Franco Arminio's 'La cura dello sguardo' proposes a poetic and ecological revival of Italy's abandoned villages

Poet and 'paesologo' Franco Arminio, who has been writing about Italy's depopulated small towns for over 40 years, published 'La cura dello sguardo' (Bompiani, 2020, 208 pp., also e-book). The book offers simple precepts to restore our ability to observe and connect as a community. Arminio argues that the pandemic revealed villages as a great opportunity: if Italy regenerates its towns, cities will also benefit. He insists that art cannot ignore the ecological crisis and calls for a planetary community uniting humans, animals, and plants. Arminio began writing after the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, transforming wounds into opportunities. He has authored about twenty books and gained a huge following through poetry readings often held outside cities and through pioneering use of digital networks. He advocates reviving ancient crafts with digital technology, as happened with poetry on social media. Arminio does not demonize metropolises: 'Italy is beautiful with its differences: we need Milan and we need Bisaccia.'