lutheran pastor). His poems are lyrics and are expressed in …

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DISCOVERING THE UNIMAGINABLE HORIZONS OF YOUR SOUL – Achill Island, Ireland

One of the most picturesque is the Keel Beach, nestled between the mountains. Here you can breathe the air border. The most impressive of its views is The Atlantic Drive. Arriving here, among heather and peat bogs, you will walk the road, that seems to ride on the mountains overlooking the sea. Achill Island, http://achilltourism.com/ could be the largest of …

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THE CLOWN – Novel, by Heinrich Böll

Heinrich Böll was one of German foremost post-World War II writers. His work has been translated into 30 languages and he remains one of Germany’s most widely read authors. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature. After the WWII he returned to Cologne and began working in his family’s cabinet shop. He became a …

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