Mondo Beat/Onda Verde - Numero Unico (Issue 2) - December 30, 1966

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Marco Maria Sigiani and Andrea Valcarenghi in vintage photos, Gianfranco Sanguinetti and Antonio Pilati in more recent photos

Marco Maria Sigiani, Gianfranco Sanguinetti, Andrea Valcarenghi, Antonio Pilati, the founders of the Onda Verde group

The merger of Mondo Beat and Onda Verde gave wings to the magazine "Mondo Beat".

Youths from Mondo Beat, fleeing family and school, often in difficulty or in prison due to police repression, have rarely written articles for Mondo Beat magazine. Instead, there were Milanese high school students who wanted to publish, but often wrote nonsense. Indeed, there was a deafening publicity on the Beat Generation, orchestrated by Fernanda Pivano, the CIA agent, who had the task of confusing the Italian provincials, to prevent them from participating in the Mondo Beat Movement, but instead making them interested in reading Allen Ginsberg. Of course, Fernanda Pivano was put on the altars by the Establishment media. She was celebrated as a great intellectual, when in reality she was a mediocre translator and a nullity as a writer. Many of the students who wanted to publish in Mondo Beat magazine were confused by Fernanda Pivano, as we have seen was the case of Renzo Freschi, and Melchiorre Gerbino had to prove the patience of a saint to endure them. But finally, thanks to the merger of Onda Verde and Mondo Beat, articles written by Antonio Pilati and Marco Maria Sigiani brought the wind of real counter-information to the pages of Mondo Beat. Pilati and Sigiani wrote about the Dutch Provos and the events at the University of Berkeley and, on the other hand, focused their attention and criticism on the conditions of the Italian school. So, even if Onda Verde was not substantial as number of youths and had neither a magazine nor a seat, however its contribution to the Mondo Beat Movement was of great importance, because thanks to the articles by Pilati and Sigiani, Mondo Beat magazine rooted more deeply in the schools of Milan and from these schools the first wave of student contestation arose in the autumn of 1967.

"Mondo Beat/Onda Verde Numero Unico" - (Issue 2) - December 30, 1966 - Edition: 5,200 copies.
(The first two pages of this issue were printed by letterpress, the others were mimeographed).

Contributors and comments on the articles:

Page 1
The cover was conceived by Melchiorre Paolo Gerbino. The text reads 'Vittorio Di Russo imprisoned in San Vittore'.

Page 2
"Paolo", who signs the editorial, is Melchiorre Paolo Gerbino. I dedicated the cover and the editorial to Vittorio Di Russo, recalling how he was in prison due to an unconstitutional police injunction and a consequent unconstitutional sentence by the judiciary.

On the same page 2, "Pourquoi ces cannons?" (Why these cannons?) by Gianni Milano. The title of this article was written in French, by Gianni Milano, since Piedmontese pseudo-intellectuals suffer from French cultural complexes and Gianni Milano among them. Now, let's say a few words about him. As I have already said, at the beginning of November 1966, Fernanda Pivano, Vittorio Di Russo and I were in Verona at Mr. Donà's home, and I have described how Vittorio Di Russo had a paranoid crisis in that occasion and how I had to accompany him to the hospital. Together with us in Verona, there was also Gianni Milano, who gave me this article, asking for publication. I published the article, then I asked Gianni Milano if he wanted to join the editorial staff of the Magazine, but, after consulting Fernanda Pivano, he rejected my offer. And when it became evident that there was an irremediable contrast between Melchiorre Gerbino and Fernanda Pivano, Gianni Milano took position in Fernanda Pivano's camp, consequently, he took a negative stand towards the Mondo Beat Movement. But, over the years, Gianni Milano has understood what historical significance Mondo Beat had and therefore he tried to appear as one of its characters. At that, Melchiorre Gerbino felt compelled to expel Gianni Milano from the history of Mondo Beat, by officially kicking him in the ass, also because at that time it was proven that Fernanda Pivano was a CIA agent. In the reconstruction of the Mondo Beat history in the Italian version, there are details about this kick that Gianni Milano received by Melchiorre Gerbino, but I don't think Gianni Milano is such an interesting character that I should translate all this into English.

Melchiorre Gerbino felt compelled to expel Gianni Milano from the Mondo Beat story officially kicking him in the ass

Fernanda Pivano, the CIA agent, with Gianni Milano, one of her most intimate collaborators

Page 3
"Le scelte castrate" (The castrated choices) by "Agor", pseudonym of Antonio Pilati.
An essay on the illusion of making choices in a system where everything has been homogenized, therefore the individual, whatever his choice, is predestined to live in an already planned dimension.
"The castrated choices" is one of the most brilliant articles published in Mondo Beat magazine. Thanks to this article, Melchiorre Gerbino was facilitated in obtaining registration in the Special List of Lombard journalists as director of the fortnightly student magazine "Mondo Beat". In fact, a copy of this second issue of the Magazine had been delivered to Luigi Marinatto, a councilor of the Order, who had to decide whether to authorize registration or not. Luigi Marinatto liked the ideological line of the Magazine and so much this article, "Le scelte castrate", that he expressed his congratulations to Antonio Pilati.
But Luigi Marinatto would have had problems because of his approval of the ideological line of the magazine Mondo Beat, since Melchiorre Gerbino would have shown an inflexible determination in affirming civil rights and the Mondo Beat Movement would have made this commitment the cornerstone of its conduct. As the Mondo Beat Movement would be animated by thousands of youths of all social classes, this would have caused a great concern in the Vatican who, behind the scenes, ruled Italy with corruption and Mafia murders. Yes, behind the scenes, Luigi Marinatto would have had serious problems because of his appreciation of Mondo Beat ideological line. May the memory of Luigi Marinatto last as long as the memory of Mondo Beat.

Luigi Marinatto, a councilor of the Order of Lombard Journalists

Luigi Marinatto and the magazine "Mondo Beat".

Page 4
Continuation of "Le scelte castrate" (The castrated choices) by "Agor", pseudonym of Antonio Pilati.

On the same page 4, "Lettera al Partito" (Letter to the Party) signed "The Beanik's Clan Monza", written by Antonio Mariani.
With this letter, Antonio Mariani distanced himself from all political parties. In fact, the Mondo Beat Movement rejected all political parties represented in the Italian parliament at that time. Antonio Mariani was the main character of a group of Beats in the city of Monza.

Page 5
"Lettera di dimissioni" (Letter of resignation) by Lorenzo.
Lorenzo wrote an imaginative letter of resignation. As he needed a starting point to write a poem in the Beat Generation style, he imagined resigning from a company, for not to be deprived of the best years of his life. With the many problems he surely had, Lorenzo imagined one he didn't have. See the consequences of the brainwashing done by Fernanda Pivano, the CIA agent!

Page 6
"I beatniks oggi" (Beatniks today) by Renzo Freschi.
As another consequence of the brainwashing carried out by Fernanda Pivano, Renzo Freschi was still feverishly copying her writings, to propagate them from the pages of Mondo Beat.

Page 7
Continuation of "I beatniks oggi" (Beatniks today) by Renzo Freschi.
But, thanks to the articles by Pilati and Sigiani, published in this issue, Renzo Freschi, having read them, would finally have understood that he had written nonsense until then, since it was appropriate, in his situation, to write about his problems of an Italian high school student and his suffering. And he would have done it from the next issue.

On the same page 7, "Pensaci bene, Giacomino" (Think hard about it, Giacomino) and "Il Mondo Beat dei piccoli" (Mondo Beat for children), by Melchiorre Gerbino. These were mockeries Melchiorre Gerbino made, respectively, to the publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, who sold buttons with protest slogans, and to the people who attended Fernanda Pivano's literary salon.

Page 8
Poems by Tella (Tella Ferrari) and Anita.
Tella Ferrari, a 16 year old Israelite girl from Milan, besides her participation in the editorial team, did the precious work of preparing all the mimeograph matrices for this second issue of the Magazine, typewriting two copies of each page. Unlike my rude way of typewriting, with which I prepared the matrices of the previous issue, Tella Ferrari's typing was clean and error-free.

Page 9
"Dio esiste / Dio non esiste" (God exists / God does not exist) by G.F.S. (Gianfranco Sanguinetti) on the existence of God.
As I have already described, the first meeting for the merger of Onda Verde and Mondo Beat took place at Gianfranco Sanguinetti's house. Sanguinetti was a precursor of the Situationists, of which he would become a famous representative.
Below is reproduced another article by Gianfranco Sanguinetti, that appeared in a magazine of which I have unfortunately lost memory of the name. In this article, Sanguinetti described what was going on after the merger of Onda Verde and Mondo Beat.

Gianfranco Sanguinetti, a precursor of the Situationists and then a famous representative

The posters read 'Conscientious objection' (to compulsory military service)

Picture on the left, an article by Gianfranco Sanguinetti on the merger of Onda Verde and Mondo Beat.
Picture on the right, two youths from Onda Verde under the arcades of Piazza Duomo, late in the evening. The posters read "Conscientious objection" (to compulsory military service).

On the same page 9, "Introduzione al Buddismo" (Introduction to Buddhism) by Gennaro De Miranda.
As I have already documented, the body of Gennaro De Miranda, the author of this article, was found in a ditch between two roads, not far from Umberto Tiboni's apartment, where he used to sleep. At the beginning of the investigations, the forensic police expressed doubts about the dynamics of the death of Gennaro De Miranda, whether he had been hit by a car and his body pushed into a ditch near the place of the accident, or if he had been killed elsewhere and his body was transported and abandoned where it was found. But then a lady, who lived in a house in view of the place where Gennaro De Miranda's body was found, said she heard a loud noise that night, like that of a man hit by a car. The moment that lady heard this noise coincided with the moment when the forensic police calculated that Gennaro De Miranda had died, so the case was classified as a road accident.

Page 10
Continuation of the article "Introduzione al Buddismo" (Introduction to Buddhism) by Gennaro De Miranda.
This article was in one of Gennaro De Miranda's pockets when he was found dead. Gennaro intended to write about Buddhism in the Magazine, being a Buddhist himself. After his death, no one would write on Buddhism. In those days, the other members of the editorial team were far from Buddhist contemplation. They had for reference Bertrand Russell, Wilhelm Reich, Jean-Paul Sartre, Peter Cadogan, Mario Savio and, of course, Bernhard de Vries, who launched the first smoke bomb on the occasion of Princess Beatrice's marriage to Claus von Amsberg.

Page 11
"Per una grammatica sociale del sesso" (For a social grammar of sex) by Marco Maria Sigiani.
A brilliant essay on a taboo subject. Marco Maria Sigiani has contributed to giving an original line to Mondo Beat magazine more than any other contributor. And he was not only the most original, but also the most informed on the international events of the youth revolt.

Page 12
Continuation of the essay "Per una grammatica sociale del sesso" (For a social grammar of sex) by Marco Maria Sigiani.
This essay focuses on the function of the conjunction "and" to evoke different sexual situations between Carlo and Anna and consequent moral evaluations, depending on whether Carlo is rich or poor, Anna is married to Carlo or not... as from the morality code programmed by political power.

Pages 13 and 14
On both pages, Andrea Valcarenghi writes on the merger between Mondo Beat, Onda Verde, Provos Sacco e Vanzetti, which took place in his house on December 15, 1966.
As I have already mentioned, the event was attended by Antonio Pilati, Gianfranco Sanguinetti, Marco Maria Sigiani, Andrea Valcarenghi, representing Onda Verde; Giuseppe Pinelli, representing the Provos Sacco e Vanzetti; Gunilla Unger, Umberto Tiboni, Melchiorre Gerbino, representing Mondo Beat.
The merger procedure was officially open by two butlers in livery, to the surprise of Giuseppe Pinelli and Melchiorre Gerbino, who exchanged amused glances during the many bows of the two butlers. On that occasion, Melchiorre Gerbino thought that Andrea Valcarenghi wanted to make it clear that he had no complexes because of his aristocratic status. Indeed, one of the fathers of anarchism, universally recognized as such, Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin, was a Russian prince. Anarchists greatly appreciate Kropotkin also because, although being a prince, he wanted a fairer world and behaved throughout his life accordingly. But Melchiorre Gerbino would soon have understood that Valcarenghi's case was different from that of Kropotkin, due to a different intelligence quotient of the two.
Later on I will talk about the unfortunate case of Andrea Valcarenghi.

On page 14
there is also the Onda Verde logo, that was created by Enea, a 17 year old Milanese boy, who had previously created the Mondo Beat logo. On both occasions, Enea drew the logos on mimeograph matrices, using a pin.

History of Mondo Beat - Chapter 6