An Irrational Element

In March I went to stay in Ferrara for a few days. Bringing only my camera & notebook I hoped the trip would offer me something that I could later reference in the works of An Irrational Element. What drew me to Ferrara was Giorgio Bassani’s writing about the city, I had to set foot on and see the places he wrote about. In the train from Treviso to Ferrara, with a transfer in Venice, I grabbed my notebook alongside Bassani’s book ‘L'odore del fieno’ and started writing down places to visit: Via Mazzini, Via Vignatagliata, Hotel Tripoli, the Jewish cemetery, the Po and so on. The place where I staid offered a classic Italian bike, lighter and more sporty than a Dutch bike I am accustomed to. By bike I started to explore Ferrara at 7am, seeing the walls, being the first to drink cappuccino at a local cafe, sprinting through the heart of the center, having a quick glance at the castle, getting fresh bread, exploring the alleyways, riding towards the Po while stopping at local places, going back to Ferrara and ending the day at 9pm. Figuring I had seen the most of Ferrara the other days were filled by visiting Verona and Bologna, though the last day I grabbed the bike again and discovered even more of Ferrara. One of the last things was standing in front of Bassani’s old home, I don’t believe I saw what he saw in Ferrara. My connection with the city and Bassani’s stories were redefined, the place made me feel at ease but also desolate in regards to one singular subject. Bassani would write about the Jewish community in Ferrara before, during and after the war and it seems that any hint of Judaism has floated from Ferrara. As a critic once described: “I believe that all of Bassani’s narratives deals with bringing a dead world back to life. In this operation we can see that Bassani’s inspiration is more akin to poetry rather than to prose. this is an important characteristic which I would like to stress. From this point of view we can say - borrowing an image from mythology - that Bassani's exploration of the Jewish community of Ferrara echoes Orpheus's journey in the underworld”. With the passing of Bassani he might be reunited with his beloved as well.