CORRESPONDENCErnLetter FromrnNorthern Italyrnby Mario MarcollarnPoe, Henry Adams, and anrnAlliance of ChristendomrnAn interior bond ties me to America,rnwhere one of my grandfathers is buried.rnHe tried the adventure of emigration,rnwithout ever rooHng himself in a regularrnjob and without managing to send a pennyrnto the family in Italy, until he died almostrncertainly in an almshouse. My otherrngrandfather crossed the Atlantic inrn1902. He was a lumberman in Michigan,rnand afterward went to New Jersey tornwork as a miner. From 1906 to 1912, myrnfather attended elementary school inrnTrenton and then returned to Trentino,rnItaly, with his mother and a sister whornhad been born in the United States. Inrn1920, the family was united again, evenrnpoorer than when thev left for America,rnbecause the defeat of the Austro-HungarianrnEmpire had destroyed the entire valuernof their savings on deposit with thernBank of Vienna.rnI bring up these personal matters in orderrnto show that the destinies of men arernalways interconnected, that our vocationsrnstem from the experiences of our own fathersrnand forefathers. America has alwavsrnbeen in my heart, and for that reason Irnhave studied the history of the UnitedrnStates in colonial times, as well as 20thcenturyrnAmerican conservatism.rnOn the cultural plain, the bonds betweenrnItaly and the United States in thernI850’s were ver’ strong, the few Italiansrnliving in America notwithstanding.rnAmerican poets and philosophers keptrnItaly in mind as an historical examplernand a source for European literature.rnEdgar Allan Poe was the first Americanrnreviewer of the English edition of therngreat romance of our best writer of thern19th century: Alessandro Manzoni’s JrnPromessi Sposi, which had the title ThernBetrothed in the United States. Poe wroternhis poems and tales as he traveled fromrnRichmond to the Northeast; but thoughrnthe landscape was American, Poe’s mindrnran to Europe, above all to Italy, as wernsee in his poem “The Coliseum”:rnType of the antique Rome! RichrnreliquaryrnOf lofty contemplation left to TimernBy buried centuries of pomp andrnpower!rnAt length —at length—after sornmany daysrnOf wear’ pilgrimage and burningrnthirstrn(Thirst for the springs of lore that inrnthee lie,)rnI kneel, an altered and an humble manrnAmid th}’ shadows, and so drinkrnwithinrnMy very soul thy grandeur, gloomrnand glory!rnThe poet asks the ruins whether their lessonrnis lost forever:rn”Not all” the Echoes answer me —rn”not all!rnProphetic sounds and loud, arisernforeverrnFrom us, and from all Ruin, untornthe wise,rnAs Melodv from Mt •mnon to thernSun.rnWe rule the hearts of mightiestrnmen — we rulernWith a despotic sway all giantrnminds.rnWe are not impotent—we pallidrnstones.rnNot all our power is gone—not allrnour fame —rnNot all the magic of our highrnrenown —rnNot all the wonder that encirclesrnus —rnNot all the mysteries that in usrnl i e -rnNot the memories that hang uponrnAnd cling aroiuid about ns as a garment,rnClothing us in a robe of more thanrnglor>.”rnIn “To Helen,” Poe recalls the past of ourrncommon civilization:rnThy Naiad airs have brought mernhomernTo the glor’ that was Greece,rnAnd the grandeur that was Rome.rnWiile Poe lived out his sad existence,rnanother American, the philosopher andrnpolemicist Orestes Brownson, was goingrnthrough a spiritual journev from Emerson’srntranscendentalism through RobertrnOwen’s socialism and all the way to thernCatholic Church. Brownson chose asrnhis teacher and inspiration one of therngreatest Italian philosophers of the 19thrncentury: the Abbot Vineenzo Gioberti,rnborn in Turin in 1801. The Italian scholarrnserved as a political inspiration in thernheated discussion that began in thosernvears regarding the Risorgimento, or thernunification of Italy as a nation. Ciobertirnproposed to create a confederation ofrnstates in Italy under the leadership ofrnPope Pius IX, the hete noire of mid-19thrncentury European revolutionaries.rnI mention Edgar Allan Poe and OrestesrnBrownson to show that the cultural relationsrnbetween our countries were ver-rnclose. Italy was still a creator of universalrnculture. Gioberti expressed the significancernof Italy in a famous book fitied Delrnprimato morale e civile degli italiani —rnAbout the Moral and Civil Supremacy’ ofrnItalians. This supremacy has been, inrnthe second half of the 20th century, onernof the pillars of the thought of our greatestrnphilosopher (my mentor and friend), AugustornDel Noce. Del Noce was the authorrnof many works, including The Suicidernof Revolution (1978) and hisrnmasterpiece. The Problem of Atheiamrn(1964). In the last ten years of his life (herndied in 1989), when Soviet communismrnwas collapsing, Del Noce saw the need tornestablish a European balance of powerrnand friendship between East and West.rnRussia had to be accepted in our commonrntradition and must not be humiliated.rnThe opposite, in fact, is happeningrntoday, as globalism sweeps away historicalrnand intellectual diversities and identifies,rnhomogenizing all people under thernshield of a West that we do not know anymore.rnSome of these developments were anticipatedrnby Flenry Adams, who, at thernend of the 19th century, foretold thernevents of tiie 20th century with great vision.rnParticularly insightful are his lettersrn36/CHRONICLESrnrnrn