the lesson of prof. Meris Monti
Under the aegis of the San Marino Committee for the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, the week and the penultimate conference of the second cycle of conferences and readings of the “Dante Year” took place, conceived to celebrate the Supreme Poet. For the occasion, Professor Meris Monti, renowned lecturer, former professor of Literature and History of Art at the Liceo Classico of the Upper Secondary School and President of the San Marino National Commission for UNESCO, held, on the evening of Wednesday 24 November, at the Titano Theater, the lesson “Light is given to you for good and malice, and free will. Dante’s journey to discover the gift of freedom “, which saw a great deal of participation and appreciation by all the participants. Starting from the words pronounced by Marco Lombardo in the middle of Canto XVI of Purgatory, which due to their particular location, being attentive to almost the gravity of the whole work, Professor Monti has the center to present the discovery of a fundamental theme for the system of all Dante’s work, of its moral and eschatological system. For Alighieri, in fact, man, an intelligent being endowed with a light that allows him to distinguish good from evil, depends on the exercise of “free will”. This freedom, for himself and for all humanity to which the sacred poem is intended, the pilgrim-poet “goes looking for” (Purg. I 71), when, after having plunged into the infernal chasm and reached the mountain beach of Purgatory, is preparing to climb the mountain and experiences, parallel to the slavery that arises from the choice of evil, the convenience of good. In conclusion, Beatrice, in canto V of Paradise, makes a further and moving celebration of human freedom, defining it as the greatest gift that God has given to men. Not our conquest, therefore, but an innate kit, of inestimable value, wanted for us by the Creator. The dimension of freedom as a gift, the professor finally recalled, recalls a particularly vivid aspect in the conscience of the people of San Marino which, according to tradition, gives place this privileged condition to the will expressed by the Holy Founder in his testament: “relinquo vos liberos ab utroque homine “. At the end of the second cycle of lectures and readings of the Dantean Year, the eighth and last meeting will be held on Wednesday 1 December, again at 21:00 at the Titano Theater. The concert-event evening curated by Maestro Marco Capicchioni is scheduled: “Dante in musica. Composers inspired by the Poet ”. The talented students of the Musical Institute will perform pieces from the classical and contemporary repertoire, all linked, by themes and suggestions, to the figure and work of Alighieri, thus celebrating the mass to music of the genius and imagination of the great Florentine poet. The twelfth edition of the Dante Alighieri Society yearbook “Identità Sammarinese” will be officially presented to citizens on Thursday 9 December, at 5.30 pm, again at the Titano Theater. The volume, this year as rich as never before and accompanied by a special section dedicated exclusively to the eighteenth century from the death of Alighieri, will soon be available in all bookstores and newsstands in the Republic.
Cs Dante Alighieri Society