NECROLOGIO: Boris Eltsin, un gigante del XX secolo

Eltsin intima a Gorbaciov di leggere un documento al Soviet russo

Boris Eltsin è stato, più di chiunque altro, il simbolo della trasformazione della Russia negli ultimi venti anni. Di più: della trasformazione del dibattito ideologico internazionale, con la fine della contrapposizione globale tra mercato e democrazia da una parte e pianificazione e comunismo dall’altra.

Quando arrivò a Mosca nel 1985 per guidare il potentissimo apparato del partito comunista locale, corrotto e fatiscente, ci mise poco a capire che il compito affidatogli da Gorbaciov, attuare la perestrojka (ristrutturazione) nella capitale, era una missione impossibile. Da membro del Politburo, il massimo organo decisionale dell’URSS, cercò invano di convincere i gerontocrati ed i neo-stalinisti che bisognava girare pagina.

Book review: Ibn Battuta in the Maldives and Ceylon, transl. by Albert Gray, *****

Portrait of Ibn Battuta at the museum of Malè

The diary of Ibn Battuta, the famous Arab traveler of the XIV century who spent about nine months there between 1343 and 1344. He became a court advisor, married and divorced several times, shared his abode with concubines and slaves, and tried, unsuccessfully, to make Maldivian women cover their bodies. His account remains one of the most interesting ever written, except perhaps that of Pyrard de Laval.

This edition is a reprint of the translation by Albert Gray, first published in 1882 in Ceylon.







A must read for anyone interested in understanding Maldivian history.

Visit of the Vittoriale degli Italiani, home of Gabriele D'Annunzio

Gabriele D'Annunzio was an iconic writer that polarized Italian literary critics during his lifetime and continues to do so decades after his death.

His home is still an incredible collection of stuff that made his life in peace and war.

The museum is worth a detour if you are around Lake Garda.

The MAS (Mezzi d'Assalto Siluranti), a highly successful family of weapon systems of the Italian navy in WW I and II.

Here is a model from WW I.

Pictures were not allowed in most of the home so here is a few I took where I could. You can find more pictures of additional items here on Wikipedia. His home was full to the brim with all kinds of art and mementos.

I feel close to him in his abhorrence of empty spaces. Horror vacui it was called, and I share it a bit in my home.

Italian warship Puglia