Quentin David (1894-1944). Anthology of writings

Quentin David (1894-1944). Anthology of writings. On the centenary of the birth and on the 50th anniversary of the holocaust of the Martyr of the Italian Resistance, by the Cultural Circle “the road”, with contributions by Marcello Gigante and Giuseppe Arduino, Salerno, Palladio, 1994.

The volume, edited by the Cultural Circle “the road” on the occasion of the centenary of the birth and the fiftieth anniversary of the sacrifice of the Buccinese martyr, killed by the Nazi-fascists in Inzago (ME) the 7 September 1944, proposes a precious anthology of texts by Di Vona, both literary and political.

To it are added an introduction by prof. Pasquale Villari, the report given by the late prof. Marcello Gigante in the celebrations held in Buccino on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the martyr's death (Humanity and culture in Quintino Di Vona) and a dedicated contribution by the Buccinese scholar Giuseppe Arduino to the anti-fascist activity carried out by the Martyr in the South (Quintino Di Vona's anti-fascism, friendship with Nitti and the memory of Tommaso Fiore).

The volume is also enriched with precious illustrations and a series of unpublished documents.

To highlight the ideal reasons behind the publication, in addition to the occasion of the anniversaries, we propose here what the promoters write in the Presentation:

If he represented an intellectual and political figure, through thick and thin, an essential point of reference for several generations of Buccinesi, from the Resistance to today, it is undoubtedly that of Quintino Di Vona, prominent exponent in the liberation struggle, shot in Inzago on 7 September 1944.
In this historical moment of convulsive change, of re-discussion of the founding values of our Republic and reconsideration of the anti-fascist principles that inspire our Constitution, the figure of Quintino Di Vona imposes itself with all its human and political depth.
Aware of having to keep alive the memory and example of Quintino Di Vona, driven by the political silence of civic miseducation, of indifferentism and profitability, the members of the cultural club "La Strada" in Buccino felt the need to re-propose the figure in a worthy way.
Respectful of that original tension between singularity, loneliness as a way that literature has to proceed and the repeated desire for association and community, the figure of Quintino Di Vona, it is re-proposed in all its momentum of opposition to the fascist system. System that prevented Italian life from affirming principles and ideas and put personal opportunisms in its place, on the pretext that the national interest is above the parties, and presented the parties as the disintegrating force of the nation, preventing the process of political education which is the basis of any true and lasting democracy.
[…] After the affectionate testimony left us by his wife, Lina Caprio, in the book "Colloquio con un martire" and the learned lecture by prof. Marcello Gigante of '55, the publication of this book is intended to be a more organic contribution to knowledge and enhancement, among the new generations, of a life experience, particularly dense with moral and civil contents, which was that of the Martyr Di Vona, precisely on the occasion of the centenary of his birth and the 50th anniversary of his holocaust.
The memory and the debate on the figure of Di Vona are linked to that thread of memory, mentioned above, and which has been kept alive in recent years by episodic initiatives such as the heading of a street, the laying of a plaque on the facade of the Town Hall, the birth of a club in the seventies inspired by his figure, commemoration articles appeared in various periodicals.
Presenting the figure of Di Vona today means re-discussing the historical-political motivations, that animated the commitment and the partisan struggle, and in the light of today's debate among historians, within which there are revisionist attempts of the final judgment sanctioned by the birth of post-fascist democratic Italy, and in consideration of the current developments in Italian politics; developments that in our opinion require a renewed and actualized guilt on the values of anti-fascism.
So it is not just a celebration and hagiography, but a proactive message towards society and young people with which to ideally re-launch a bridge between the past, present and future.
We hope that the "La Strada" Club, with the promotion of the event of the volume in honor of Quintino Di Vona, manage to give, albeit with many limitations, a signal in this direction.