NEWS & FEATURES
TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2016
www.italoamericano.org
3
Piazza San Benedetto in
Norcia is no longer a square, it's
a place for ghosts.
Just like the Basilica and
Santa Maria Argentea, hundreds
of other artistically relevant
buildings have been irremedia-
bly compromised by the earth-
quake, causing an inestimable
damage to Italy's own artistic
patrimony.
That made to the country's
heritage and identity is a deep
wound, because art to Italy is
like the soul to a human being:
it's the essence of the country, its
beating heart and historical
memory. It's what all the world
envy us and what, in spite of
time passing and trends chang-
ing, Italy has always excelled at.
For centuries, as Johnathan Jones
of The Guardian has rightly
pointed out, Italy has created
beauty off its instability, it being
political or geological, shaping
the awesome from chaos, the
wondrous from violence.
This is why what was lost to
the Norcia earthquake is not a
loss to Italy only, but to the
world: these churches and
palaces, with their old stones and
marbles spoke to each and every
one of us of the immense poten-
tial of Mankind and of the beauty
of the world. They spoke of spir-
ituality and history, but also of
stones, mortar and wood, with
which they were built, and of the
gritty hands who did it.
They stood, beautiful witness-
es to the history of Europe and
Continued from page 2
the world, to that of art and phi-
losophy and architecture. They
stood symbol of the Good Man
can do.
This is why the whole world,
I think, should mourn for what
the earthquake stole from
Norcia.
If you want to help and sup-
port reconstruction, you can do
so also through the Deep Roots
initiative, endorsed by the
monks of the Norcia Monastery
of San Benedetto, at www.nur-
sia.org.
Madonna and child with Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica by Francesco Sparapane (16c) part of the artistic patrimony lost with the earthquake
