«It seems to me that life, unfortunately, is made up of exams and trials, which are the same thing, two faces of the same authoritarian and repressive society that we have built around ourselves for I don't know what madness». Thus Luciano Bianciardi in the letter to his daughter Luciana in July 1970. The writer , who had multiple interests, was born a hundred years ago , on December 14, 1922 , in Grosseto . An anniversary that renews the memory of an intellectual who experimented with literature, journalism, translations but was also a librarian and television critic. He investigated the world of books, the cultural industry and the transformations of Italian society in the 1960s. His best known work is " La vita agra ", in which he expresses his anger towards that "economically miraculous" society.
The Scudetto of Cagliari
Luciano Bianciardi, who never stopped in his professional life, also paid attention to the sporting events of Cagliari which won the Scudetto in 1970 . For the weekly "Epoca" he writes a report on that team and on the leaders of that extraordinary group. «The talk – he writes – began one Saturday after dinner, that is on the eve of the match, the fourth from bottom of the championship, Cagliari-Palermo. An obviously difficult match, between a team on the verge of Serie B and one that wanted to win the Scudetto».
Here is the nocturnal conversation with Scopigno. They talk about Hegel, Gershwin, Schubert and Guttuso and also about football. There is no lack of whiskey, for Bianciardi, and vodka for Scopigno. The portrait of the “philosopher”: «The first thing that strikes you is the face. It is easy to say that this is the face of an Etruscan before you: but, since I affirm that the Etruscans never existed, I prefer to say that this is the face of an ancient Italian, one of those born and remained in the heart of the peninsula, before, long before the Romans arrived with square legions, roads and praetors. A face shaped by awareness, by irony, in short by history».
Bianciardi will write again to celebrate the first scudetto : «So below, let's give this scudetto to Cagliari, to Sardinia to which many, too many things have been denied. The Sassari brigade, rebuilt a hundred times during the First World War. The promise of pastures to the shepherds. The age-old feuds, the Continent sucking up the best energies, the finest brains. I know, the shield on the shirt, next to the four blindfolded Moors, is a very poor compensation ». He returns to the subject in an article published in Guerin Sportivo: "Mother Scopigno's wrong profession".
Dinner at the Fair
The writer enthusiastically participates in the celebration for the tricolor flag at the trade fair . There are also colleagues Ameri, Ghirelli and Giglio Panza. At dinner they eat «bottarga, salami, ham, squid, mullet with mayonnaise, lobster and then alas stewed tripe, sospiri di Ozieri and prickly pears». Bianciardi and Scopigno discuss literary topics. «I recommend Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth», the Grosseto tells him. "I've already read it," replies the Italian champion coach.