The panels on display in the Carducciano Museum trace the main moments of the poet’s literary activity, which is closely linked to the scents, sounds and atmosphere of the Pisan Maremma, the scene of his youthful experiences. Giosuè Carducci, in fact, spent part of his childhood in Castagneto and Bolgheri, and the evocative power of this rural reality is a constant in his poetic production.
A former professor of Eloquence at the University of Bologna, he returned here for short stays in order to visit the places that inspired his most famous poems: Davanti San Guido, Traversando la Maremma toscana, San Martino. These rural landscapes, the scene of many rebellions, the most famous of which, held at the Donoratico Tower, is documented in a rare 1885 photograph, have always remained vivid in his memories.
Carducci is the poet of Nature with its colors and lights; all of Carducci’s poetry is permeated by a frank, evocative feeling that brings back memories of ancient deeds and genuine values, linked to the simple life, marked by work in the fields and regulated by the rhythm of the seasons.
The Museum’s panels highlight a theme peculiar to Carducci’s poetics: the bond between man and nature, celebrated in the Maremma poems, those most vivid and heartfelt because they are autobiographical, where the poet best expresses himself and reveals himself, his own proud and rough character.
It is therefore from the landscape of the Pisan Maremma, idealized in the memory of his own childhood, and from the values of peasant life, that the Carduccan sense of life is evinced.
Quel tratto della maremma che va da Cecina a San
Vincenzo, e il cerchio della mia fanciullezza… ivi vissi,
o per meglio dire errai, dal 1838 all’aprile del 1849
He was born in Val di Castello, a small village in the municipality of Pietrasanta, Versilia, on July 27, 1835. He moved to Bolgheri three years later, when his father Michele obtained a license as conduit doctor in the county of Donoratico, owned by the Della Gherardesca family. In this environment Joshua spent a peaceful childhood, marked by the study of the classics, which he found in his father’s bookcase: And I along with Manzoni’s works read the Iliad, the Aeneid, Jerusalem, Rollin’s Roman History and Thiers’ French Revolution.
The boy Joshua experiences the political climate of the first half of the 19th century; his father, a former coalman and fervent republican, clashes with the most conservative part of the village and with representatives of the local authorities: the Della Gherardesca counts and the parish priest Don Bussotti.
On the night of May 21, 1848, several shots were fired in the direction of Dr. Michele’s study window, following which the family moved to Castagneto Marittimo, where they resided for about a year. While his father took an active part in Castagneto’s political events, supporting the people’s cause in the revolutionary uprisings of ’48, 13-year-old Joshua went on to recite at artisan workshops the poems of Giusti, a Tuscan satirical poet, whom he drew inspiration from in his early poetic compositions.
When the Della Gherardesca counts, estranged as a result of the uprisings of ’48, return to Castagneto Marittimo, Dr. Michele is forced to flee for bestowing saccades of land on laborers in their absence, and with his family takes refuge in Florence.
Here Joshua completed his classical studies at the Scolopian Fathers of San Giovannino, and met Elvira Menicucci, his future wife.
He entered the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa on merit, where in 1855 he graduated with honors in Philosophy and Philology after only two years of study. He held brief and sporadic positions in the high schools of Tuscany until Terenzio Mamiani, minister of Education of the Kingdom of Italy, offered him the chair of Italian Eloquence at the University of Bologna, where he taught for forty-four years.
During his university teaching years, he took an active part in the political and intellectual life of the time; in 1862, after the Battle of Aspromonte, he fervently embraced republican ideals, only to mitigate, before 1890, his political views and move closer to monarchical values, believing that at that historical moment they represented the only chance to keep Italy united and secular.
In 1890 he was appointed senator for life for literary merit.
In 1906, he was the first Italian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.
He died in Bologna on February 16, 1907.
Se io potessi, vorrei ritirarmi in qualche villaggio perduto negli Appennini, o in qualche castello diroccato della Maremma, e non sentir più rumore di vita intorno a me, dimenticare che laggiù in fondo, là lontano, vi sono quelle fogne di pietra ribollenti di un brulicame di insetti chiamate città.
San Martino
Rime Nuove, 1861/1887
Carducci, now an established poet, returns to Castagneto whenever his professional commitments permit. He found the inspiration for this lyric precisely as a result of a visit he made to Castagneto in November, a time when the hills appear shrouded in fog, the sea is stormy due to strong winds, and the villagers are traditionally engaged in racking.
The landscape described by the poem calls to mind the blurred contours of so many Macchiaioli paintings, with the best-known images of the Maremma: the sea, hills and fields.
The three drafts reported here document the evolution of the poem: in the first draft(T1) Carducci’s impetus emerges, the urgency to immediately fix the original inspiration or idea that would later be reworked and developed in the following ones, so much so that the poet seems to jot down the first lines on a working note. Later autograph writings bear the date December 8, 1883, with the first title of Autumn; however, two different times are given there, referring to different times of the same day.
In the second semi-final draft(T2) and in the fine-copy transcript(T3) some variants from the finally published text with the title St. Martin appear.
The poem is admirable for its stylistic elegance and compositional balance. The first and fourth stanzas describe outdoor environments by resorting to the use of nouns that call to mind wide open spaces – hills, sea, clouds – ; these open environments are symbolic of Nature, particularly of a nature cloaked in a veil of melancholy obtained by the union of such nouns with adjectives or verbs capable of conveying to the reader a feeling of sorrow and sadness – bristling, screaming, drizzling, black -. Instead, the second and third stanzas, which are in antithesis to the first thanks to the adversative “but,” describe two enclosed rooms, a cellar and a kitchen, symbols of the interiority of Man, who can oppose the adversities of Nature only through his own industriousness, represented by the bubbling of vats and from the skewer spinning on logs.
METRIC: Four stanzas of three flat septenaries and one truncated.
F1 Overview of Castagneto Carducci
F2 Carducci House in Castagneto
F3 Castagneto Marittimo
T1 First draft of the poem
T2 Semi-final draft
T3 Final drafting
Là in Maremma ove fiorìo la mia triste primavera, là rivola il pensier mio con i tuoni e la bufera: là nel ciel nero librarmi la mia patria a riguardar, poi co ‘l tuono vo’ sprofondarmi tra quei colli ed in quel mar*
Davanti San Guido
Rime Nuove, 1861/1887
While traveling by train from Rome to Livorno in 1873, Carducci turned his gaze toward the cypress trees on the Viale that joins the ancient Via Emilia to the village of Bolgheri and among which he used to play during his childhood. He wrote Davanti San Guido in Christmas 1874 but it took many attempts before he arrived at the final draft, shown here, dated August 18, 1886. The poet calls the cypresses – youthful giants – since in his teenage years they had just been planted. In the late 1700s, in fact, as a result of land reclamation desired by the Della Gherardesca counts, a dirt road about three miles long was built to connect Bolgheri with the Via Emilia.
After 1830, two rows of poplars were added, but they were soon devoured by rustic Maremma buffaloes. It became necessary, therefore, to replace them with cypress trees, the planting of which was completed in 1911, at a respectful distance from the Bolgheri castle, giving the old road the appearance of a shady avenue. Paved since 1954, Cypress Avenue is now a national monument, placed under the protection of the Ministry of Culture. The sudden appearance of the cypress trees allows the poet to relive for a moment the years of his boyhood, when he enjoyed pulling the stones of the Avenue and looking for the nests of the nightingales.
The mature man is keen to specify controversially that his stones childishness have now become political and literary invectives against his opponents; he boasts that he does not belong to that group of moderate, conformist Manzonian romantics who manage to get well-paid positions – pulling four paychecks for the boil -; he directs another polemical jibe at the followers of Manzoni’s linguistic theories, apostrophizing them with the epithet stenterelli because they make improper use of the favella Tuscan. Between the cypress trees – tall and outspoken – stands – tall and solemn – the figure of Grandma Lucia; she used to tell him the tale of “King Pig” holding him on her lap and affectionately calling him bufolotto. Joshua urges her to tell again to thewise man the folk tale that trespasses on ancient myths; in the lyric she reproduces the poetic rhythm of the fairy tale and thus rediscovers the sense of ancient wisdom. In the last two quatrains the poet recoils from memories; the train leaves the beloved land, chased by colts and ignored by a gray donkey.
The host of polledri symbolizes the impetuosity and passion typical of the youthful age, following the rhythm of life and progress identified in the steamer, while thedonkey bigio is an emblem of the sloth and slothfulness that cloud skeptical and disillusioned souls. The poem is an expression of Carducci’s existential torment as he continues to retrace his youthful years with memory in the hope of finding pure and innocent vitality with the awareness of impending death, perhaps the only source of true happiness.
METRIC: quatrains of endecasyllables.
F1: Cypress Avenue after 1954
F2: Oratory of San Guido
F3: Carducci strolling
F4: The Gravel Avenue
F5: Grandma Lucia’s Cemetery
F6: Carducci family home in Bolgheri
F7: The Castle of Bolgheri in the early twentieth century.
F8: Oil portrait executed by Vittorio Corcos
T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6: Final draft of the lyric
21 aprile 1885. Ore 3. Ricordo della mattina del 10 aprile che passai per la Maremma; ricordo delle ore 6, sotto Castagneto
Traversando la Maremma toscana
Rime Nuove, 1861/1887
Carducci, after visiting his daughter Beatrice, is on his way from Livorno to Rome for a meeting of the Higher Council; the train passes through his Maremma, and he observes the villages of Bolgheri and Castagneto. The first draft of the sonnet bears the title Traversando la maremma Pisana.
On April 23, 1885, he wrote Chiarini a long letter, excerpts of which we quote, and also sent his Livorno friend the sonnet he had just finished in beautiful handwriting.
A few days later he writes again to Chiarini in preparation for publication: If you want to print the sonnet. The subject is this … passing through the ferrata under Castagneto – Crossing the Pisan Maremma … mind you, be exacting from the beginning on the administration; and make them pay especially you: if they begin to take confidence, goodbye.
The lyric belongs to the large group of poems dedicated to these places and therefore called “maremmane,” the conception of which falls within a well-defined period from 1871 to 1885. The poet passes through Maremma-sweet country-and is moved by the memory of the youthful dreams he had long cherished during his stay in Bolgheri and Castagneto. To the appearance of the countryside surrounding these villages, simple but solemn, sober but dignified, the poet assimilates -bearer conforms- his proud character -proud dress- and his poetry that accepts no compromise -disdainful song-.
The Castagneto landscape, so familiar to him – used forms -, arouses mixed feelings in the poet’s soul as his mind is soothed when he indulges in the sweet memories of childhood but grieves when he realizes that the ideals of his adolescence – youthful enchantment – have now turned into mere illusions – dreams.
The awareness of the slow dissolution of one’s youthful expectations – what I loved was in vain – and by the approach of death – dimani cadrò – I will fall tomorrow – creates inner turmoil for the poet. Only the landscape of Castagneto, with its man-made hills and its green plain of laughing vegetation though shrouded in thick fog, can mitigate his restlessness-peace they say to the heart.
The beauty of the poem lies in the perfect fusion of landscape and sentiment, which moves from regret (for youth now gone) to disappointment (for ideals revealed to be unattainable) and finally to the soothing desire for oblivion.
METRIC: sonnet.
F1: overview of Castagneto
F2: Carducci at a young age
F3: Carducci with Chiarini on the right and Gargani on the left
T1: First draft of the sonnet
T2: Letter to Chiarini with sonnet.
T3, T4: Letter to Chiarini, 1885
Cara Elvira,
Sono a Castagneto e ci sto benissimo. Parto ora che sono le 8 della mattina per andare a mangiare alla Torre di Donoratico. Mi sono messo una giacca alla maremmana e un cappello largo di falde e sono molto bello…
The ribotte, mentioned many times by Carducci in his correspondence with his wife and Giuseppe Chiarini, are large lunches based on Maremma specialties and local wine in which the main dish is the game typical of these hills, thrushes and wild boar. According to tradition, ribotte are eaten outdoors, in pleasant places dear to the poet, who can enjoy in this way not only the gastronomic pleasures, but also the beauty of the Maremma landscapes. They are often held on the lawns adjacent to Donoratico Tower or at Segalari Castle. They are obviously prepared during the periods when the poet stayed in Castagneto; that is why they are concentrated in the eighth and ninth decades of the nineteenth century, when he stayed in the apartment of the Espinassi-Moratti farm. In addition to the poet, who organizes them and bears the costs of setting them up, the main municipal authorities, prominent personalities of the Castagneto population and, of course, Carducci’s close friends, whom he makes sure to invite personally, such as Giuseppe Chiarini, his childhood friend and fellow university student, take part in the riots.
Sometimes even the village peasants take part in the rebellion, often without explicit invitation. Almost always the ribotta proceeds until sunset, in a festive succession of gastronomic specialties and plentiful libations. Of one of these, and precisely the one held at Segalari Castle in October 1885, we know the sequence of courses because Chiarini and Barboni also participated in that ribotta and described it as follows: sopracappellini cooked in quail broth, tray of fried brains with a side of crispy parsley, Maremma specialties, three pyramids of a hundred thrushes each, steaming and fragrant ballotte.
The poet is proud of his gastronomic passion for thrushes; he himself recounts that in each of his travels from Piedmont to Cadore, such game is always present on his table and that, when comparing the various regional gastronomic preparations, the Castagnetan one surpasses the others in deliciousness. The gastronomic superiority is due to the peculiar way in which game is caught and cooked; in Maremma, thrushes were caught among the olive trees and cooked immediately without stripping them of their entrails; the fruits ingested by the birds gave the dish a special taste: Maremman thrushes, for me, son o superior to others, feed on juniper cuddles, myrtle, olives, the meat takes on the unsurpassed bitter taste. Stuff to raise the dead…!
Ribot courses are of course accompanied by frequent toasts, usually preceded by short speeches or the recitation of the last verses composed by the poet. On the occasion of the famous ribotta at the Donoratico Tower on September 17, 1885, the only one of which a photograph exists (F1), Carducci recited the famous sonnet dedicated to Castagneto: Traversando la Maremma toscana. The reading of the poem performed by the author himself inflames the spirits of all present, whose emotion melts into unceasing applause addressed to the distinguished host. The gratitude of the auditorium is then manifested in the spontaneous and immediate genesis of short and naive rhymes with which to motivate the umpteenth raising of glasses to the address of the Vate of New Italy: ecce, acce, occi, ucci, let us drink to the health of our most excellent Mr. Giosuè Carducci.
F1: Ribotta at the Tower
F2: Tower of Donoratico
F3: Segalari Castle
T1, T2: Letter to Chiarini dated May 26, 1885
T3, T4: Letter to Chiarini dated October 17, 1894
T5, T6: Letter to Chiarini dated August 21, 1885
Salutatemi il popolo svedese,
nobile nei pensieri e negli atti
This is how Carducci addresses, in an uncertain and unsteady voice due to the paralysis that has affected him for some years now, Baron De Bildt, Swedish minister in Italy, who on December 10, 1906, came to the poet’s Bologna home with the charge of ideally presenting him with the Nobel Prize for Literature. Sweden’s King Oscar II, who is a humanist, a sculptor and a poet, moved by personal admiration for the Vate of New Italy, wants that, making an exception to custom, the handover protocol be held at the same time as the official ceremony in Stockholm. As the sovereign, at 5 p.m. on Dec. 10, presents the medal, parchment and award in the hands of an Italian minister in the great hall of the Royal Academy of Music, Baron De Bildt appears in the glorious Bolognese study of Carducci, who can barely lift his left hand to greet him. Despite severe speech difficulties, he manages to make it clear to the welcome guest that he recognized him. Baron De Bildt then reads King Oscar II’s congratulatory telegram, then begins a short speech, in Italian, praising the writer’s poetic work: in carrying out this most grateful mission to me, I do not intend to weave any panegyric … (knowing full well) that with you flattering parrots have never been welcome … Nobel’s will prescribes the prize of literature should be awarded to the one among modern writers who has accomplished the greatest and most beautiful work in the idealistic sense, and all your work, illustrious master, is marked by the worship of the highest ideals that are on earth, ideals of the fatherland, freedom, justice.
On hearing these last words, the poet, who listens attentively to the minister’s speech, drums his fingers on the armrest of the chair in approval. It makes one’s eyes flash when the baron dwells on moral severity, they are of God in whatever form it manifests itself. Finally he expresses a willingness to kiss the hand of the foreign guest, but the foreign guest quickly withdraws it, embarrassed to see the master almost kneeling at his feet. Strong emotion gripped his brother Valfredo, friends and dignitaries present at the ceremony. Carducci momentarily abandons his proud dress and allows himself to be kissed and embraced as guests toast in his honor.
Giosuè Carducci was the first Italian to receive the prestigious award.The Nobel Prize is awarded to him not only for his great erudition and critical research, but also, and above all, as a tribute to the plastic energy, freshness of style, and lyrical force of his poetic masterpieces.The award also includes a check for 138,536.1 Swedish kronor, equal to 191,000 Italian liras at the time, which today corresponds to more than 600,000 euros. The money is being used by the heirs to solve the family’s financial problems, which have greatly increased after the death of Carlo Bevilacqua, husband of eldest daughter Beatrice. Unfortunately, the poet will have no way to use the money, as he died in Bologna on the night of February 15-16, 1907, just two months after receiving the prize.
T1: Nobel Prize Scroll
T2: Nobel Prize Scroll.
T3: Translation of the Nobel Prize