Vittorio Di Russo. The charisma of arousing a historic movement from a scattered youth.
"Mondo Beat Numero Unico" (Issue 1) - November 15, 1966 - Edition: 860 copies.
Contributors and comments on the articles:
page 1-
- The "Mondo Beat" logo was drawn by Enea, a 17-year-old Milanese boy who traced it with a pin on a mimeograph matrix.
- Translation of what is written under the Mondo Beat logo: Management, Administration, Advertising, Milan, Piazza Duomo, at the equestrian statue of (King) Vittorio Emanuele II - This issue is sponsored by the world citizen Vittorio Di Russo, mimeograph assistant and street vendor - Cooperation open to all, with the exception of mental masturbators.
This strip and the editorial were written by Melchiorre Paolo Gerbino (M.P.G.). In the editorial, I advocated nonviolence as a necessity for the survival of humanity, therefore the need for a new morality and, in perspective, the development of a higher human nature.
page 2-
- Continuation of the editorial by Melchiorre Paolo Gerbino (M.P.G.);
- On the same page 2, "NON POETICHE MA POETI" (No poetics but poets) by Edoardo, on the need for a renewal of Italian culture. Edoardo was a colleague of Melchiorre Gerbino in the airline Alitalia.
- On the same page 2, a quote from Boris Vian.
page 3-
- "FENOMENO BEAT" (Beat Phenomenology) by Renzo Freschi, a 18-year-old Milanese who attended high school.
page 4-
- Continuation of "FENOMENO BEAT" (Beat Phenomenology) by Renzo Freschi.
Hoping to achieve literary fame, Renzo Freschi had tried to participate in Fernanda Pivano's literary salon, but had been ignored. Thereafter, he came to Mondo Beat.
page 5-
- Continuation of "FENOMENO BEAT" (Beat Phenomenology) by Renzo Freschi.
Believing that the topic Beat Generation was of a great significance for the current malaise of Italian youth, when in fact it was not at all, Renzo Freschi wrote pages and pages on the Beat Generation, copying almost integrally what Fernanda Pivano, the CIA agent, had already published. The pathetic side of this situation was that Renzo Freschi believed he was a cutting-edge intellectual.
- On the same page 5, "PERCHÉ MI RIFIUTO DI DIVENTARE SOLDATO" (The reason why I don't want to undergo compulsory military service) by Ivo della Savia. He was a Sacco e Vanzetti anarchist. In this article, Ivo della Savia set out the reasons for his objection.
page 6-
- Continuation of "PERCHÉ MI RIFIUTO DI DIVENTARE SOLDATO" (The reason why I don't want to undergo compulsory military service) by Ivo della Savia, who lived in hiding, supported by the Milanese anarchists.
page 7-
- Continuation and end of "PERCHÉ MI RIFIUTO DI DIVENTARE SOLDATO" (The reason why I don't want to undergo compulsory military service) by Ivo della Savia.
Ivo della Savia was the first Italian conscientious objector to compulsory military service for ideological reasons; before him, some Jehovah's Witnesses for religious reasons.
- On the same page 7, a miscellany of quotes on pacifism, by Pope John XXIII, Albert Einstein, Arthur Koestler.
page 8-
- "I BUDDISTI E LA GUERRA. Lettera di un risuscitato a J.P. Sartre" (Buddhists and war. A letter from a resurrected man to J.P. Sartre) by Ho Huu Tuong (French to Italian translation by Gerbino).
An open letter to Jean-Paul Sartre written by a Vietnamese intellectual who had been forced by circumstances to live among Buddhists during the Vietnam War.
page 9-
- Continuation of "I BUDDISTI E LA GUERRA. Lettera di un risuscitato a J.P. Sartre" (Buddhists and war. A letter from a resurrected man to J.P. Sartre) by Ho Huu Tuong.
At the time of the publication of this open letter, the Vietnam War was in one of its worst escalating moments.
page 10-
- "OMBRE AL SOLE" (Shadows in the sun) by Renzo Freschi, who wrote uninterruptedly and insisted on being published, as he harbored the illusion that he would be famous with this.
page 11-
- "MILANO BEAT" by Giuseppe Poppi Ranchetti, the famous set designer. He attended Mondo Beat in the beginning. In this writing, the young Poppi expressed his annoyance of being among too many robotic people.
- On the same page 11, some verses by Nazim Hikmet, who had died 3 years earlier.
- On the same page 11, Renzo Freschi again, with "FUOCHI D'ARTIFICIO" (Fireworks).
A consideration on the situation created by Renzo Freschi. This issue was made up of 14 pages, 4 of which were covered by Renzo Freschi's writings "Beat Phenomenology", "Shadows in the sun" and "Fireworks", if we calculate all the space they have taken. Now, if we had left be this last Renzo Freschi's poem, "Fireworks", and we could have removed all the rest of him, this issue could have been formatted in 10 pages, instead of 14, and it would have been more characterized and stylish. But Mondo Beat, being an anarchist magazine, never refused articles submitted for publication and this attitude of welcoming all and publishing anyone at his will, would have been a heavy burden for the Magazine, as we will see.
page 12-
- "ANIME PRATICHE" (Practical souls) and "RESTIAMO NEL NOSTRO MONDO" (Let's remain in our world) by Cina (China). In these two poems there are the bitter memories of someone who had been locked up in a reformatory in his tender years. Cina was a close friend of Vittorio Di Russo.
page 13-
- "IL PRESIDE TARDO MENTALE" (The mentally retarded principal) by Gennaro De Miranda. It was a harsh criticism of the school education system in Italy. Gennaro De Miranda, a 36-year-old Neapolitan, was the Magazine's oldest contributor.
- On the same page 13, "IL SIGNOR TODISCO E L'AMORE" (Mr. Todisco and Love) by M.P.G. (Melchiorre Paolo Gerbino).
page 14-
- Continuation of "IL SIGNOR TODISCO E L'AMORE" (Mr. Todisco and Love) by M.P.G. (Melchiorre Paolo Gerbino).
- On the same page, "IL SIGNOR DI TOSCO E LA GUERRA" (Mr. Di Tosco and War) by Vittorio Di Russo.
With these two writings, Melchiorre Gerbino and Vittorio Di Russo, respectively, made fun of Alfredo Todisco, a Corriere della Sera journalist who wrote nonsense about the Beats.
Note that this writing by Vittorio Di Russo is the only one published in Mondo Beat magazine. In fact, Vittorio carved and painted assiduously but did not write much.
- On the same page 14, "QUIZ", signed "La Redazione" (The editorial staff). Written by Melchiorre Gerbino, it was a joke on Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, whose publishing house sold buttons with protest slogans, which the Italian provincials pinned on their clothes.
