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Pink Milano: Alda Merini
The poetess of Navigli born on the first day of spring
Among the great women of Milano it is impossible not to mention Alda Merini, the great poetess of Navigli born "on the 21st in spring", as she herself loved to write. Yes, because it was in Ripa di Porta Ticinese that Alda lived the last years of her life after her marriage to the poet Michele Pierri, with whom she lived in southern Italy, in Taranto. Still today, walking along the Milanese canals, with a little effort of imagination we can see her strolling with the inevitable cigarette between her lips and her string of pearls, ready to be caught by the inspiration of the muses. The author's life was not the easiest: she spent more than ten years of her life in a psychiatric hospital and only reached the true artistic consecration after death. Alda Merini was and still is a great example of cultural resilience for all women and it's to the female universe that the writer dedicated her most beautiful words in the famous lyric entitled Hymn to Women.
Let's discover this special ID of Alda Merini that we have written especially for you.
Alda Giuseppina Angela Merini
After finishing primary school with very high grades, she was forced by her father to attend three years of work experience at a professional training school for women. Afterwards, she tried to be admitted to the prestigious Manzoni High School, failing in the literature test.
Navigli, as we said in the introduction. At the time of Alda, however, the Navigli were very different from those of today, not really identifying with the "aperitivo-district". Precisely, she lived in Ripa di Porta Ticinese at number 47; in the courtyard that can be seen from the gate, Alda used to sit on a large stone in the shape of a tree trunk, writing her poems. The closest bridge to her home was entitled to her by the Municipality of Milano in 2019.
Lo Spazio Alda Merini in Via Magolfa 32. In this house-museum we find the whole domestic universe of Alda after the dismantling of the apartment in Ripa di Porta Ticinese - an entropic assemble of objects that filled the last years of her life, such as the typewriter and the piano on which she played romances of love. Here are also the entire blocks of wall, originally placed behind the bed, on which the poetess scribbled drawings and pinned with lipstick the phone numbers of her friends.
"There are adolescences that trigger when you are ninety."
Love Lessons. Selected Poems of Alda Merini.
