L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano Sortilegio Pasquino conjures Cola Rienzi LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE A t t h e f o o t o f Rome's Capito- line Hill, by the staircase lead- ing to the Piaz- za del Campidoglio, seat of the city government since the Middle Ages, a statue of a hooded man waving a sword commemorates a crime. On this spot seven centuries ago, a mob murdered Nicola di Rienzo. Known to history as Cola Rienzi, Last of the Tribunes, this charismatic young dictator briefly resur- rected the Roman Republic a n d a l m o s t u n i t e d I t a l y before his terrible fall. Why did he lose the love of the people? The question baffles m e . I n h i s r a g e a n d h i s resentment, his dreams of the past and his fantasies of glory, Cola was so clearly one of them. Nicola di Rienzo was born i n t h e s p r i n g o f 1 3 1 3 i n Rome's Regola district, then a remote slum. Cola's house, located below the Church of San Tommaso in Piazza delle Cinque Scole at the entrance to the Jewish Ghetto, faced the water mills on the Tiber. His father, Lorenzo Gabrini, ran a riverside tavern. His mother Maddalena washed l a u n d r y . C o l a , h o w e v e r , boasted that he was actually the bastard son of Henry VII, the Holy Roman Emperor, who once spent a night at Lorenzo's inn. Didn't he have the same cleft chin and noble h i g h - b r i d g e d n o s e a s t h e E m p e r o r ? S u c h f a n t a s i e s a l l o w e d C o l a t o e n d u r e Rome's squalor and misery. T h e G r e a t S c h i s m h a d m o v e d t h e p a p a c y t o Avignon, France. Bereft of temporal and spiritual lead- ership, Rome collapsed like J e r u s a l e m d u r i n g t h e B a b y l o n i a n C a p t i v i t y . Churches were desecrated, murder and rape were ram- pant. Marauders roamed the streets. Monuments were ruined not by vandals but by robber barons, who plun- dered forums and temples for materials to build and adorn their palazzi. As rapa- cious nobles carved up Rome like a capon, gang warfare became the norm. When his younger brother was killed in a b r a w l , C o l a b l a m e d t h e barons. Brooding, he wandered the ruined city. The Lateran Basilica was roofless, the Milvian Bridge shattered, the belfry of Saint Peter's split by l i g h t n i n g . C o l a v o w e d t o repair these landmarks, and h i s e y e s b l a z e d . H e p o s - sessed—I should say, was possessed by—an almost hal- l u c i n a t o r y i m a g i n a t i o n . Having taught himself Latin, he deciphered the inscrip- tions on derelict buildings. " W h e r e a r e t h o s e g o o d R o m a n s ? " h e e x c l a i m e d . "Where is their high justice? If only I could live in such times!" Whenever he mut- tered and tossed pebbles into the Forum, the superstitious crossed themselves. The lad seemed to practice sortilegio, casting lots to tell his for- tune. Now a successful notary, Cola joined a delegation to Pope Clement VI at Avignon. His report on the barons' abuses antagonized the pow- erful but captivated the poet Petrarch, who admired the young man's smooth tongue a n d r u g g e d f e a t u r e s . T h e P o p e , e q u a l l y i m p r e s s e d , appointed Cola Apostolic Notary and authorized him t o r e t u r n t o R o m e a n d r e f o r m c i v i l l a w . P o w e r emboldened him to settle s c o r e s . H e d e p o s e d t h e barons and established pop- ular rule. On May 19, 1347, heralds invited citizens to a special p a r l i a m e n t o n P e n t e c o s t S u n d a y . D r e s s e d i n f u l l armor and attended by the papal vicar, Cola headed a procession to the Capitol, w h e r e h e a d d r e s s e d t h e assembled crowd from the balcony of the Palazzo dei Conservatori. Henceforth, he declared, everyone would be e q u a l u n d e r t h e l a w . P r o c l a i m i n g h i m s e l f Tribune of the People, Cola announced that he had r e s t o r e d t h e R o m a n Republic. Laws would be ratified by the people, and Roman citizenship would be offered to everyone in Italy. All cheered. Soon the streets were safe, crimes swiftly punished, and buildings repaired. But when Cola awarded himself lordly titles, when he seized estates, silenced dissent, and execut- ed enemies without trial, even his supporters balked. The nobles revolted. Pope C l e m e n t i s s u e d a b u l l denouncing Cola as a pagan, heretic, and rebel. Driven out of Rome, he became a hermit in the Maiella Mountains before going to Prague to offer his services to Charles IV, who handed him over to the Pope. Imprisoned and pardoned, Cola returned to Rome in August 1354 and r e s u m e d t h e o f f i c e o f T r i b u n e , b u t h e h a d c h a n g e d . G l u t t o n y h a d swollen his once limber body to the size of a heldentenor's. He wore foppish clothes and f l a s h y r i n g s . H i s b a l c o n y speeches were empty bom- bast, his edicts pretexts for graft and extortion. Some say prison had warped his character, but I think the explanation is simpler. After fighting tyrants for so long, C o l a h a d t u r n e d i n t o one. Well, don't we always b e c o m e w h a t w e h a t e ? W h a t e v e r t h e r e a s o n , h i s cruelty alienated the people, and his extravagances bank- rupted the city. Severe taxes on salt and wine sparked an insurrection. O n O c t o b e r 8 , a m o b stormed the Capitol. During the raid on the palace, Cola disguised himself as a hum- ble gardener, but his fancy rings gave him away. He was seized and dragged to the square. For an hour, nobody touched him, so great was the memory of his former glory. Finally, an incensed nobleman drew his dagger and plunged it into Cola's gut. A fellow notary struck t h e n e x t b l o w . T h e p l e b s utterly butchered him. Cola's mangled body was dragged b y t h e f e e t t o P i a z z a S a n Marcello and strung upside down from a balcony. For two days, it hung there, its guts dangling, like the car- cass of an ox. Urchins threw s t o n e s a n d j e e r e d : " N o w make a speech!" Over the centuries, Cola's l i f e h a s i n s p i r e d p o e t s , painters, and composers, but his death, I regret to say, has never impressed other dicta- t o r s . A l d o P a r i n i v a i n l y w a r n e d B e n i t o M u s s o l i n i d u r i n g a v i s i t t o P a l a z z o Venezia on the eve of World War II. "This regime of yours will end badly" said Parini, a n o l d S o c i a l i s t w h o h a d been Il Duce's friend in their youth. "Such things always do. Benito, you'll die like Cola Rienzi." M u s s o l i n i g r i m a c e d i n mock horror, then laughed and spread his fingers for P a r i n i ' s i n s p e c t i o n . " Y o u s e e ? " h e s a i d . " I w e a r n o rings. It will never happen to me.'" Pasquino's secretary is Anthony Di Renzo, professor of writing at Ithaca College. You may reach him at diren- zo@ithaca.edu. ANTHONY DI RENZO The bronze statue of Cola Rienzi at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, in Rome (Photo: Leventina(Dreamstime)

• Cover