Cap 15. L’ultimo D’Annunzio (10)
Come vi ho detto, secondo molti il suicidio venne tramutato dai medici in morte accidentale, per ragioni di Stato poiché il Vate era una figura pubblica. Per questo motivo non vennero mai eseguiti né autopsia né accertamenti approfonditi per meglio chiarire le cause del decesso.
Qualche mese prima, in una lettera alla sorella, aveva scritto: “Io resto con il nulla che mi sono creato”, in cui sembra presagire un suicidio, del cui tentativo parlava anche nel suo Libro Segreto:
“Non so, non saprò mai, se non da una divinazione religiosa. era presente il Fato indomito? era presente Nostro Signore? […]
Ma chi era presente? chi vide? chi mai potrà ridire? Presente era tuttavia la morte che il gran palpito uno e triplice non aveva respinto. Era là, evocata dalla condoglianza dei famigli accorsi, dal compianto strepitoso”
Era angosciato dall’aver perso ogni passione, quella spinta vitale che gli faceva dire: “La passione in tutto. Desidero le più lievi cose perdutamente, come le più grandi. Non ho mai tregua…”
E questo sembrava richiamare i versi con cui si conclude il Libro segreto:
“La mia concisa disperazione è questa: unicamente questa, immutabilmente questa.
Tutta la vita è senza mutamento.
Ha un solo volto la malinconia.
Il pensiero ha per cima la follia.
E l’amore è legato al tradimento.”
Per non parlare del lugubre messaggio-epitaffio lanciato dalla tomba dei suoi cani:
“ogni uomo seppellito
è il cane del suo nulla.”
Ogni uomo sta di guardia al nulla… ricordo che quando avevo cercato di convincerlo dell’esistenza di un aldilà, mi ero sentita rispondere:
“Voglio restare con il nulla che mi sono creato […]. Preferisco il nulla, la polvere, la putredine, i vermi che ci mangeranno. Non deve restare nulla di noi. […] In fin dei conti, non credo che al néant».
Aveva poi aggiunto “Felici voi che credete!”
E solo tre giorni prima della sua morte mi aveva tristemente confessato:
“Ho pianto pensando all’improvviso a come sono stato amato e a come ho disperso tutto al vento per non fare posto che alla lussuria. Quante vittime!”
Se si fosse trattato veramente di suicidio, so che sarebbe stato impossibile celebrare i solenni funerali religiosi, con innegabile imbarazzo per Mussolini e per il Governo, che meno di dieci anni prima, nel 1929, aveva sottoscritto con la Santa Sede i “Patti Lateranensi” che regolavano i rapporti tra Stato e Chiesa.
Quei funerali di Stato voluti in suo onore dal regime fascista, videro un’imponente partecipazione di folla che mesta seguiva il feretro, avvolto dalla bandiera del Timavo.
Vi partecipò anche il figlio Mario, deputato fascista che tornò al Vittoriale solo per i funerali del padre. Era accanto alla madre, al Duce, ai pezzi grossi del partito .
In mezzo a tutte quelle impettite autorità in orbace, e tutte quelle insegne di associazioni fasciste che svettavano sui partecipanti, ho visto anche tante donne visibilmente afflitte. Chi erano? Alcune badesse di passo? Altre amanti segrete di cui non ero a conoscenza?
Perché la consolazione di vederlo accompagnato da tanto affetto verso la sua ultima dimora terrena era guastata da una punta di gelosia?
Tornando all’ipotesi del suicidio, plausibile da molti punti di vista, a me però sorge spontanea una domanda. Se davvero avesse voluto suicidarsi, lui, così rispettoso dell’immagine, della forma e del decoro, non avrebbe scelto un abbigliamento più consono che non un pigiama stropicciato, e un ambiente meno angusto di una specie di sgabuzzino?
continua
As I told you, according to many, the suicide was transformed by the doctors into an accidental death, for State interest, since the Vate was a public figure. That’s why neither an autopsy nor in-depth investigations were ever carried out to better clarify the causes of death.
A few months earlier, in a letter to his sister, he had written: “I remain with the nothingness that I created for myself”, where he seems to foresee a suicide. He also spoke about a suicide attempt in his Secret Book:
“I don’t know, I will never know, except from a religious divination, if indomitable Fate was present, or if Our Lord was present […]
But who was present? who saw? who could ever say anything? However, death was present had not been able to repel the great throb. It was there, evoked by the condolence of the family members who had gathered, and by the sensational mourning”
He was distressed by having lost all passion, that vital drive that made him say: “Passion in everything. I desire the slightest things as desperately as the greatest. I can never get a break…”
And this seemed to recall the lines with which the Secret Book ends:
“My concise despair is this, uniquely this, immutably this.
All life is without change.
Melancholy has only one face.
Thought has madness at its peak.
And love is linked to betrayal.”
Not to mention the gloomy message-epitaph launched from the grave of his dogs:
“every man who is buried
is the dog of his nothingness.”
Every man stands guard over his nothingness… I remember that when I tried to convince him of the existence of an afterlife, he replied:
“I want to remain with the nothingness that I created for myself […]. I prefer nothingness, dust, decay, the worms that will eat us. There must be nothing left of us. […] Ultimately, I don’t believe in anything but the néant (nothingness).”
He then added “Happy are you who believe!”
And only three days before his death he sadly said to me:
“I cried suddenly thinking about how I was loved and how I scattered everything to the wind to make room only for lust. How many victims!”
If that had been a suicide, the solemn religious funerals could not have been celebrated, with undeniable embarrassment for Mussolini and for the Government. In 1929 agreements between the Italian government and the Holy See had been signed. They were called Lateran Pacts because they were named after the Lateran Palace where they were stipulated.
The treaty settled the position of Rome as the capital of Italy and established the Vatican City as a sovereign state. The Italian government also agreed to give the Roman Catholic Church financial compensation for the loss of the Papal States.
Since the church does not grant religious funerals to those who kill themselves,
those state funerals wanted in honour of D’Annunzio by the fascist regime would have been impossible. Instead they had an impressive participation of the crowd who sadly followed the coffin, wrapped in his military flag.
His son Mario, a fascist deputy who returned to the Vittoriale only for his father’s funeral, also participated. He was next to his mother, the Duce, the most important members of the Fascist Party
In the midst of all those strutting authorities, and all those signs of fascist associations that towered over the participants, I also saw many visibly distressed women. Who were they? Some of his “passing abbesses”? Other secret lovers I didn’t know about?
Why was the solace of seeing him accompanied by so much affection towards his final earthly home marred by a hint of jealousy?
Returning to the suicide hypothesis, which, I know, is plausible from many points of view, a question arises spontaneously for me. If he really wanted to commit suicide, and since he was so respectful of image, form and decorum, wouldn’t he have chosen more suitable clothing than crumpled pajamas, and an environment less cramped than a sort of closet?
to be continued
🌹
LikeLiked by 1 person
That ended with an interesting twist!
LikeLike
Thank you very much: that is a question that seems quite obvious to me 😇
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] Le donne del mio Vate – ☾ CXIII ☽🖋️ […]
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for reblogging. 🙏 😊 🙏 😊 🙏 😊 🙏
LikeLike
Thank you, Luisa, for this interesting post, and the events surrounding poet’s funeral. It is fitting with his complex personality that he left behind a puzzel to ponder about, with no chance to know ever the truth.
Joanna
LikeLiked by 2 people
You’re absolutely right, dear Joanna: the truth will never come out unless new evidence is discovered to support one of the hypotheses
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, dear Luisa, I am sure that if he could see the puzzlement, he would be amused!
Joanna x
LikeLiked by 2 people
👍👍👍
Thanks a lot for your great reply
LikeLike
You are more than welcome!
Joanna
LikeLiked by 1 person
💞🌷
LikeLike
I suppose we will never know if he committed suicide, got murdered or died from a stroke?
LikeLiked by 2 people
As I already told Joanna, I don’t think the truth will ever come out unless new evidence is discovered to support one of the hypotheses.
In this case it could become a real “cold case” to be investigated if someone had the firm intention of finding out what really happened
LikeLiked by 1 person
Grandioso. Grazie anche del filmato.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Grazie per aver apprezzato, cara Augusta🙏🎞️
LikeLiked by 2 people
Perhaps, somewhere, Gabriele is still smiling about the mystery and the fact that others are still talking of him. May he rest in the peace he never seemed to gain in life. Happy Friday Luisa. Allan
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think he’s really happy that we continue to talk about him, not only for his literary value, which I haven’t dealt with (since my stories were narrated by the maid/mistress – who I still have to describe more deeply) but for his life, which was all an almost fictional adventure
LikeLiked by 2 people
The best bit is always seeing the ‘to be continued’. x
LikeLiked by 2 people
I thank you sincerely, dearest Shey. 💗
Your constant encouragement is a great support to me
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are a great support to all of us Luisa and you write wonderfully xxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
You make me blush, but I’m happy for your praise 💗
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is a most excellent, compelling post, Luisa! Thank you for included the video, which I watched from beginning to end. I loved listening to the Italian language – and could understand a few words. Grazie Mille!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So glad you enjoyed both the post and the video!
Thank you very much for your kind words🙏🌷🙏
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s always at the end, the very end, that people feel remorsefulness for hurting others and living a bad life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I totally agree with you 💗🌹💗
LikeLiked by 1 person
Veramente tutto interessante Luisa, grazie!!!!😊😊🤗
LikeLiked by 1 person
Grazie a te, Vitty cara:🙏🙏 il tuo incoraggiamento e il tuo apprezzamento mi sono di grande supporto 💞
LikeLike
He came to reality at the end.
But I agree with your little maid ~ such a personality would have set a grand stage upon which to be discovered in impeccable attire… To be sure, he would have stifled all movement in his last throes, and clenched his jaw as well, like iron, to be found as handsome and dapper as ever!…
LikeLiked by 1 person
So true, dearest Ana. I love your brilliant reconstruction❣️ He loved form and aesthetics very much, so he would have created something more spectacular and stately 🙏
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dipende come stava mentalmente in quel momento. ( intendo del suicidio)
Buona serata
LikeLiked by 1 person
Questo non verrà mai scoperto, a meno che non si riprenda in mano il caso e si faccia un po’ più di chiarezza
Buona serata (del giorno dopo) a te 😉
LikeLike
Great point about the Church and suicide. Did not realize his son and daughter in law were important Fascists.
LikeLiked by 2 people
At that time Italy was full of fascists… and I fear that it is going to be filled with them again, a little different on the outside but with similar ideas. The rest, the silent majority, stands by and watches
LikeLiked by 2 people
Other countries, including the US, share your fear for their own and other countries. This would be a good time to be wrong. 🤞😔👍
LikeLiked by 2 people
I wish we were wrong with our fears… even if I think that many (at least here) are indifferent to the problem, as long as they have something to eat, drink, have fun, and also because they are now incapable of making their brains work and drawing lessons from the past 😢
LikeLiked by 2 people
We have the same problem here and many of them are Trump supporters.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I know… 😒
LikeLiked by 2 people
I was almost convinced he died from suicide until the end. Such a good point about the crumpled clothes and the less-than-fancy location.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I’m happy that you support my point of view, which is that of my narrator, Aélis.
I don’t think the truth will ever come out unless the body is exhumed and thorough tests are carried out.
LikeLiked by 3 people
The last paragraph really makes the suicide hypothesis seem less plausible. I find it strange that “..the church does not grant religious funerals to those who kill themselves”.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The Catholic Church considers suicide a seriously immoral act, as it violates respect for human life, a gift from God. In the past suicides, being excommunicated, were not even considered worthy of a religious funeral.
Today it seems that the Catholic Church believes that every person has the right to a Christian funeral, including people who have lost their lives due to suicide.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I think that’s an improvement. Suicide is typically rooted in mental illness and then it is possible to face extreme suffering at the hands of a cruel enemy in which case suicide is the better option.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much for this wise reflection.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ciao non avevo mai visto il funerale e la voce del cronista è incancellabile dalla memoria. Certo mi fa specie vedere la moglie, ma per lui che significato aveva visto che aveva altre abitudini? bye
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ricordo che quando ero piccola, al cinema c’erano ancora i Cinegiornali Luce, prima della proiezione dei film!
Buona serata, caro Stefano💗
LikeLiked by 1 person
Io rimango dell’idea del ‘suicidio di stato’ ovvero è stato fatto fuori visto che adesso la sua persona era meno forte.
LikeLiked by 3 people
E’ molto probabile, caro Gian … qualcuno sospetta che anche la caduta dalla finestra, il cosiddetto “Volo dell’Arcangelo” del 1922, fu voluta per tenerlo lontano dalla scena politica
LikeLiked by 2 people
Lo credo anch’io
LikeLiked by 2 people
🤔🤔🤔
LikeLiked by 2 people
😀
LikeLiked by 2 people