Umberto Saba, Se io fossi nominato governatore di Trieste (Ci vorrebbe una sola legge severa: contro chi incita all’odio di razza) (“If I were appointed governor of Trieste – It would take only one strict law: against those who incite racial hatred”), “Corriere della Sera”, 13th January 1948
Saba’s provocative article, which echoes the debate around the appointment of a governor for the FTT (Free Territory of Trieste), provided for by the Treaty of London and never implemented, was destined to provoke “the most violent, almost paroxysmal reactions in the Trieste press” (Arrigo Stara).
Letter from Umberto Saba to Silvio Benco, Milano, 12th September 1946
“Dear old Benco, […]. I have read several of your articles on Trieste in the “Corriere”. With extreme clarity and lucidity you have set out the essential lines of the problem. They are, those articles of yours, the best things I have read on the unhappy subject. So unhappy that I don’t feel like talking about it, and I gloss over the painful subject. The persecutions, the war etc. have taken everything I had, as you may know. Today I am reduced to living far from my old Lina, in the home of friends (who are perhaps tired of me) and, what’s more, living off literature: something I had always tried to avoid. It’s sad that it is so, but that’s how it is”.
