Christian Caliandro's meditative essay on Rome and Taranto

Christian Caliandro's essay 'Cespiti (VII). Don't touch me' published on Artribune in August 2016 blends personal reflection with cultural critique. The text opens with a quote from Norman Mailer's 'An American Dream' (1965) and recounts an incident in Rome on June 9, 2016, at the Barberini metro station where a British man shouts 'Don't touch me!' at the author, fearing pickpocketing. Caliandro contrasts this hostile encounter with the harmony of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, praising its organic architecture, soft light, and anti-rhetorical space. He quotes Anna Maria Ortese on Italy's tendency toward exteriority. The essay then shifts to Taranto on July 7, 2016, describing the city's decay as 'magnificent decline' and 'solar night,' evoking the glory of ruin. A quote from Émile Zola's 'The Experimental Novel' (1880) underscores the social environment's influence on individuals. Caliandro, an art historian and professor at Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, reflects on elegance as memory and the incomunicability of contemporary life.