L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano T here is a place in southern Tuscany, just near the bor- der with the Lazio region, to which vacationers, as well as art historians and culture lovers from all over the world, have long been attracted: its name is Porto Ercole. Located on the Monte Argentario promontory that outstretches into the Tyrrhenian Sea (being only linked to the mainland by the famous Orbetello Lagoon), Porto Ercole is not just one of the "finest hamlets in Italy," as it has been labeled because of its breath-taking location. On the contrary, the place is also said to be the scene of a great, unsolved mystery of modern art: the death of Michelangelo Merisi, better known as Il Caravaggio. Together we will visit this side of the Maremma – the wildest part of Tuscany – and follow the tracks of the great painter whose remains, it appears, have recent- ly been found here in Porto Ercole. Our story begins in Rome, year 1606. Raised and trained in Milan – where he had been born in 1571 to parents originally from Caravaggio, a little town near Bergamo – Michelangelo Merisi had by that time become one of the most celebrated and original painters of his era: suf- fice it to say that his works already included such master- pieces as the Bacchus, Medusa, The Calling of Saint Matthew, and The Death of the Virgin. At the same time, though, because of his violent and quick-tem- pered behavior in the Eternal City – where he had been living since the 1590s – the artist had also gained a reputation as a notorious brawler and trouble- maker. It was precisely in May 1606, during one of the senseless fights he was often involved in, that Caravaggio somehow killed a man, the influential Ranuccio Tommasoni: as a result, the artist was sentenced to death by Pope SIMONE SANNIO A Journey to Porto Ercole, Caravaggio's "Last Resort" Paul V, being forced to flee Rome and the Papal States in order to avoid beheading. Thus began the wandering life that would lead the hunted Caravaggio to Naples, Malta, Sicily, and – finally and mysteri- ously – to Porto Ercole, his "last resort." A former domain of the Republic of Siena, in Caravaggio's times the area sur- rounding Mount Argentario con- stituted the so-called Stato dei Presìdi (State of the Garrisons): administered by the Viceroy of Naples, this was nothing but a small Spanish protectorate creat- ed in Tuscany after the Duke of Florence, Cosimo I de' Medici, had managed to conquer Siena with the help of the Crown of Spain. Today, more than 200 years after the presìdi's eventual demise, the Spanish presence is still evident in Porto Ercole and Orbetello, the former protec- torate's two "capitals." The uphill, fortified old hamlet of Porto Ercole, for instance, still includes the 16 th century, Renaissance-style Palazzo dei Governanti (Governors' Palace), standing right next to the sea, on the stunning Santa Barbara main square overlooking the harbor. But Porto Ercole's old town still also includes the Chiesa di Sant'Erasmo, an ancient castle- church – showcasing a beautiful portal attributed to the Florentine architect Bernardo Buontalenti – which used to be the Spanish governors' burial site. In addi- tion, many Spanish coastal tow- ers and fortifications – such as the grand Forte Stella – still populate Porto Ercole and its surroundings, as well as the Rocca Aldobrandesca and the Bastione di Santa Barbara, part of the ancient town walls built by the Senesi people. Beyond the old city gates, a plate reminds us that it was right here, in this cultural and artistic melting pot, that Caravaggio's "troubled life" came to an end "after the power of his genius had created one of the most refulgent movements of the human spirit." Whereas the painter's greatness is undisputed, there still are conflicting views on the actual reasons why he ended up dying in Porto Ercole, as there are on the causes and the exact location of his death. According to tradition, between 1609 and 1610 – the last year of his life – Caravaggio was on his way to finally secure the Pope's pardon. On the other hand, though, the artist had aroused huge anger among the Knights of Malta – who chased him since he had wounded one of them in yet another brawl – and he had miraculously sur- vived an ambush in Naples which left him disfigured. In other words, he continued to be a man on the run, as some of his late paintings seem to confirm: in Salome with the Head of John the Baptist and David with the Head of Goliath, for example, the severed head is clearly a macabre self-portrait of the artist. It appears that Caravaggio came to Porto Ercole almost by accident. In July 1610, he had managed to embark on a felucca going back and forth from Naples to Mount Argentario: his aim was to get as close as possi- ble to Rome in order to give a mediator three of his paintings in exchange for the Pope's pardon. But when the runaway artist stopped in Palo di Ladispoli – less than 40 kilometers from Rome – he was recognized and briefly arrested: upon his release, the felucca carrying his precious canvases had already left for Porto Ercole. It was probably in a vain attempt to rescue the paintings that could have saved his life that Caravaggio got there on July 16: two days later, he was dead. Some people say the artist landed on the Feniglia beach, where he was eventually reached by either his Maltese or Roman enemies and killed: among the pines of the Duna di Feniglia, now a natural reserve, a monu- ment stands in memory of this uncertain event. Some say that Caravaggio was instead serious- ly ill when he arrived to Porto Ercole, and that he might have died of a fever, probably caused by the injures he had suffered in Naples or by the lead poisoning he had been exposed to for all of his life (lead was then one of the main components of oil paints). Whatever the reason of his ill- ness, it is believed that the painter died in the local hospital of Santa Croce and that he was then buried in the small church- yard of San Sebastiano, no longer existing. In recent years, the people of Porto Ercole have erected a bronze monument and a small open-air mausoleum where San Sebastiano used to be. Inside the stone sarcophagus marked "CARAVAGGIO," topped with a reproduction of his famous Basket of Fruit and surrounded by the pace and rhythm of the modern town, they have arranged some human bones found in an underground crypt that scientific researches attribute to the great painter "with an 85% probability:" as such, the mystery of Caravaggio's death lives on. Michelangelo Merisi, aka Caravaggio, spent his last days in Porto Ercole Looking at the beauty of the place, with all its colors and the diamond-like transparency of its sea, there is little wonder Caravaggio liked it LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE

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