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 Mondo Beat magazine.

The Beats, who were fleeing from family and school, who were hitchhiking or were often in prison due to police repression, did not collaborate much with Mondo Beat magazine. There were Milanese high school students who wanted to publish, but generally they wrote nonsense, as they were brainwashed by a relentless media campaign on the Beat Generation, orchestrated by Fernanda Pivano, the CIA agent. But from the moment of the merger of Onda Verde and Mondo Beat, articles published by Antonio Pilati and Marco Maria Sigiani would have blown the wind of true counter-information from the pages of Mondo Beat and the magazine would have acquired its connotation. Antonio Pilati and Marco Maria Sigiani focused on the conditions of the Italian school. They wrote about the Dutch Provos and the events which occurred in the Campus of Berkeley, University of California, where the Free Speech Movement promoted a true cultural revolution. These topics were of great relevance and although Onda Verde was made of few youths and had neither a magazine nor a seat, nevertheless its contribution to the Movement has been of great importance because, thanks to Onda Verde, Mondo Beat magazine would have taken root in the Milanese schools and from these schools the first wave of student contestation would have arisen 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 in letterpress, all the others were mimeographed. -

Comments on articles.

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

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

On the same page 2 there is the article "Pourquoi ces cannons?" (Why these cannons?) by Gianni Milano. So, let's say a few words about him. When it became of public opinion that there was an irremediable contrast between Melchiorre Gerbino, the leader of the Mondo Beat Movement, and Fernanda Pivano, the CIA agent who promoted a deafening campaign on the Beat Generation, Gianni Milano openly sided with Fernanda Pivano and against Mondo Beat. But, over the years, Gianni Milano would have understood the historic importance the Mondo Beat Movement had and therefore he tried to be remembered as one of its characters. At that, Melchiorre Gerbino gave him a kick, as it is widely described in the Italian version of the history of Mondo Beat.

Given that Gianni Milano was devoted to Fernanda Pivano, some have wondered if he too was a CIA agent or just an idiot

Fernanda Pivano, the CIA agent, with Gianni Milano, one of her devotees.

Since it has been proven that Fernanda Pivano was a CIA agent and Gianni Milano showed devotion to her, some have wondered if he too was a CIA agent or just an idiot.

Page 3
"Le scelte castrate" (The castrated choices) by "Agor", pseudonym of Antonio Pilati.
An essay on the illusion of choosing in a system where everything has been homogenized and therefore the individual, whatever his choices, 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 the Journalists of Lombardy and, consequently, obtaining authorization from the Court to edit Mondo Beat magazine.
Indeed, it happened that Melchiorre Gerbino's application was examined by Luigi Marinatto, a councilor of the Order of Journalists, who liked this second issue of Mondo Beat magazine so much that he granted registration to Melchiorre Gerbino and congratulated Antonio Pilati for his article "The castrated choices".
Luigi Marinatto, who showed the appearance of a moderate and quiet man, was actually a rebel and for this he would have liked this Mondo Beat issue so much. Luigi Marinatto would have had problems with the Establishment for having granted registration to Melchiorre Gerbino, because Gerbino would have shown an inflexible determination in wanting to affirm civil rights in Italy and the Mondo Beat Movement would have made of this intendment its cornerstone. But Luigi Marinatto had foreseen he would have had problems with the Establishment, as we from Mondo Beat had also foreseen this.
May the memory of Luigi Marinatto last as long as the memory of Mondo Beat.

Luigi Marinatto appreciated the line of the magazine Mondo Beat

Luigi Marinatto, a councilor of the Order of Journalists of Lombardy.

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

On the same page 4, "Letter to the Party" (Lettera al Partito) 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 then represented in the Italian parliament. Antonio Mariani was the main character of a group of Beats in the city of Monza.

Page 5
"Letter of resignation" (Lettera di dimissioni), by Lorenzo.
Lorenzo gave Gerbino this poem for publication. In this poem Lorenzo harshly criticized the Dalmine Company, in which he claimed to have worked. But since he did not want to sign the poem with his name, nor to prove that he had really worked for Dalmine, Melchiorre Gerbino in publishing the poem would have changed the name of the company from Dalmine to Valdine (a nonexistent company).
Lorenzo would have been angry because of this and Gerbino would have told him not to present anything more for publication, because it would have been trashed.

Page 6
"The Beatniks today" (I beatniks oggi) by Renzo Freschi, who still feverishly wrote on the Beat Generation.

Page 7
Continuation of "The Beatniks today" (I beatniks oggi) by Renzo Freschi.

On the same page 7, "Think hard about it, Giacomino" (Pensaci bene, Giacomino) and "Mondo Beat for children" (Il Mondo Beat dei piccoli), by Melchiorre Gerbino.
They were mockeries by Gerbino to the publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, who sold buttons with protest slogans.

Page 8
Poems by Anita and Tella (Tella Ferrari).
Tella Ferrari was a 16-year-old Jewish student from Milan. She prepared all the mimeograph matrices of this second issue of Mondo Beat, making two copies of each matrix, in case one was consumed during printing. She did a demanding job, which made it possible to print this issue during the Christmas holidays, as it was already described.

Page 9
"God exists / God does not exist" (Dio esiste / Dio non esiste) by "G.F.S." (Gianfranco Sanguinetti) on the existence of God.
In this article there is Sanguinetti's acute reasoning on the existence of religions regardless of whether or not God exists. Sanguinetti was a precursor of the Situationists, of which he would become a famous representative.
Below is another article by Gianfranco Sanguinetti, where he 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 of them

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

Picture on the left, the article by Gianfranco Sanguinetti.
In the photo on the right, two guys from Onda Verde under the arcades of Piazza Duomo in a late evening. The posters read "Conscientious objection" (to compulsory military service).

On the same page 9, "Introduction to Buddhism" (Introduzione al Buddismo), by Gennaro De Miranda.
As it has been already described, 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, declared she had heard a loud noise that night, like that of a man hit by a car. The hour when that lady heard that noise coincided with the hour when the forensic police calculated that Gennaro De Miranda had died, so the case was filed.

Page 10
Continuation of "Introduction to Buddhism" (Introduzione al Buddismo), by Gennaro De Miranda.
This article was in one of Gennaro De Miranda's pockets when he was found dead.

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

Page 12
Continuation of "For a social grammar on sex" (Per una grammatica sociale del sesso), by Marco Maria Sigiani.
This is an essay on the function of the conjunction "and" to evaluate sexual behavior according to established social paradigms.

Pages 13 and 14
On both pages, Andrea Valcarenghi writes on the merger between Mondo Beat, Onda Verde, Provos, which took place in his house on December 15, 1966.
As already mentioned, the event was attended by Antonio Pilati, Gianfranco Sanguinetti, Marco Maria Sigiani, Andrea Valcarenghi, representing Onda Verde; Giuseppe Pinelli, representing the Provos; Gunilla Unger, Umberto Tiboni, Melchiorre Gerbino, representing Mondo Beat.
The merger procedure was officially opened 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 intended to make it clear that he had no complexes due to his aristocratic status. As it is known, Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin, one of the fathers of anarchism, was a prince of a dynasty who had reigned in Russia before the Romanovs and this didn't prevent him from conceiving a more equitable world and engaging for this. But Melchiorre Gerbino would later understand that Valcarenghi's case was different from Kropotkin's, due to the different IQ of the two. Later we will talk about the unfortunate case of Andrea Valcarenghi.

On page 14
The Onda Verde logo 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 matrices for mimeograph, using a pin.

History of Mondo Beat - Chapter 6