It is an ancient story, written by the feud that saw, at the end of the fourteenth century, two Teramo factions fighting, the one carved in stone as a warning to future generations.
“A lo parlare agi mesura”, a warning that the people of Teramo of the following centuries tried to exorcise, renaming it “Tombstone of gossips”, linking its meaning to the careful use of each word, unconsciously giving future centuries a message of verbal prudence that today, in the era of social media and haters, it takes on new meanings.
In reality, as the historians of Teramoni tell us, that plaque, which for centuries offered itself to the gaze of those who walked along Porta Romana, was born to be the memory of a dramatic historical moment, that of the massacre of thirteen exponents of the Melatino faction, in war always with that of the Antonellisti, who had requested an audience with the powerful duke of Atri and lord of Teramo, Giosia D’Acquaviva but, not being received, had publicly threatened him.
The duke, in reality, was in his palace in San Flaviano (today Giulianova), talking with the rival faction, precisely to try to put an end to the feud and, warned of the threats, he decided to give a signal of his power by having people hanged. the entire Melatino delegation, and then forced the rival delegation to return to the city, passing right in front of those thirteen hanging bodies.
A message that the Antonellisti understood very well, so much so that it was Carmine, one of their leaders, who had two heads of men sculpted in stone in profile, with their tongues pierced by a compass and the motto: “A lo parlare agi mesura”, which meant: “Be careful when you speak.”
Then he had that stone walled into the facade of his house, on the road between San Domenico and Porta Romana.
A plaque that perhaps was intended as a warning to the rival faction, but which soon became, among the people of Teramo, a universal warning, the eternal monument to the careful use of the word, to the prudence of speaking.
A warning that would be echoed, centuries later, by the notes of that “cursed gossip”, an unforgettable song by Ivan Graziani from Teramo, which crystallizes the ancient provincial practice of “badmouthing”, or rather, of not having “measure” or to speak.”
Thanks to the goldsmith’s art of Giuliano Montaldi, master of precious metals and lover of his land, to whom he dedicated the splendid “I love Abruzzo” collection, transforming works of art and riches into pendants, rings, earrings and pendants natural objects, but also the identifying objects of our culture, from the warrior of Capestrano to Lake Scanno, from the presentosa to the ferratelle, that warning is today a jewel, which will be officially presented to the city of Teramo
THURSDAY 18 APRIL
at 11.30 in the internal courtyard of the Delfico Library
They will intervene
Gianguido D’Alberto – Mayor of Teramo
Stefania Pezzopane – former Senator of the Republic
Elso Simone Serpentini – historian
Ernesto Di Renzo – anthropologist
moderate
Antonio D’Amore – journalist
Tags: Certa Stampa HISTORY TERAMO JEWEL LOVE ABRUZZO COLLECTION PARLEA AGI MESURA ARRIVES PRESENTATION THURSDAY
