Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Discover Something New About Your City: Part 6

Friedrich Nietzche went crazy in Torino.

  The famous German poet and philosopher not only lived next door to my building, which is now a pizzeria, but he also lost his marbles here. From 1879 to 1890 Fred spent time living between Torino, Genoa, Rapallo, and Nice.

According to Wikipedia, on January 3, 1889, Nietzsche suffered a mental collapse. Two policemen approached him after he caused a public disturbance in the streets of Torino. What actually happened remains unknown, but an often-repeated tale states that Nietzsche witnessed the whipping of a horse at the other end of the Piazza Carlo Alberto, ran to the horse, threw his arms up around its neck to protect the horse, and then collapsed to the ground.

There is a large plaque commemorating the home, now pizzeria, where Fred lived and produced a lot of writing.

Does anyone else think they should re-enact this scene every year to remember him by? I'm not sure I can ever look at Piazza Carlo Alberto the same...
wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche

2 comments:

Vanessa Greenway said...

Ciao! I have just watched hgtv house hunters episode where you were featured. Absolutely cool! I'm a lover of all things Italian and I do wish to get back over there sometime in the near future. Hope you are enjoying your journey! Vanessa

Italian Postcards said...

Vanessa, Too cool you saw the show and found my blog! I absolutely LOVE your picture and that purple hat. Fab.