There is a red thread that unites André Gide, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1947and a small village, Acquasanta Termea quarter of an hour’s drive from Ascoli Picenowith a long history behind it that dates back toRoman times: in fact, during a trip to Italy the French writer tried the “salus per aquam” treatments and in one of his writings (some sites titled it Autumn leavesothers Autumn flowers) describes the enchanting Roman swimming pool (still existing today). A banal concept, thrown out there, almost without meaning, on many sites, portals and blogs. But it was always the same phrase repeated ad nauseam, perhaps the daughter of an almost compulsive copy and paste. Yet there must have been a profound meaning: the presence in Acquasanta of one of the most important men of letters in history between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries cannot be underestimated. There must have been more, also because Gide, who traveled incessantly, visited the most beautiful places in our country and described their wonders. Furthermore he had the time, at least 20 days and that’s no small thing, to dedicate himself to this little-known centre.
The cultural festival
One year ago the mayor of Acquasanta, Sante Stangonidecided to create a «Cultural Festival», Saturday 8 June 2024to relaunch tourism and celebrate the magic of this land, cited among other things by Titus Livy when he narrates that Lucius Munazio Plancus, consul in the year 712 from the foundation of Rome (50 BC) found health and vigor in the waters of Acquasanta after having experimented in vain with those of the most famous baths in Tuscany. The organization of the Festival was entrusted by Fabio Di Nicola, journalist, television author and university professor of Semiology, who, intrigued by Gide’s love for Acquasanta, began to delve deeper into this common thread that indelibly unites the Nobel Prize and the small village in the Marche region. «I went to the University of Lyon – says Di Nicola – and I made some surprising discoveries, with a story full of intrigue, twists, almost a film subject». The details, which will be illustrated by Di Nicola during the Festival, were revealed exclusively for the «Corriere».
The book «Autumn Pages»
Let’s go in order: Gide actually dedicated an entire chapter to this town, entitled «Acquasanta». And he did it in a collection translated into Italian with the title Autumn pages, published by Garzanti. The original name was indeed Feuillets d’automneAutumn leaves, published in France in 1951 and in Italy the following year. Already here we can notice the first, major, error that can be seen in some online sites. If it had been “leaves”, the word in French is “feuille” in the singular and “feuillage” in the plural. But Di Nicola obtained the original text, in Italian and French, and that’s where the surprises began. The story carries a dedication at the top: «To Jef Last» (who was the lover of Gide, Dutch poet and translator, as well as hero of the Spanish civil war against General Franco). After reading the writing, in which the Nobel not only describes the thermal pool from the Roman era (where it is still possible to bathe for free today), but also produces a succession of linguistic pearls to describe the beauty of the area and the goodness of the waters, Di Nicola tries to understand something more about the dedication. Now, consider that Gide welcomed Last, and also helped him financially.
Gide’s trip to Italy
The trip to Italy was made by the French writer towards the end of 1800 in the wake of the “Grand Tours” made among others by Goethe. However, when did Gide write the story about Acquasanta? Well, here the most curious facts begin: In recent months in Lyon, Di Nicola recovered a collection of letters, published in France in 1985 with the title André Gide & Jef Last. Correspondence (Presses Universitaires de Lyon), unpublished for Italy. In note 14 of the book, in French, we read that Gide almost certainly undertook to write the story about Acquasanta during his stay in Morocco: we are around 1930, almost forty years after the trip to the Ascoli area. Why does so much time pass between the visit to central Italy and the book? We don’t know, but it is assumed that it was not written in one go, perhaps the result of subsequent modifications. However, we are talking about a story that the writer probably had to care about in a particular way, considering the fact that he dedicated it to his partner.
Gide’s gift to Last
But the surprises don’t end there. In a letter dated 18 December 1938 Gide writes to Last something even more interesting and sheds a definitive light on the value of this work: «I would like to know what your economic situation is. It would be difficult for me, for the moment, to send you something, but if you have a great need, here is what I could do: Schiffrin (the publisher, ed) has just, with extreme kindness, printed a very limited number of copies (a dozen, I think) of two of my small writings, one of which (Jeunesse) had already appeared in review, but never in volume, and the other (Acquasanta ) had remained completely unpublished. This last story you know is dedicated to you, you know, and it is therefore natural that you reserve one of the twelve copies of this small edition; it is also quite natural that, leaving Europe and getting rid of everything, you do not want to keep this booklet. On the other hand, the important thing is not that your name is included in the dedication. So I thought I’d find out the price a used bookshop (or the Gallimard bookshop itself) would charge for this copy of a very rare edition. I could sell it on your behalf and send you the result of the sale…”. Therefore, a rare, unpublished work, which only appeared in twelve copies, of which he is ready to sell the only copy in his possession, to help his loved one financially. Later Gide also ventures a figure: around three thousand francs (a large sum for the time, ed), which could have partially alleviated Last’s financial difficulties.
Last finds the book with Gide’s dedication stolen by the Germans
But the discoveries are not over yet: in another letter, this time written by Last, still in the correspondence in the University of Lyon which houses over a thousand letters, we discover that around the manuscript of Autumn leaves through budding another story was born, another anecdote which is also curious. At points 838 to 840, on 27 June 1947, while in Amsterdam Last writes to Gide: «What an immense joy to find last night on my table Autumn Leaves and find the Acquasanta there, a text that the Nazis had stolen from me. I’m not a bibliophile: I cared much less about this little green book and the story itself than about your dedication. I felt great pleasure reading it again…”. So during the Nazi occupation the Acquasanta story was lost. Who knows how many copies were left of a small book of only 12 copies? We don’t know, but we do know that the collection Feuillets d’Automne, which includes the chapter on Acquasanta, was printed in 1949 and that the first thirty copies were printed on «Johannot» parchment paper (the most valuable), and all thirty were numbered. Well, if further proof of the importance of this writing was needed, even the most skeptical were satisfied. Whoever, perhaps, finds a copy in his dusty attic will certainly have found a true treasure.
