News from Italy
by Ayfer Selamoğlu
“And then we went out to see the stars again” Dante…
We are in the historic center of Rome. Piazza Navona and the Capitoline Hill accompany visitors on a journey through time with the works of the geniuses of the Renaissance. Palazzo Mignanelli in Piazza di Spagna, the heart of the historic center, is completely covered with lights. The first owners of the building were the Mignanellis, one of the oldest and most prominent families in the town. Today it is the residence of the famous designer Valentino in Rome. At the same time, opens its doors to visitors of the fashion house and the Valentino Academy…
Valentino Fashion House decorated building this year according to the spirit of the time and the Renaissance period in Rome. Above the cascade of yellow light that flows over the Renaissance-style palace, the words of Dante Alighiere, who contributed to the birth of the Renaissance, “And then we went out to see the stars again” shine like an incandescent white Sirius. It dazzles us as this unique star that guides the compasses of ships that have gone astray with its extreme splendor, and societies in troubled seasons …
Commemorated this year by numerous events on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of his death, Dante lived in the most turbulent late medieval period. The intellectual movements and demands that would lead to the Renaissance began to mature. The winds of social change were blowing “very hard”. During the pandemic that has closed the whole world in the tunnel of fear, you could not find better than these words taken from Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’! His words, which shine bright in the dark night, point to enlightenment and salvation, like the Renaissance building on which it stands…
We heard these words from Robby Facchinetti in March 2020. After seeing from the window the series of coffins of the victims of the crown taken from military trucks in Bergamo, he began to write his composition in tears. With his music and his goosebumps lyrics he shouted “I will be reborn, you will be reborn, when it is all over, we will return to see the stars again”…
Today, Italy is like Janus, known as the god of beginnings, of transitions and the door to ancient Roman mythology; one face looking to the future and the other to the past. A face of Italy is looking at the Corona while it is constantly changing its masks and what it is going through due to the pandemic. There is light on the face that looks to the future. This glimmer of hope arises from harmony and success in politics over the past year. After the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, loved by the Italian people, convinced Mario Draghi, who was the President of the European Central Bank, to become an independent prime minister and to form a four-party government, from far right to left…
During this period, the new government revived the country’s economy and implemented a range of practices from the judiciary to bureaucracy and restructuring. With funds from the European Union, the country’s morale began to improve. And the positive winds that blew were reflected in international competitions. Italy came first in the competitions in which it participated, from pastry to football to volleyball.
And in the last days of 2021, the political and economic weekly Ekonomist proclaimed Italy, led by Mario Draghi, competent and internationally respected Prime Minister as the weekly itself defined it, Country of the Year. Even the president of the European Commission Von der Leyn said that: “The growth of Italy has never been so fast since the beginning of the century” …
A part of Italy looks to the Corona which has descended on the world as a nightmare. But to protect his country … The other side looks to the future, to light and progress …
Happy New Year …