Giuseppe Di Giacomo on Art, Memory, and the Future
Giuseppe Di Giacomo, a philosopher born in Avola in 1945, contemplates how memory influences our future and the importance of the sacred in modern society. With around a hundred works focused on aesthetics and literature, his enthusiasm for art began during high school when he read Dostoevsky and Flaubert. His significant early publication, 'Estetica e letteratura. Il grande romanzo tra Ottocento e Novecento' (1990s), delves into common themes within literature. Having relocated to Rome at the age of three, Di Giacomo emphasizes that memory is foundational for the future, inspired by Proust's writings. He encourages youth to embrace culture as essential to existence, highlighting three core principles: individual liberty, national significance, and global interconnection.
Key facts
- Giuseppe Di Giacomo is a philosopher and essayist born in Avola, Sicily in 1945.
- He moved to Rome at age three and studied at university there.
- His first major book, 'Estetica e letteratura. Il grande romanzo tra Ottocento e Novecento', was written in the 1990s.
- He has read Proust's 'In Search of Lost Time' three times.
- He contrasts Matisse's transcendent religiosity with Picasso's immanent sense of the sacred.
- He believes the future must be anchored in memory and the past.
- He identifies individual freedom, nation/state, and global interconnectedness as key future trends.
- The interview is part of the 'Futuro Antico' series on Spazio Taverna.
Entities
Artists
- Giuseppe Di Giacomo
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Gustave Flaubert
- Francesco De Sanctis
- Benedetto Croce
- Marcel Proust
- Pablo Picasso
- Henri Matisse
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
- Theodor Adorno
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Institutions
- Spazio Taverna
- Artribune
Locations
- Avola
- Sicily
- Italy
- Rome
- Ostia Lido