Massive Flash Mob to Celebrate the 200-Year Anniversary of Leopardi’s L’Infinito
On May 28th over 2,800 students gathered in Recanati, the birthplace of the famous poet Giacomo Leopardi, to celebrate the 200-year anniversary of Leopardi’s L’Infinito (The Infinite)—one of Leopardi’s most famous poems.
Organized by descendant of the poet Countess Olimpia Leopardi and Education Minister Marco Bussetti, the event featured a flash mob in the poet’s hometown Piazza (the place of inspiration for another of his famous works: “Sabato del Villaggio”), and a collective reading of the poem among students in the piazza and students around Italy in their own town squares. The countess told ANSA that “It seemed right to set the initiative in the square of the Saturday of the Village symbolically linking it to all the Italian squares to transform them from a place where people pass by ignoring or even colliding with each other, into a space of spiritual sharing.”
In her speech to the many students who participated in the event, the countess spoke about the importance of events such as this one: “I strongly wanted these celebrations because paying homage to Leopardi and his most famous idyll means paying homage to Italy, our civilization, our culture and tradition. Remembering literally means ‘report something in the heart.’”
This event brought thousands of students together to reflect, remember, and support poetry and its significance to Italy’s culture.
– Shauni Bernier
