People From Rome

"Intelligence is always connective. The biosphere works this way, through continuous contacts, catalysts, neurons which touch and activate other neurons. Today, this all has not only biological and chemical consistency, but a technological and teleinformatics one: it is not just a metaphor, or a "virtual" reality, but a real entity, a kind of emanation of the biosphere."

"Day after day I turn on the machines, I dispense their immense memory, every day I fire up the motors, then inside I switch myself off. ..."

"Destiny was superb it spoke among mountains and gray cumuli like castles in the sky, swollen with heat, with rain, with harvests, with infinite richness. …"

"A central concept called into question by net-poetry is the relation with reality. Does it make sense to define "virtual" reality as what actually reaches us through the Internet? How the artist relates to it, how he or she perceives and represents it and how a net-poet should "sing" it? The relationship with reality mediated by the Internet is a network of contacts in itself, it is ontologically a "connective" image of reality, which gradually outlines and qualify itself, both as reality and as representation."

"I am ashamed of the polished words, so I hide them throwing rough and crude notes like the Rondanini Pietà still raw with matter on the lines of crystal like the soul that sparkles in one’s eyes. ..."

"Now that everything is, or may be, "digital" and could contemplate its membership in an e-category, the final product should be always studied, not only in its appearance, but in its process, structure, in its modes of functioning and of presentation / fruition and also in an historical perspective."

"«Nevertheless it is about themes endowed with depth, rather uncomfortable in a culture that often seeks from poetry almost a consolation or at least a reconciliation with the world. Davinio’s poetry is instead problematic, not at all conciliatory or reconciled. Caterina develops her themes in a vibrant language, dry and almost essential, taut and antirhetorical» (Gianmario Lucini)In Caterina Davinio, Aspettando la fine del mondo / Waiting for the End of the World, Fermenti, Rome 2012"

"The biosphere is now enriched with an other stratum, mid-way between the material and the spiritual, and that is the web of connections, a “virtual” reality made of communication by means of the new media. On a daily basis, we move around in this space with all the content we are capable of. This physically concretizes the concept that all humans can merge in a single moment, where no one is separated from the others and all become a single entity, which is the web."

"Making art means not only using languages, but also creating new ones. To do this, new tools are indispensable. Even returning to more traditional languages such as linear poetry or narration, after being enriched by the experience of hypertext, hypermedia and multimedia, allows us to rethink the older forms of expression and transfer the lessons of the new media into even the more traditional modalities of language, such as narrative, for example."

"If language is a virus from space, even people could be disguised aliens on our planet, because language is inextricably bound to human mental processes, in the forms of our intelligence, to the extent that symbolic language is what makes us different from other living beings."

"Language completes the existence of the world and makes it "usable" for humans."

"When I speak of language, I do not only mean poetic or verbal language: I am thinking of the language of mathematics, of physics, et cetera. It is a fascinating topic. Language is an interface between us and the world. Beyond language there is nothing but pure mystical contemplation of the universe."

"E-literature is certainly a broader concept than e-poetry, but it can also be limiting: like Verlaine in a famous line from his Art Poétique, one might conclude: et tout le reste est e-littérature, to emphasize the imponderable specificity of poetry."

"When the battle was ended it became evident what boldness and resolution had pervaded Catiline’s army. For almost every man covered with his body, when life was gone, the position which he had taken when alive at the beginning of the conflict. A few, indeed, in the centre, whom the praetorian cohort had scattered, lay a little apart from the rest, but the wounds even of these were in front. But Catiline was found far in advance of his men amid a heap of slain foemen, still breathing slightly, and showing in his face the indomitable spirit which had animated him when alive."

"He was intimate with many thoroughly wicked men; but he pretended to be entirely devoted to the most virtuous of the citizens. He had many things about him which served to allure men to the gratification of their passions; he had also many things which acted as incentives to industry and toil. The vices of lust raged in him; but at the same time he was conspicuous for great energy and military skill. Nor do I believe that there ever existed so strange a prodigy upon the earth, made up in such a manner of the most various, and different and inconsistent studies and desires."

"Catiline was found, far in advance of his men, among the dead bodies of the enemy; a most glorious death, had he thus fallen for his country."

"Even in youth Catiline had many shameful intrigues—with a maiden of noble rank, with a priestess of Vesta—and other affairs equally unlawful and impious."

"Idem velle atque idem nolle, ea demum firma amicitia est."

"Nonne emori per virtutem praestat quam vitam miseram atque inhonestam, ubi alienae superbiae ludibrio fueris, per dedecus amittere?"

"Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? Quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia?"

"“È giusta decretazione del Cielo che un traditore non veda il pericolo finché la rovina è vicina.”"

"Del terreno nel concavo seno Vasto incendio se bolle ristretto, A dispetto del carcere indegno, Con più sdegno gran strada si fa. Fugge allora; ma, intanto che fugge, Crolla, abbatte, sovverte, distrugge Piani, monti, foreste e città."

"D'ogni pianta palesa l'aspetto Il difetto, che il tronco nasconde Per le fronde, dal frutto, o dal fior."

"Fra l' ombre un lampo solo Basta al nocchier fugace Che già ritrova il polo, Già riconosce il mar. Al pellegrin ben spesso Basta un vestigio impresso, Perchè la via fallace Non l'abbia ad ingannar."

"Quell' onda, che ruina Dalla pendice alpina, Balza, si frange, e mormora Ma limpida si fa."

"Sai, che piegar si vede Il docile arboscello, Che vince allor che cede Dei turbini al furor."

"Qual diverrà quel fiume, Nel lungo suo cammino, Se al fonte ancor vicino É torbido così?"

"Il torre altrui la vita È facoltà commune Al più vil della terra; il darla è solo De' Numi, e de' Regnanti."

"L'ape e la serpe spesso Suggon l'istesso umore;"

"Se a ciascun l'interno affanno Si leggesse in fronte scritto, Quanti mai, che invidia fanno, Ci farebbero pietà!"

"I am overjoyed, but I repeat: it is not my country which awards me. In Italy, those who make a name for themselves in other countries are ignored."

"Pure in Francia è un ambiente tradizionalmente schierato a sinistra e fa molto chic essere anti-Sarkozy. Ma la cosiddetta "sinistra-caviale", cioè quella snob con la puzza sotto il naso, mi fa schifo, è ipocrita."

"Even in France, politics are traditionally left-wing and it is fashionable to be anti-Sarkozy. But the so called "caviar-left", that is, the snobbish, stiff upper-lipped kind disgusts me, it is hypocritical."

"[I miss] the warmth of the [Italian] people: it is very easy to communicate with them, while the French are not such extroverts. On the other hand, there is a vibrant film industry in France: at least two hundred films are produced there, and the job opportunities are many. Unfortunately, the Italian film industry does not compare."

"[Claude Lelouch] m’a toujours dit : «Madame, vous serez ma veuve!» Je l’ai épousé en croyant qu’il avait forcément appris quelque chose de la vie. Erreur totale: il se marie et fait des enfants comme on boit un verre d’eau! … Claude est un homme à l’ego surdimensionné. Comme il veut toujours rester maître des situations, il se comporte comme un dictateur et tout le monde se met au garde à vous et lui donne raison. Moi, au contraire, je lui ai toujours dit la vérité..."

"[Claude Lelouch] has always told me : "Madame, you shall be my widow!" I married him thinking that he had learned something from life. Big mistake: he gets married and sires children like he drinks a glass of water! … Claude is a man with an oversized ego. Just as he wishes to always be the master of the situation, he acts like a dictator and everyone has to agree with him. I, on the contrary, always told him the truth..."

"[Mi manca] il calore delle persone [italiane]: c’è una grande facilità nella comunicazione, mentre i francesi non sono così estroversi. D’altra parte, in Francia c’è una grande vivacità nel mondo del cinema: si producono almeno duecento film all’anno e le occasioni di lavoro sono moltissime. Purtroppo non c’è paragone col cinema italiano."

"Ne sono lusingata, ma ripeto: non è il mio paese a darmela. In Italia, chi si fa valere all'estero non viene considerato."

"That song is about a few other things as well. And Anita is one of them. I was breaking up with her around that time. I'd said, "Look, if we clean up together, we'll stay together". Well, I cleaned myself up. But she didn't. And I realized that I couldn't sleep with someone who had a needle beside the bed. I was too fragile at that point. I loved her, but I had to leave."

"They fought about everything - cars, prices, restaurant menus. Brian could never win an argument with Anita although he always made the mistake of trying. There would be terrible scenes with both of them screaming at each other. The difference was that Brian didn't know what he was doing. Anita did know what she was doing. I think in a more gracious age, Anita would have been called a witch."

"At first I'm sure Anita wanted to protect Brian from what she thought was our cruelty and callousness. Coming in like that she couldn't realize how the scene developed. Or how impossible it was to deal with a dead weight like Brian. They had incredible fights. And she used to beat the shit out of him every time. He would start a fight. Obviously she was tougher than him. He always was walking around with his ribs bandaged or his eyed blackened. Anita felt Brian was somebody who could be sensitive and obviously she felt he needed support. When he started paying her back by trying to beat her up, she began to realize."

"Mick seemed to delight in Anita's sharp mind, her vicious streak that made her somehow very different from Marianne. For a while she seemed to dominate him with the same, almost supernatural hold she had over Brain & Keith. Once I heard Anita listen to a tape of 'Stray Cat Blues' as Jagger proudly waited her tell him (as all the other lackeys had done) how brilliant it was. "Crap," she said when it had finished. "The vocals are mixed up too high, and the bass isn't loud enough." Mick, with the basic insecurity of every creative artist, was so unused to hearing someone dare criticize his work that he at once went back to the studio and had the number remixed."

"They looked at me like I was some kind of threat. [Mick] Jagger really tried to put me down, but there was no way some crude, lippy guy was going to do a number on me. I was always able to squelch him. I found out that, if you stand up to Mick, he crumbles."

"I was too independent for Mick. I wasn't proper enough for him. He's a chauvinist. I wouldn't put up with that. Keith, surprisingly, is not. Though I feel sorry for Patti [Hansen]. I love her and think she is a marvellous woman, but I would not want to be in her shoes now. It's such a lonely existence, living with a rock 'n' roller. No matter how much he loves you, he will always love his music more. I know when Keith is working on his music nothing else matters to him. He can be in a room with fifty people and he won't nothing anything but his guitar. A woman, to live with a rock star, must find her ways of independence."

"I believe that Anita is, for want of a better word, a witch...The occult unit within the Stones was Keith and Anita...and Brian. You see, Brian was a witch too."

"That boy of 17 who shot himself in my house really ended it for us. And although we occasionally saw each other for the sake of the children, it was the end of our personal relationship."

"Fate, I respect a lot. I never regret anything."

"I decided to kidnap Brian. It sounds ridiculous but they even made a film about it, about kidnapping a pop star ['Privilege'] starring Paul Jones. This was the original story, Brian seemed to be the most sexually flexible. I knew I could talk to him. As a matter of fact when I met him I was his groupie really. I got backstage with a photographer, I told him I just wanted to meet him. I had some Amyl Nitrate and a piece of hash. I asked Brian if he wanted a joint and he said yes, so he asked me back to his hotel and he cried all night. He was so upset about Mick and Keith still, saying they had teamed up on him. I felt so sorry for him. Brian was fantastic, he had everything going for him, but he was just too complicated."

"I knew her since we were first hanging out in London with The Rolling Stones. She was a real nasty person. She would do anything to upset her girlfriends. I don't know her anymore."

"I felt from Anita an unmistakable electrical charge. She was so clever, so European, so built...She exuded a stylish and playful decadence that was at once intellectual, sultry, and mischievous. She was so perfectly Continental. She made quite a lasting impression on me that night."