GIUSEPPE TOMASI DI LAMPEDUSA - Alma Books

2y ago
17 Views
2 Downloads
1.64 MB
18 Pages
Last View : 4m ago
Last Download : 2m ago
Upload by : Tia Newell
Transcription

Giuseppe TomasiDI LAMPEDUSAA BIOGRAPHY THROUGH IMAGESGioacchino Lanza TomasiPicture research by Nicoletta Polowith a Foreword by David GilmourTranslations by Alessandro Gallenzi and J.G. NicholsALMA BOOKS

alma books ltdLondon House243–253 Lower Mortlake RoadRichmondSurrey TW9 2LLUnited Kingdomwww.almabooks.comA Biography through Images first published by Alma Books in 2013Foreword David Gilmour, 2013Introduction, Text, ‘The Leopard’s Den’ and ‘An Annotated Bibliography’ Gioacchino Lanza TomasiTranslations Alma Books Ltd, 2013Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YYISBN: 978-1-84688-212-8All the pictures are reproduced courtesy of Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi and Sellerio Editore,Palermo, who published two different selections of images in 1998 and 2001 under the titlesUna biografia per immagini and I luoghi del Gattopardo. The picture of Villa Cutò on p. 34is reproduced courtesy of Luigi Nifosì.All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introducedinto a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher.This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be resold, lent, hired out orotherwise circulated without the express prior consent of the publisher.

A BIOGRAPHY THROUGH IMAGES

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa in the gardens ofVilla Piccolo in the Autumn of 1956.

The History of the Tomasi FamilyLampedusa’s ChildhoodIn the retinue of Marcantonio Colonna, who was appointed Viceroyof Sicily by Philip II of Spain in 1577, there came to Sicily a Capuangentleman called Mario Tomasi, the descendant of one of the branchesof the Tomasi family which had moved from central Italy to theKingdom of Naples. Mario was captain at arms, a sort of military chiefwith government duties. Among the various responsibilities entrustedto him by the Viceroy were the governorship of the Noto Valley in1580 and of the Mazzara Valley in 1583 (Sicily had been divided bythe Arabs in three districts – or valleys: Val Demone, Val di Noto andVal di Mazzara). It appears that during Colonna’s time of office MarioTomasi was guilty of several acts of embezzlement, and he was arrestedin Spain. But he was a powerful lord who had armed two galleys for theBattle of Lepanto, and he had close links with the nobility of Messina,where the Christian fleet had assembled in 1571.In 1583, after being discharged from prison, Mario Tomasi marriedFrancesca Caro, heiress to the Barons of Montechiaro and Lords ofLampedusa, a family of sea captains of Catalan origin in the serviceof Aragon who had come to Sicily at the time of King Martin the–5–

Elder. Mario and Francesca had two sons, Ferdinando and Mario.The latter was appointed governor of Licata, which was then one ofthe few fortified ports on the eastern coast. Ferdinando, who lived inRagusa and married Isabella La Restia, had two children, the twinsCarlo and Giulio. On 16th January 1637 Philip IV signed a licentiapopulandi (“permission to establish a settlement”), and on 3rd MayCarlo Tomasi e Caro laid the first stone of the new city of Palma inBelow: A Prospect of Palma (oil on canvas, beginning of the eighteenth century). The Tomasipalace can be seen on the left, the Monastery of the Holy Rosary on the right.Previous page: The “holy” Tomasis, oil on canvas by Domenico Provenzani. At the top, OurLady of the Rosary between St Dominic, St Rosalia and St James; first row: Sister MariaMaddalena (Antonia Tomasi, daughter of Giulio I), the Venerable Mother Maria Lanceata(Alipia Tomasi, daughter of Giulio I), the Venerable Mother Maria Maddalena (sister ofFerdinando II), Ferdinando Tomasi, Prince of Lampedusa (son of Giulio I); second row:Sister Maria Crocifissa (Isabella Tomasi, daughter of Giulio I), the Venerable Mother MariaSerafica (Francesca Tomasi, daughter of Giulio I), Cardinal Giuseppe Maria Tomasi (son ofGiulio I); third row: the semi-legendary Bishop Pietro Tomasi, Patriarch of Constantinople in1307, Giulio I Tomasi e Caro, Duke of Palma, Sister Maria Seppellita (Rosalia Traina, wife ofGiulio I) and Father Carlo Tomasi (twin brother of Giulio I). For a family tree of the Tomasilineage, see pp. 96–97.–7–

Above: Frontispiece of a collection of documents by Mario Tomasi, 1st Baron of Montechiaro,captain at arms, founder of the Tomasi line in Sicily. Below left: Carlo Tomasi, 1st Duke ofPalma, Theatine monk and founder of Palma with his twin brother Giulio (oil on canvas, beginning of the eighteenth century). Below right: Giulio Tomasi, the “Holy Duke”, 2nd Duke ofPalma and 1st Prince of Lampedusa (oil on canvas, end of the seventeenth century).–8–

Above left: Title page of Bonifacio Bagatta’s Life of D. Carlo De Tomasi e Caro, Rome 1702.Above right: Title page from the Selected Religious Essays of Sister Maria Crocifissa, Girgenti1704. Below left: Title page of Cardinal Giuseppe Maria Tomasi’s Ascetic Works, Ferrara 1735.Below right: Title page of St Giuseppe Maria Tomasi’s Institutiones theologicæ antiquorumpatrum, Part Four, Rome 1769.–9–

Above left: The Venerable Servant of God Sister Maria Crocifissa (Isabella Tomasi, daughterof Giulio Tomasi, oil on canvas, mid-eighteenth century). Above right: St Giuseppe MariaTomasi, Theatine clergyman, Cardinal (oil on canvas, mid-eighteenth century).the upper territory of the barony of Montechiaro. The following year,Carlo – who was regarded as the firstborn because he issued secondand so presumably was conceived first – was created Duke of Palmaby Philip IV. In 1640 Carlo, the first of the “holy” Tomasis, tookreligious vows, and his twin Giulio succeeded him. And Giulio too,the “Holy Duke”, devoted himself to the greater glory of God andof his fiefdom. In 1659 his palace was transformed into a Benedictineconvent, which his three daughters – Francesca, Isabella (the futureVenerable Crocifissa) and Antonia – entered as novices. The “HolyDuke” gave Palma its status as a sacred city which is unique among allseventeenth-century Sicilian settlements.– 10 –

Above: The leopard in an early eighteenth-century coat-of-arms.

In 1661, having received apapal dispensation, Giulio’swife Rosalia Traina retired tothe convent, and ten years laterhis youngest daughter, Alipia,also entered the convent.Finally Giulio himself – afterhaving been made Prince ofLampedusa in 1667 by Marianaof Austria, Queen Regent ofSpain during the minority ofher son Charles II – retired toa cloistered life on the nearbyMount Calvario. Giuseppe, theFerdinando II Maria Tomasi (oil on canvas byDomenico Provenzani, mid-eighteenth century). firstborn, had already followedhis uncle Carlo and becomea Theatine monk, and from Rome acted as the intellectual andspiritual guide of the family in the distant city of Palma. It was hewho commissioned the first hagiographies of the “holy” Tomasis. Aliturgist, biblical philologist (he had learnt Hebrew from the RabbiMosè di Cave, whom he had converted to Christianity) and cardinal,he was beatified by Pius VII and later canonized by John Paul II.His brother Ferdinando, who had inherited the fiefdom, died in 1672at the age of twenty-one. His wife Melchiorra Naselli had died afew months earlier due to complications after a Caesarean section.This operation took place in front of an assembly of the ducal courtformed, for the most part, by priests and members of religiouscongregations. After a general prayer for the duchess, the duke– 12 –

Giulio’s successor, FerdinandoII Maria, consolidated thefamily’s position in Palermo. In1724 the Holy Roman EmperorCharles VI, then ruler of Naplesand Sicily, granted him the titleof Grandee of Spain, and in 1743he was sent to Messina as a royalenvoy to deal with the emergencyfollowing an outbreak of theGiulio Fabrizio Tomasi, Prince of Lampedusa, Lampedusa’s great-grandfather, atnineteen (miniature on ivory).A photograph of Giulio Fabrizio Tomasi,c.1860.himself ordered the surgeon toopen the womb. The detailedchronicle of the proceedingsis one of the most appallingdescriptions from the days of theCounter-Reformation.Rosalia Traina, the “HolyDuchess”, grandmother of theorphan Giulio, was then forcedto leave the convent in order torule the duchy and bring up theTomasi heir. Giulio moved thefamily to Palermo. And withhim, the mystical period of thefamily’s history in Palma came toan end.– 13 –

Previous page: Giulio Fabrizio Tomasi (oil on canvas, mid-nineteenth century). The Princeof Salina in The Leopard is a thinly veiled portrait of Giulio Fabrizio, Prince of Lampedusa. Above: A 1954 photograph of Villa Lampedusa ai Colli, one of Giulio Fabrizio’s fourresidences in Palermo. Giuseppe never lived there, but had knowledge of it through familymemories and documents relating to the division of the estate. Villa Salina in The Leopard isbased on this property.plague. Ferdinando was three times prefect (mayor) of Palermo. In1746, during his second period of office, he dented the city’s financeswith the expenses for the fireworks of Santa Rosalia.In 1799, his grandson Giulio III Maria was also prefect ofPalermo and manager of the theatre of Santa Lucia. The familyalways had a privileged relationship with the Church, and severalof its members held high positions in the Order of Malta and inthe city’s confraternities. In particular, they were often governorsof the Compagnia della Pace (“Congregation of the Peace”). TheCongregation’s meeting place was situated above the rampart ofthe Porta Termini, one of Palermo’s historic gates, which is wherethe Circolo Bellini, Palermo’s aristocratic club (founded in 1769), islocated today.– 15 –

In the nineteenth century, this relationship with the Churchtook a turn towards excessive piety, as shown by Prince Giulio’sgrandson, Giulio Fabrizio, an amateur astronomer and the modelfor the protagonist of The Leopard. The diary of his son Giuseppe,the writer’s grandfather, reveals a constant coming and going ofecclesiastics in the observatory of the Colli, and a daily recital of therosary and celebration of the Mass.After Giulio Fabrizio’s death, it became apparent that the economic– and consequently social – decline of the family could not be arrested.When he died in 1885, Prince Giulio Fabrizio was survived by severalchildren and left no will. The sons thought that a will did exist andthat the mother and daughters had destroyed it – and that was thestart of a lawsuit which went through all the main courts of law inthe city. The dispute was ended in 1945 with an agreement arrangedBelow: Giulio Fabrizio Tomasi’s telescope (left) and a detail of his library in the Villa Lampedusa ai Colli (right)– 16 –

Above left: Frontispiece of the 1854 edition of A. de Humboldt’s Cosmos, owned by GiulioFabrizio Tomasi. Above right: The penultimate page of Lampedusa’s grandfather Giuseppe Tomasi’s journal, from the year 1858. Below: The diploma conferred on Giulio Fabrizio Tomasi bythe Italian Society for the Advancement of the Sciences in 1875.– 17 –

Above: Stefania Papè di Valdina and Giuseppe Tomasi, the writer’s paternal grandparents.Below: Giovanna Filangeri di Cutò (oil on canvas signed “PDG 1879”) and Lucio Mastro giovanni Tasca, the writer’s maternal grandparents.– 18 –

Above: A 1954 photograph of Villa Lampedusa ai Colli, one of Giulio Fabrizio’s four residences in Palermo. Giuseppe never lived there, but had knowledge of it through family memories and documents relating to the division of the estat

Related Documents:

GIUSEPPE TOMASI DI LAMPEDUSA 10 Deuses, Júpiter fulgurante, arte carrancudo, M ênus lânguida, V os quais haviam precedido a turba dos menores, carregavam de bom grado o brasão azul com o L eopardo. Eles sabiam que agora, por vinte

L05: 2 Nephi 1-8 L08: 2 Nephi 28-33 L09: Jacob 1-7 L10: Enos - Mosiah 3 L11: Mosiah 4-26 L12: Mosiah 27-Alma 7 L06: 2 Nephi 9-16 L13: Alma 8-16 L07: 2 Nephi 17-27 L14: Alma 17-29 FDREL 122 L01: Introduction L02: Alma 30-35 L08: 3 Nephi 12-17 L09: 3 Nephi 18-22 L03: Alma 36-42 L04: Alma 43-63 L10: 3 Nephi 23-30 L11: 4 Nephi - Mormon 9

a land protected area was established. In 2002, most of the sea around Lampedusa was established as a marine protected area. From the geologic point of view, Lampedusa is a flat table of Tortonian-Messinian limestone and grainsto

the Lampedusa hotspot. A high-level meeting in Lampedusa concluded that the hotspot must be refurbished and that quarantine vessels to host migrants arriving on their own to Lampedusa should be pres

Lampedusa survivors face prosecution and fines l Lampedusa migrant boat tragedy death toll reaches 211 as more bodies are recovered from the sunken vessel that was headed for Italy Mr Sollustri told La Repubblica: 'We couldn't leave without doing something for her. We took her out forming a h

Boccamurata (2007), Vento scomposto (2009), tutti editi da Feltrinelli. Letture di Lia Rocco. Abbracciare gli alberi di Giuseppe Barbera (Mondadori). Intervengono l’autore, Pippo Di Falco (presidente provinciale CIA), il pittore Giuseppe Leto, Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi, il disegnatore

School of Italian Culinary Arts (ALMA) in Colorno, 12 kms from Parma. Members of the Presidium were met by Mr Albino Ivardi Ganapini, President of ALMA, by Mr Gualtiero Marchesi, the Rector, and by Mr Giuseppe Magnani, public relations officer. The school is located within the walls of the Ducal Palace, the vast, sumptuous residence of members of

Abrasive jet machining (AJM), also called abrasive micro blasting, is a manufacturing process that utilizes a high-pressure air stream carrying small particles to impinge the workpiece surface for material removal and shape generation. The removal occurs due to the erosive action of the particles striking the workpiece surface. AJM has limited material removal capability and is typically used .