Rome
In November 1822 Leopardi was able to leave Recanati for the first time and at last go to Rome, where he stayed till April 1823 as guest of his uncle Carlo Antici. The stay, for which Leopardi had nourished great expectations, was quite a delusion (also from a practical point of view: he tried to find employment, but in vane; and managed only to publish some studi filologici or philological studies). In many letters he expressed very negative judgements both on his experience in a big city (“In a large city man lives absolutely without any rapport with that which surrounds him, because the sphere is so great that the individual cannot fill it”, to Carlo, 6th December ’22), and the intellectual world:
Quanto ai letterati ... io n’ho conosciuto pochi, e questi pochi m’hanno tolto la voglia di conoscerne altri. ... Secondo loro, il sommo della sapienza umana, anzi la sola e vera scienza dell’uomo è l’Antiquaria. ... Filosofia, morale, politica, scienza del cuore umano, eloquenza, poesia, filologia, tutto ciò è straniero in Roma ... La bella è che non si trova un Romano il quale realmente possieda il latino o il greco. (A Monaldo, 9 dicembre ’22),
As to men of letters ... I have met but a few, and these few have taken from me any desire to meet others. ... According to them, the height of human knowledge, indeed the only and true science, is Antiquity. ... Philosophy, morality, politics, the science of the human heart, eloquence, poetry, philology, all this is foreign to Rome ... The funny thing is you can’t find one Roman who really knows his Greek and Latin. (To Monaldo, 9th December ’22),
Not to mention “these beastly females” on Roman women:
... mi ristringerò solamente alle donne, e alla fortuna che voi forse credete che sia facile di far con esse nelle città grandi. V’assicuro che è propriamente tutto il contrario. Al passeggio, in Chiesa, andando per le strade, non trovate una befana che vi guardi. (A Carlo, 6 dicembre ’22).
... I shall limit myself to women, and the fortunes you might think possible to obtain from them in a big city. I assure you it is quite the contrary. When out for a walk, in Church, in the streets, you’ll not find a single hag that’ll touch you with a glance. (to Carlo, 6 December ’22).
Amongst the “Roman” letters one must however recall that splendid one sent to Carlo on 20th February ’23, “in a certain sense ‘poetry’ written by Leopardi in that period” (Walter Binni): “I went to visit Tasso’s tomb and thought about it. This is the first and only pleasure I have found in Rome ...”.
Leopardi returned to Rome between October 1831 and March 1832, with Ranieri: but these too were months of “most bitter asylum”.
