Carantoc, a saint who lived in the 5th-6th century, was a monk and bishop of Cardigan in Wales. Not much is known about him, and several details of his life are obscure or contradictory. He is also referred to by various names: the only constant element is the date of his feast day, May 16th,… Read More The Saint Protector Against Polluted Water
Cap 12. ALCUNE DELLE ALTRE : Dicerie (8) Dopo le sue avventure, la sera veniva spesso da me, al piano di sopra, a farmi le sue confidenze. Altrimenti mi lasciava decine e decine di lettere e biglietti, buttati giù anche a matita perché era già tardi e l’inchiostro era finito. Questa smania erotica non si… Read More Le donne del mio Vate – ☾ LXXXVIII☽🖋️
Cap. 9 –L’ALTRA LUISA : LUISA CASATI – Esoterismo (7) L’esoterismo che tanto attrae la Divina Marchesa affascina molto anche Gabriele che spesso si diverte a narrare una specie di stregoneria compiuta da suo nonno paterno alla sua nascita: racconta infatti che il vecchio mise tra le fasce del nipote una moneta d’argento perché, secondo… Read More Le donne del mio Vate – ☾LXXI☽ 🖋️
Cap. 9 –L’ALTRA LUISA : LUISA CASATI (5) Durante il suo volontario esilio in Francia, Gabriele intensificò il rapporto con Luisa Casati, anche perché lei lo introdusse in vari salotti parigini, in atelier di artisti e molti luoghi d’incontro letterari. Ci sono due o tre aneddoti molto curiosi riguardanti la Marchesa durante il suo soggiorno… Read More Le donne del mio Vate – ☾ LXIX☽ 🖋️
Exactly one hundred and seventy years ago, on 1 October 1853, among the ruins of the ancient library of Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria, at Nineveh, Hormuzd Rassam discovered the “Epic of Gilgamesh”, a poem from ancient Mesopotamia that is often regarded as the earliest surviving great work of literature.Like many other artefacts, the text is… Read More Gilgamesh, the King Who Wanted to Defeat Death
After being interred in an oak coffin in the public cemetery, just outside Calais, Emma Hamilton was moved somewhere else because that churchyard was converted into a timber-yard in 1816.She was probably relocated to a cemetery near a theatre in an area that was later devastated during World War I and World War II.People say… Read More Lady Hamilton’s Ghost (part 69)
It is odd to think that Nelson‘s body was placed in Cardinal Wolsey’s tomb, hundreds of years after his death, but this story is full of such odd things. That imposing black marble sarcophagus was originally built for that English statesman and Catholic bishop, who commissioned Benedetto da Rovezzano to design a magnificent tomb in… Read More Lady Hamilton & Horatio Nelson: Nelson’s Sarcophagus (part 48)
After arriving at Greenwich on 23 December 1805, Nelson’s body was placed inside a lead coffin which was in turn placed into another wooden one, made from the mast of L’Orient salvaged after the French warship had been destroyed in the Battle of the Nile, a gift to Nelson in 1799 from Benjamin Hallowell, then… Read More Lady Hamilton & Horatio Nelson: Nelson’s Funeral (part 47)
In my post about Herbert Hoover (see here) I said that when he was only two years old he nearly suffocated from a croup attack (a severe breathing difficulty caused by acute obstruction of the larynx and trachea).His aunt Agnes wrote: “ We all thought he was dead. … The eyes of the infant were… Read More Those Two Pennies (for Charon?)
As I’ve already written (here) “Barbara Allen” began as a ballad in the seventeenth century or earlier and was published and performed under many different titles, in a vast array of tunes and narrative details.The earliest text was published in London in 1690, under the title “Barbara Allen’s cruelty: or, the young-man’s tragedy”. It appeared… Read More Barbara Allen/2
words and music and stories 