to pursue virtue and knowledge. Many have questioned if Levi really had been
overwhelmed at Auschwitz by Dante: the counterpoint of classic beauty in one
of the world’s vilest places suggests the artifice of afterthought.
From the moment Levi completed ‘The Canto of Ulysses’, he was set to
become one of the most Classically-influenced writers in post-war Italy. Years
later, he told a journalist that, if he had to rescue two Italian writers from a
library fire, they would be ‘Dante and Manzoni’. Only a Classical student with
an enduring humanist education could have said as much.
TO BE CONTINUED
At the beginning of last summer, a young friend, a student from Collegio
Valdese in Torre Pellice, told me that he had a place to stay in London for a
couple of months: could I help him in finding where to do some voluntary
work? I asked our Patron, and this is what followed:
Here I am, on my second placement at Wesley’s Chapel. Entering the gates
of the front yard of the chapel, dominated by the comforting statue of the
founder of Methodism, is always a great pleasure, and so is getting into the
main building, where lots of colourful flags are hanging from the gallery to
remind you of the variety of identities composing the community. Wesley’s
famous sentence, ‘The world is my parish’, seems to be always present here,
as a muffled echo, and you can soon understand how this parish actually
represents the whole world, gathering together people from everywhere.
Last summer I had already had the great opportunity to be on a placement
at Wesley’s Chapel and it was definitely one of the greatest social and cultural
experiences of my life. I helped taking calls, answering emails, sorting mail and
achieving all the different little tasks that characterise all offices. I also gave a
hand to the stewards reordering books in the library of the museum. And it
was here, during the two months spent helping in the office of the museum
of this beautiful church, that I really began to discover British culture. All the
wondrous people with whom I was working made me appreciate it in all its
different aspects and sides. So this year, when the chance to repeat this great
experience and meet all my friends of last year came up, I took it immediately
with both hands.
Of course, coming to London is wonderful and I always make the most
of the opportunity, enjoying its great cultural riches which seem to have no
limit. I can, for example, cultivate my interest in Shakespeare as a groundling
in the Globe, relishing the magical atmosphere which prevails there. The
Proms are another event which I make sure not to miss and, standing always
in my favourite part of the arena, I was literally overjoyed when, this year, I
found the same people whom I had met last summer. The endless number of
museums, art galleries and exhibitions is then more than enough to satisfy
my thirst for art.
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