|
The Verona “of the beautiful
golden mornings “ kept forever in Simoni as the real motherland, and
not only because he was born there.
The roots of a town
are mysterious; the trees rising from those roots are planted in the
heart more than in earth. The saddest moment of Renato Simoni's life
was in the immediate post-war. During fascism, he was named member of
the Royal Academy of Italy, the highest cultural institution by that
time, established in 1926 and at the beginning presided over by Guglielmo
Marconi. Simoni went on being an Academician even during the period
of the Republic of Salò, in April 1945 he was purged and the theatrical
critic at “Corriere della Sera” was kept him away.
Simoni's pain was huge.
Who met him those months heard him repeating with a crying voice: “Without
the Corriere I perish”.
Once the tempest bywent,
the charge was given back to him. Just that period, I was looking for,
for researching reasons, a book, almost impossible to find about Pirandello
and I was sure that Simoni had it in his boundless library.
It talked about this
problem with a teacher of mine at the university, who was, as Simoni,
an Academician of Italy and who volunteered to write a reference. It
was 1947 and I remember very well that it started with a solemn language
as: “My dear Excellence...”, since the Academicians of Italy had the
right to have the title of “Excellency “. I went to the number 5 of
Tamburini Street at Milan, near the Sempione Park.
His sister, Maria, opened
the door and few later I was in front of him, housecoat dressed, white-haired,
with the line on the left, grey thick moustache.
Finally he opened the
envelope where there was also written: “This young is Veronese as you
are “. Confused by emotion and with a trembling voice I called him “maestro”.
He was lighting up a cigarette. He stopped with the match mid-air and
said in dialect: “No, blessed you: Simoni and full stop. I'm not teacher
of nothing “.
|
