Places

There are places on earth where the hand of God, the vision of a generation and the perfection of art and science meet. When that happens, Beauty is no longer an idea: you can walk into it, touch it, and live it. The village of Pienza, inspired by Leon Battista Alberti’s concept of “Ideal City”, is one of those places.

I might not be knowledgeable enough about history, philosophy and architecture but I will try to explain what the magic of Pienza is for me. Many grandiose architectural creations around the world make the visitor feel humbled with their striking features. Pienza’s Pio II square, by many standards relatively small, is yet so perfectly and beautifully proportioned that when I was there, for the first time in my life, I didn’t feel I was staring at a masterpiece, I felt part of it.

The Beauty of Time

Beauty is timeless, but we’re not. Therefore, we try to bring Beauty into the time we’re given. By wearing a beautiful wristwatch we can literally do it. Of course, a watch does not make our life better but it’s a very important object: it helps us keep track of our most precious and scarce resource. A good watch can easily outlive its owner and for many is also an inseparable companion in the journey. It’s often associated with memories of events and people that we hold dear and maybe, one day, when our time is up, will become a memory of us for our loved ones.

Mies Van Der Rohe

A little over two years ago I went to a party in Chicago on Lakeshore Drive. The building where the party was hosted looked somehow familiar to me but must have resulted unimpressive to many. Now, look at the picture below and try to guess when this high rise was designed. The answer is 1948. The architect is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe: one of the great minds that contributed to make Chicago an architectural masterpiece.

Beauty is around you. Sometimes you need to dig just a little deeper to appreciate the beauty of ideas and their impact on the world.

Will Beauty save the world? I’m still unsure but am slowly getting there, Fyodor.

The Purpose of This Blog

What am I talking about here? It all started from a Dostoevski quote: "Beauty will save the world”. Why am I obsessed with it? Well, the answer is simple: as anyone else, I’m constantly looking for “the” reason, the truth, the purpose, the answer to all our doubts. If you ever felt confused, misled or simply not satisfied with all the explanations that you’ve heard of about life and its purpose, here’s something self explanatory, immediately evident, straightforward and undoubtedly true: Beauty.

Now, it’s up to you to define what Beauty is.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Nobel Lecture on Literature might help you out.

Peer Gynt

Henrik Ibsen wrote a play to shape “the conception of poetry” in his country, Norway. On February 24, 1876 the first performance of “Peer Gynt” in Oslo featured incidental music composed by Edvard Grieg.

I don’t know whether or not Ibsen achieved his goal but am sure that he inspired music of unparalleled romanticism.

Will beauty save the world? Listen to Grieg’s Solveig’s Song from Peer Gynt and you will agree that it can at least save your day.

What do I know?

Will Beauty save the world? Not sure about that. What I know is that it makes it a much better place to be living in.