To celebrate the opening of an ICBIE office in Rome, our Italian supporters, brilliantly led by Monica Bernardi, served up the biggest Roman ICBIE gathering ever seen. The venue was perfect: after a solid week of stiflingly hot weather, the choice of a Saturday night party on Capocotta beach was an irresistible attraction, and our friends turned out in throngs. Capocotta is a great symbolic location: supposedly, Aeneas landed there, before taking his troups ashore to found the city of Rome, but above all, it became a hotspot of the Italian counterculture during the 1970’s, when the Estate romana of Renato Nicolini chose the beach as the site for a legendary International Poetry Festival, with Gregory Corso and Allen Ginsburg stirring up a wild crowd of intellectuals, hippies and nudists.
It was amazing to see all our staunch supporters once again, with dozens of people who have visited the ICBIE in Ribeira abandoning themselves, reminiscing nostalgically about Pietro and Bogus, Julio and Marlene and Lu. Of course, for Giovanna, Marcella, Guido, Cinzia and Roy, who were in Salvador until very recently, the saudade was especially poignant. But there was no time to get maudlin, with a sumptuous banquet of churrasco and cerveja, and a profusion of good friends. Then Diego “Pachanga” Lucantoni summoned the horde of drummers known as Akuna Matata, marching them in from the beach to give a rousing exhibition of irresistible samba rhythms.
Last night’s bash also coincided with the eighteenth birthday of Gabriele Fabozzi, who chose to celebrate together with us. This AOSR senior took his whole family to stay at the ICBIE last Christmas, and they have been our staunch supporters ever since.
The music continued late into the night, with Dj Amião churning out Brazilian dance music non-stop. We have to thank Monica for the flawless organization, the people at the Porto di Enea for their hospitality, Serginho for the splendid churrasco, and all of our hundreds of friends who made the evening unforgettable.
