An idea born from a Professor of the Italian language that has them involved in a Competition for the 700th anniversary of Dante. The poet brought to life in a modern context and present to tell the pandemic. Lorenzo and Valentina, the students of class III D of the high School Lucrezio Caro, have developed in just three weeks of intense brainstorming, an original idea, and very creative. The covid-19 is compared to a modern Minos, who decides, on his initiative where it will be intended for the damned. We have met them on the phone for a short interview two.
What fascinates you most about the character of Dante?
Lorenzo: Having dedicated his life to literature. He has moved away from his hometown, to which, moreover, was very fond of, to devote himself to what he loved most in the world: write. Production literary impressive to which it is dedicated, in spite of the difficulties, and the controversial events of his life.
Valentina: it was one of the Fathers of the Italian language; its canons and principles were fixed by him and by his contemporaries almost a thousand years ago. And then the quality and quantity of works written in a period relatively short.
How current is, in your opinion, the figure of the great poet?
Lorenzo: In the Divine Comedy, we cannot find something that is not important and current today. Adapt his rhymes to a contemporary context. That is what we have done, and Valentina I, it was possible for the greatness and relevance of his words.
Valentina: The topicality of “the Divine Comedy” is a given, both for ethical reasons and literature.
How have you lived the pandemic?
Lorenzo: Certainly, for us, as students, was a challenging period. Online learning has revealed from the beginning all its shortcomings, mostly related to a noticeable gap in technology. Be connected from the whole of Italy on a few platforms with numerous connection issues is frustrating. From the psychological point of view, it wasn’t easy to reconcile the presence online to attend the classes with the need to stay connected even in the afternoon hours to view the deepening material sent by the teachers. The students and teachers were required effort, particularly challenging, to which we were not prepared. For us, high school students, the lack of sports and individual interactions will create, in my opinion, many setbacks, certainly from a psychological point of view. We are dependent on phones and technology, with repercussions genuinely unimaginable.
Valentina: At the beginning, I lived the quarantine almost without realizing it, then after about a month, the psychological consequences have been difficult. It has helped the fact that none of my family has been hit. Today I am confident and am waiting for it to be resolved soon.
What is the I recall the heaviest of the past two years?
Lorenzo: The murder of George Floyd in the United States. Environmental disasters in Australia and the Amazon. Two fires almost passed unnoticed in the delirium of the news that circulated about the pandemic. We need to my opinion, continue to keep the focus on the world, and also about what that is geographically far away from here. The environment for young people like us is a big priority, and the effort of the great activists as Greta Thunberg mustn’t be made in vain. It is a priority that our generation will continue to make comparisons on essential issues such as the environment, precisely because it is our future.
Valentina: the arrival of The Covid that left us wrong-footed, the Pope’s speech in St. Peter’s Square empty, in the rain, I found it particularly moving. And then the panic in hospitals, the scenes in television of the long line of trucks from Bergamo, carried the corpses to the cemetery. Then events personal to you, and indeed the explosion in Beirut, in Lebanon this summer, the war between In the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan and Armenia, the coup in Burma, the genocide of the Uyghurs in China, in Europe, and the united nations have closed their eyes on this great emergency international. Then the threats from Erdogan to Greece, right at the gates of Europe; the dangers and emergencies, first of all, humanitarian, very close to us, and yet they seem to be consumed with the indifference of the general also of the many Associations and Institutions that should be responsible for the control and respect of the democracies.
