Cristo si è fermato a Eboli by Carlo Levi

Cristo si è fermato a Eboli was the end result. After Carlo Levi finished the manuscript, Anna Maria typed up the text for publication. In December 1943, urged on by Anna Maria and his friend Manlio Cancogni, he began writing a novel about life in that village.

He often heard a sentence that the wretched farmers there repeated: “ Cristo si è fermato a Eboli” (Christ stopped at Eboli, meaning that Christ had never arrived in Aliano). In these dramatic months, Ichino’s flat in piazza Pitti became a hub of Florentine Resistance, and Anna Maria became a member of the Partito d’Azione (Italian political centre-left party, founded in 1942).īefore coming to Florence, Carlo Levi had spent almost a year in exile in Aliano, a village in Basilicata, where he was herded together with other anti-fascists.

Levi was looking for a place to hide from the Fascists and Nazi troops and anyone who had actively opposed the Mussolini government. Trained as a doctor, he soon became a journalist, writer and painter. In the winter of 1943, through a friend of a friend, she met a man who became an important figure in her life, Carlo Levi. Risking her life, she would go out at night with her companions and write anti-Fascist slogans on public buildings and distribute leaflets in letterboxes. In our conversations, she told us about her life in Florence during the final years of the war. Sometimes her mood changed abruptly and she would get up and go to her own apartment after a while we would hear beautiful classical music coming from her quarters. Our conversations with Anna Maria, who used to share meals with us, often continued until late in the evening. After a few weeks, I began to feel more confident because I was sharing a home with such a lively and interesting group of people. The pensione that Anna Maria ran consisted of a mixture of students of different nationalities. She was warm and friendly, yet I felt rather intimidated by her. My first feelings were rather ambivalent. She had piercing light-blue eyes, which made an impression on me. With a welcoming smile, she asked me to come in and offered me a cup of coffee. The morning I arrived at piazza Pitti 14, I rang the bell and Anna Maria Ichino, the landlady, opened the door. At piazza Pitti 14, I met a crowd of young people who would become my best friends ever. Finally, I was in the city of my dreams and living in Santo Spirito, a centre of the most refined craftsmanship.

It was special, too, because many outstanding people had taken refuge there during the Second World War. With the help of a cousin, I found a very special place to live: a room of my own just opposite Palazzo Pitti. After graduating from school in 1969, I chose Florence to begin my studies in art history and painting.

Cristo si è fermato a Eboli by Carlo Levi