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ALESSANDROALBERTO GIACOMETTI MANZONI ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... IlPreserver genio che of si the manifesta past and attraverso great innovator l’arte of the Italian language Texts by Card. Gianfranco Ravasi, Gian Luigi Daccò, Emanuele Banfi, Giovanni Orelli, Barbara Cattaneo Preserver of the past and great innovator of the Italian language ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Manzoni: Two spiritual registers Card. Gianfranco Ravasi* Page I: Giuseppe Molteni, Ritratto di Alessandro Manzoni, mid 19th century, oil on canvas, Sistema Museale Urbano Lecchese (Si.M.U.L.), Villa Manzoni, Manzoni Museum, Lecco. Left: Carlo Preda, Madonna Assunta, first-half 18th century, oil on canvas, Si.M.U.L., Villa Manzoni, chapel, Manzoni Museum, Lecco. On this page: Giovanni Battista Galizzi, I capponi di Renzo, first-half 20th century, India ink and watercolour, Si.M.U.L., Villa Manzoni, Manzoni Museum, Lecco. Alessandro Manzoni ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... IV Preserver of the past and great innovator of the Italian language ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Personal memories as Prefect of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Manzoni is well and truly instilled in our the library in Milan set up by Cardinal Fed- minds and hearts thanks to his master- erico Borromeo, who merited a remarkably piece, the novel I Promessi Sposi (“The Be- positive description in chapter 22 of The Be- trothed”), which we all had to read at school trothed. Furthermore, as a member of the (though as children the experience was not Special Committee for the European Edition always perceived as enjoyable…), his Inni of Manzoni’s complete works, I have written sacri (“Sacred Hymns”) and the Odi a major essay on the biblical sources used by (“Odes”). Alessandro Manzoni’s influence Manzoni in one of his most favourite works, on the Italian language is still felt today. Le osservazioni sulla Morale Cattolica (“Ob- Many of his characters are referred to in servations on Catholic Morals”), though commonly used expressions. We use “Per- this new edition has yet to be printed. So, petua” as a metonym for a cleric’s house- here we now stand before the abundance of keeper; the more obscure “Carneade” is a pages so carefully and precisely written by synonym for an unknown person (“Chi era Manzoni, whereby as we proceed we should costui?”); and “Azzeccagarbugli” refers to le- do well to heed the advice Manzoni himself gal trickery. Many people can still recall gave in his introduction to The Betrothed: lines of Manzoni’s writing: from his famous “di libri basta uno per volta, quando non è “Farewell, ye mountains, rising from the d’avanzo” (“one book at a time is enough; it waters” and “A true Lombard sky, so beau- may even be too much”). tiful when it is beautiful”, to the ironic “Get you gone, poor anointer, you’ll not be the The convoluted nature of the human heart fellow that’ll ruin Milan!” and Lucia’s words Let us consider the two apparently oppos- addressed to the formidable Unnamed, ing registers, or voices, we can detect in “God pardons so many sins for one deed of Manzoni’s soul. Together they form a har- mercy!”, and the simple yet tragic words “… monic, coherent counterpoint. The first and the miserable girl replied” which seal has a dark, gloomy tone: the obvious pessi- the fate of the Nun of Monza. mism that Manzoni reveals in his view of Just as we can hear the ocean in a seashell, human nature and its convolutedness, the so can we hear some of Manzoni’s verses farrago of emotions in the human heart. echoing in our minds, such as the emphatic As he says, “when two strong passions cry “Was that true glory? May future genera- out to be heard in the human heart, no tions decide!” from his Il cinque maggio one, not even the one who suffers them, (“The Fifth of May”), written upon the can clearly distinguish one voice from the death of Napoleon, and his powerful profes- other and confidently say which is pre- sion of faith in God from the same ode, “[he] dominant”. Then again, “if one listens to who destroys and brings salvation, who tor- ments and consoles”. I do not intend, however, to write a critical analysis of this great, internationally re- nowned Italian author. That would be pointless, given the wealth of critical works that exist on the subject. Instead, I want to Left: Luigi Zuccoli, Ritratto take a wide-ranging look at Manzoni, the di A. Manzoni, 1850, religious man, drawing on my own personal drawing, Si.M.U.L., Villa Manzoni, experience. Whilst living in Milan, it was Manzoni Museum, easy for me, as it were, to “rub shoulders Lecco. with” Manzoni, especially in his old home in Right: Piazza Belgioioso, now a museum dedicat- Giovanni Battista Galizzi, Il sonno di ed to his memory, where I was often the Renzo, first-half 20th guest of Giancarlo Vigorelli, then chairman century, India ink and watercolour, of the National Manzoni Study Centre. Si.M.U.L., Villa Another of my connections to Manzoni is Manzoni, Manzoni Museum, Lecco. the position I held for almost twenty years V Alessandro Manzoni ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... one’s heart, it always has something to say matic demonstration of this, confirming the about what will be. Yet what does the heart saying from the Gospel: “...for the sons of know? Just a little of what has been.” Manzo- this world are wiser in their generation ni’s bitter realism here is almost certainly than the sons of light” (Luke 16:8). As Man- the result of the Jansenist influences on his zoni puts it: spiritual development. He has a strong, pas- sionately held moral message: Manzoni firmly believes that “whatever comes next is not always progress”, as he wrote in his es- say Del romanzo storico (“On the Historical Novel”). The very last page of The Betrothed (chap- ter 38) – the main work we will consider here – contains an emblematic description that clearly illustrates the author’s view of how man is inherently dissatisfied, uneasy and discontent, stressing the basic “frailty” of our existence and being human. In the words of Manzoni: “[...] man, so long as he is in this world, is like a sick person lying upon a more or less uncomfortable bed, who sees around him other beds that are appar- ently nicely made, smooth and level; so “Those who do good, do it for the sake of he fancies that they must be more com- good will; once their good will has been fortable to lie on. However, if he suc- satisfied, they are satisfied and do not ceeds in changing beds, scarcely does concern themselves anymore with the he settle down on his new bed than he consequences of their actions; but those starts testing its softness, feeling here a who have a taste for evil-doings, they sharp point pricking him and there a are much more diligent, following up to hard lump pressing into him: in short, the end and never allowing themselves we come to find ourselves in the same time to rest, because they have a de- situation all over again.” vouring canker within them.” Curiously enough, only a few years earlier This canker can be seen in the evil works Giacomo Leopardi had made a similar com- perpetrated far and wide by the wicked ment in his Zibaldone: throughout history, with the connivance of many and the resignation of the just: “We, coming into this life, are like a man lying on a hard and uncomfortable bed, “‘Didn’t you know,’ Cardinal Federico who starts to feels ill and cannot be Borromeo asked Don Abbondio, ‘that easy; so he keeps turning from side to iniquity depends not only on its own side and tries in a thousand ways to flat- strength, but often also on the fears and ten and soften the bed, always hoping credulity of others?’” and attempting to find a comfortable position and so fall asleep; thus the time The chain of evil and the connivance of Giovanni Battista comes for him to get up without his hav- “popular consensus” Galizzi, “erarimasto ing slept a wink.” Violence thus runs rampant in society and unlupo sotto illetto e tregatti sopra”, “crime is a rigid, inflexible tyrant, against first-half 20th centu- Man’s state of dissatisfaction then develops which only those who rebel completely can ry, India ink and watercolour, into thoughts and acts based on a negative ever make a strong stand”. Hence comes Si.M.U.L., Villa code of ethics. Manzoni’s masterpiece, The the famous outburst in the Second Act of Manzoni, Manzoni Museum, Lecco. Betrothed, provides us with a brilliant dra- Manzoni’s Conte di Carmagnola: “Brothers VI Preserver of the past and great innovator of the Italian language ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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