Italian
A exhibition and a museum to get to know him better
GORIZIA. Within the projects that kick off “GO! 2025” (Nova Gorica / Gorizia European Capital of Culture), there is the exhibition, conceived and curated by Marco Goldin, of a multidisciplinary nature, dedicated to the figure of Giuseppe Ungaretti and his dual “role” as a soldier and poet on the Karst during the First World War.
The exhibition, entitled Ungaretti poet and soldier. The Carso and the soul of the world. Poetry painting history, takes place between the Museum of Santa Chiara in Gorizia and the Municipal Gallery of Contemporary Art in Monfalcone.
The Gorizia part narrates the complete story of Ungaretti on the Carso, the battles he participated in, the moments of rest behind the front lines, the leaves, and then the narrative of the places on the Carso, up to their characteristic morphological aspect.
The historical part related to the events of soldier Giuseppe Ungaretti on the Carso, and to all the battles that took place there, was coordinated by Lucio Fabi, a great expert in the field.
There is, of course, the literary aspect. It is obviously linked to the writing of poems, and the publication in Udine, in only 80 copies in December 1916, edited by Ettore Serra, of Il porto sepolto, that first booklet that arises directly from the experience of war.
One of the greatest contemporary Italian poets, Paolo Ruffilli, is then interviewed by Marco Goldin in one of the three videos of the exhibition (two of which last 40 minutes), where the expert helps us understand how the figure of Ungaretti radically changed the poetic landscape of the time, based on Fragmentism and on the figure of the poet-prophet of D’Annunzio, and how the necessity of facing death every day created the urgency to express the essential with words. Thus, these words become concentrated meanings that explode like a galaxy in an infinite expansion.
But how did all this become an exhibition? The journey does not start from the ground floor of the Museum of Santa Chiara but from a real cinema room with a hundred seats created on the third and last floor of the museum. That is the starting space for an extraordinary journey through literature, history, and painting.
A docufilm by Marco Goldin, specially made, tells the story of Ungaretti on the Carso. A large screen welcomes extraordinary images, from those of the time to all those shot with drones on the Carso in different seasons, to the interventions shot on the Carso with Goldin alone or in dialogue with Fabi. Ending with excerpts, granted by the RAI Archives, dedicated to Ungaretti’s interventions in the sixties of the twentieth century.
Then we move down to the second floor, where a series of artists (Laura Barbarini, Graziella Da Gioz, Franco Dugo, Giovanni Frangi, Andrea Martinelli, Matteo Massagrande, Francesco Michielin, Cesare Mirabella, Alessandro Papetti, Franco Polizzi, Francesco Stefanini, Alessandro Verdi) have interpreted the words of Ungaretti’s poems with their art.
On the first floor, among other paintings, there are display cases with historical artifacts from World War I: uniforms, weapons, and equipment used by soldiers.
On the ground floor, finally, a reconstruction, in a suggestive, high apse, of a battlefield. Also on the ground floor, a very precious copy of Il porto sepolto is exhibited, the one stamped by the King’s Prosecutor, with a stamp dated December 24, 1916.
Therefore, one leaves this exhibition with an interdisciplinary background that allows for a deeper understanding of Ungaretti’s figure and the extent of his innovation in the poetic, artistic, and above all human field.
To better understand the context in which the compositions that made Ungaretti famous were born, a visit to the San Michele Museum is highly recommended.
which offers a truly unique immersive experience, thanks to interactive multimedia tools and content capable of conveying information and, above all, emotions regarding the events of the Italo-Austrian front that involved Mount San Michele and the Lower Isonzo front.
The Museum allows visitors to experience firsthand the events of the Great War on Mount San Michele: a unique and engaging journey through interactive 2D maps and 3D reconstructions of the artillery gallery of Cima 3 and the cave named after General Lukachich. In the VR 360 room, 15 stations with goggles and headphones enable visitors to see scenes of trench life, listen to war correspondents’ stories, and even relive the tragic moment of the gas attack on June 29, 1916, and the flight over the Doberdò plateau in the Spad XIII airplane piloted by Francesco Baracca.
In front of the museum there is a square with a series of commemorative monuments, but what is astonishing is the view from the observation point that shows us what Ungaretti himself saw after one of the battles on the Isonzo. It is also possible to visit a trench and climb to the top of Mount San Michele, where, in addition to other commemorative monuments dedicated to the Italian and Hungarian soldiers who fought there, one can understand why the conquest of this peak was so important, as it offers a 360-degree panorama.
The tour ends with a visit to the cannon gallery, built under Cima 3 from October 1916 to June 1917 for defensive purposes, which later became the tactical command headquarters of the Italian Army’s Third Army, where visitors can also discover the history of this fortification through augmented reality.
Returning from this journey into historical and literary memory in Gorizia, we are left with the words imbued with a thousand meanings of Ungaretti and the wonderful landscapes of today, which were in a not so distant past the scene of suffering and death of many young men who took part in the military events of the First World War.
