Page 92 - Lanzarotto Malocello from Italy to the Canary Islands

92 from Italy to the Canary Islands

The horizons of Genoa:

splendour and twilight

ities of the sea base their
history on the melody of
the waves. Every act of
those citizens – from the governor,
to the longshoremen and craftsmen
– appears to originate precisely
under the constant wonder at the
“Sacred representation
different moods of the sea: rough, of Saint Ursula”, detail.
stormy, calm and flat, the monoto-
nous and sure sound of the backwash.
It already reveals itself on arrival from the sea; several miles off the
coast you can already make out its outline and from the watchtower, from
the lighthouse, that identity, good or threatening, can already be glimpsed.
The coat of arms moves another city to brave the sea, waves a flag,
the history of a people, of an ancient stronghold in time transformed. The
sightings were alarming: there must be a History of sightings in some li-
brary somewhere, or in the forgotten basement of an aristocratic building.
The inhabitants therefore set their heartbeat according to announcements,
to shouts, and the lifestyle is fashioned according to who appears on the
horizon every day.
In their buildings, the Lords of the city were warm even when an ene-
my came into sight: navigational charts, maps, fortification manuals were
there, on the rough table in the Hall of the Trophies. From their places
the Governors had an excellent view and from their large or twin lancet
windows they already prepared exemplary tactics, helped along by the city
strategists, sort of artists/scientists that expressed their talent excellently
through drawings; and so, from the studies on Man they went on to exam-
ine the whole of nature, before dabbling in fortifications and then moving
on to building war machines.
News of it spread and they were reached, tracked down, and had as