Today we celebrate

April 25, 2025

Today Italy celebrates 80 years since the Nazi occupation and their fellows, the local fascists, were kicked out of Milan and Turin, the last two major cities still being held in their blood-soaked grip. The civil war would carry on for another week, but today’s the official holiday. Our local government (a far-right one, in case you missed this detail) invited the country to celebrate “with sobriety” and many cities cancelled the decennial tradition of public gatherings and commemorative parades, which is troubling to say the least. So here’s my invitation to celebrate with enthusiasm. Freedom doesn’t come cheap. Freedom doesn’t come for free.

In the header, a detail of a painting by Renato Guttuso, our local Picasso, who painted against fascism and joined the resistance in 1940.

note to self

What happened in February…

…doesn’t necessarily stay in February, so here’s a few highlights. I saw art exhibitions, read books and comics, had a birthday, did a great football event with my team and bla bla bla, who cares. Here’s the stuff you might have seen on Instagram, but

February 28, 2026 5:51 pm

books and literature

SciFi Friday — The Diamond Lens by Fitz-James O’Brien (1858) — Part 6

I arose the next morning almost at daybreak, and rushed to my microscope, I trembled as I sought the luminous world in miniature that contained my all. Animula was there. I had left the gas-lamp, surrounded by its moderators, burning when I went to bed

February 27, 2026 3:13 pm

books and literature

In the (Digital) Swarm

Byung-Chul Han is a contemporary German philosopher born in Korea whose work explores the transformation of subjectivity, power, and social relations in late modern and digital societies. In the Swarm fits within this broader inquiry, focusing specifically on the effects of digital communication on perception,

February 27, 2026 9:00 am