Additionally, we celebrate the holidays through those special cultural metaphors for which Italy is famous worldwide – fine food and good wine – symbols of the Italians’ love for life in all its richness and pleasure, by arranging a really wonderful and very special dinner. A copy of the menu for this dinner is enclosed. 

   The cost of the dinner is $40 per person.  Because of the advance preparations required, we must have your reservations by December 14.  We are strictly limiting attendance to 72 people and will be unable to accommodate late reservations or “walk-ins.”  Send Reservation Form with Payment to Marie Wehrle, 8389 Weber Terrace Drive,  St. Louis, MO  63123.  (314) 544-8899.

   The construction of the great dome, the largest in the world, presented seemingly insoluble engineering problems.  Work would begin at the 170 feet level (at the top of the drum above the cathedral nave), and, most challenging, the dome was to be built without any exterior buttressing (traditionally used to reinforce cathedral vaulting) and without centering (the interior wooden framework that had been used to support arches and domes and keep bricks and stones until the mortar set).  Although Brunelleschi was one of the greatest of Renaissance architects as clearly shown by his Ospedale degli Innocenti, the sacristy of San Lorenzo Church, and other works, the dome’s architecture was relatively straightforward and conventional, its eight-sided form being modeled after the Baptistery and its pointed-arch shape based on the gothic style. 

   But it was in the engineering that Brunelleschi’s genius came forth.  After briefly comparing the work of an architect to that of an engineer, Mariani presented the dome from an engineering perspective, discussing the basic principles of structural engineering, unknown in Brunelleschi’s day – the use of statics to determine how loads on structures resolve themselves in the form of forces, the use of stress analysis determines the type, magnitude, and direction of stresses caused by these forces, and the use of structural analysis to determine the requirements of structural members to resist these stresses successfully.  The construction of domes presented special problems, the first being how to resist the lateral thrust at the base of the huge structure without exterior buttresses and how to resist the interior hoop stresses in the shells without making them extremely thick; the second problem was how to keep the bricks in place against gravity until the mortar set. 

   Using schematic and sectional diagrams, Mariani presented Brunelleschi’s solutions.  To solve the first problem, Brunelleschi used four massive stone chains linked with iron clamps to encircle the dome shells at equally spaced points.  In addition, a wood chain was used between the first and second stone chains.  Iron chains may have been also used to supplement the stone chains, although there is no evidence that this was ever actually done.  Like hoops around a barrel, these chains successfully contained the Dome’s lateral thrust forces and internal hoop stresses.  Brunelleschi’s solution to the second problem, locking the brickwork in place while mortar set, involved two approaches:  the first was to use uniquely shaped bricks set in a herringbone pattern; the second, was to use nine rings or circles of brick which encircled the dome at points between the first and fourth stone chains.  These rings were originally thought to have been used to help the chains resist lateral forces; it was not until the 1970s that it was determined they were not intended for that, but to serve as horizontal arches locking the brickwork in place in the manner an arch locks its members in place under load.  It was found that without these nine rings (it was rumored that Brunelleschi chose nine based on Dante’s nine circles), the herringbone brick pattern alone would have been insufficient to keep the brickwork in place. 

   The work on the dome began in 1420 and was completed in 1436.  The Lantern, which Brunelleschi designed but he did not live to see completed, was then begun.

Eugene Mariani, President of the Italian Club, is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science of Washington University.  He is a graduate of St. Louis and Washington Universities and has a Ph.D. in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri – Rolla. 
 
 
 
 
 

   Many thanks also to Carla Bossola, Dorotea Rossomanno-Phillips, Vito Tamboli, and Aldo Della Croce for all of their work on the Club’s Classic Italian Film and Opera Series at the Bocce Club.  Two Nino Manfredi films were shown, Pane e Cioccolato and In Nome del Papa-Re, and two Puccini operas, Madama Butterfly and Tosca.  Thanks also to the Bocce Club for the use of their facilities. 

   And thanks to all who helped with our Giacomo Leopardi Seminar.  In particular, Carla Bossola for conducting the weekly sessions, Dorotea Rossomanno-Phillips for her administrative help, and Edward Berra for providing the wonderful meeting room at the Southwest Bank. 
 
 

   La Scala was founded under the auspices of the Empress Maria Teresa of Austria to replace the Royal Ducal Theatre, which was destroyed by fire on February 26, 1776 and had been home of opera in the then Austrian-controlled Milan.  As the new theatre was built on the site of the former church Santa Maria alla Scala, it has since been referred to as “Teatro alla Scala”, or simply “La Scala”. 

   The great neoclassical architect Giuseppe Piermarini designed La Scala, which opened on August 3, 1778.  In fact, locals often affectionately refer to the theatre as “il Piermarini” in honor of the man who built this beautiful and acoustically amazing building.  (It is interesting to note that it took less time to build the theatre in the 1770’s than it will take to renovate the theatre today!)  In 1943, La Scala was severely damaged by bombing, and the upcoming closing will mark the first time since World War II that the theatre will leave its historic site in Piazza della Scala.

   The December 7th performance will be one of eight performances in December of Otello, by Giuseppe Verdi, which will be directed by Riccardo Muti and feature the great Placido Domingo, alongside Barbara Frittoli and Leo Nucci.  The last performance on December 30, 2001, will not only be the last performance at La Scala for the next three years, but it will also mark the end of the centenary year of the death of Giuseppe Verdi, during which La Scala performed eleven Verdi operas in his honor.

   Beginning on January 19, 2002, and for the next three opera seasons, all performances will be held at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi, which is located in the Bicocca section in northern Milan.  The Arcimboldi is a modern and spacious theatre that was just completed in 2001.  It has 2,500 seats, 700 more than La Scala, but will not have any of the traditional standing room only seats.  Verdi’s masterpiece La traviata will inaugurate this new theatre.

   This year’s opera season will include, besides Otello and La traviata, Samson et Dalila, Salome, Boris Godunov, Le nozze di Figaro, Madama Butterfly, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Lucrezia Borgia, and Rigoletto.  Placido Domingo will appear in Otello and Samson et Dalila.  For further information, including a complete calendar and ticket availability, check out the website at www.teatroallascala.org.
 
 
 
 

40.  Giovanni Pascoli (San Mauro di Romagna 1855 – Bologna 1912) a dodici anni fu colpito da una tragedia che lascierà un’indelebile impronta sulla sua vita:  l’omicidio del padre, medico condotto, mentre tornava a casa sul calesse, evento immortalato dalla sua famosa poesia “La cavallina storna.” 

Il Pascoli condusse una vita tranquilla insieme alla sorella Mariù e fu insegnante prima di liceo e poi di università.  Nel 1905 successe al Carducci nella cattedra di letteratura italiana all’università di Bologna.  Tra le sue raccolte di poesie sono da segnalare Myricae (1891), Poemetti (1897), Canti di Castelvecchio (1903), Poemi conviviali (1904), Odi e Inni (1906).  L’assiuolo fu pubblicato nel 1897 nella quarta edizione di Myricae.

Dov’era la luna?  Ché il cielo
notava¹ in un’alba di perla
ed ergersi il mandorlo e il melo
parevano a meglio vederla.
Venivano soffi di lampi
da un nero di nubi laggiù;
veniva una voce dai campi:
chiù…²

Le stelle lucevano rare
tra mezzo alla nebbia di latte:
sentivo il cullare del mare,
sentivo un fru fru tra le fratte;
sentivo nel cuore un sussulto,
Com’eco d’un grido che fu.
sonava lontano il singulto:
Chiù…

Su tutte le lucide vette
tremava il sospiro del vento;
squassavano le cavallette
finissimi sistri³ d’argento
(tintinni a invisibili porte
che forse non s’aprono più?…)
e c’era quel pianto di morte…
chiù…

29.  Antonino il Pio (86 - 161)  (Imperatore 138 - 161). Alla morte di Adriano, Antonino aveva già 53 anni e nessuno si sarebbe aspettato che avrebbe regnato così a lungo.  La sua famiglia veniva da Nîmes, in Provenza, ma già da molti anni si era trasferita a Roma dove aveva accumulato un immenso patrimonio, con poderi in Campania, Etruria, Umbria, nel Piceno e nel Lazio. 

Nel 117 Antonino aveva sposato Faustina Maggiore, sorella di Annio Vero, il padre di Marc’Aurelio, ma Faustina morì nel 140 lasciandolo con una figlia, Faustina Minore (che più tardi sposerà Marc’Aurelio) e i due figli adottivi Marc’Aurelio e Lucio Vero, che, come vedremo più avanti, saranno ambedue imperatori. 

Al contrario di Adriano, che aveva passato quasi tutta la sua vita viaggiando, Antonino non si mosse mai dalle sue residenze in Campania.  Non gli piaceva viaggiare, aborriva lo sfarzo, era semplice di gusti e preferiva vivere nella sua campagna dove i riti e le credenze erano arcaici, legati alla terra, alla fertilità e ai cicli vegetali, come lo sono in tutte le antichissime tradizioni nel mondo.  Preferiva la pace e affidò ad altri la direzione delle guerre e l'amministrazione dell'impero. 
Antonino decise di non ingrandire l’impero, cercando soltanto di mantenere i confini e placare le rivolte che scoppiavano di tanto in tanto.  Nel 142 le legioni romane combatterono contro i Briganti in Britannia e costruirono una seconda linea di difesa a nord del Vallo di Adriano, il Vallo di Antonino.  Altre rivolte ebbero luogo in Egitto, Armenia, Mauritania e Germania. 

Fu molto parsimonioso e pur dimostrandosi moderato nel far pagare le tasse, non fu meno prodigo dei suoi predecessori nello spendere grosse somme per le elargizioni al popolo (ne fece 9, in denaro e grano), ai soldati, ai bisognosi, alle ragazze madri e ai bambini illegittimi.  Per onorare la memoria della moglie Faustina, Antonino fondò Puellae Faustinianae, un’istituzione caritatevole per le ragazze povere.

Antonino costruì il tempio di Adriano nel Campo Marzio, un tempio in onore di Faustina nel Foro e completò il mausoleo di Adriano sul Tevere.  Alla sua morte lasciò all’impero un surplus 675 milioni di denarii.