Home » Siddhartha on Lake Lugano, Hermann Hesse’s refuge

Siddhartha on Lake Lugano, Hermann Hesse’s refuge

by admin
Siddhartha on Lake Lugano, Hermann Hesse’s refuge

A hundred years ago, in 1922, Hermann Hesse wrote Siddhartha, his Indian poem, the free interpretation of the life of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. The most famous novel by him, the bible of young people who in the sixties and seventies went to India on board the magic buses. The mystical text that is a source of inspiration for lovers of oriental culture as well as for restless adolescents. The sacred book of the hippies, however, was not written on the Himalayan mountains or on the banks of the sacred Ganges, but on the much more placid and rich shores of Lake Lugano, in the Ticino town of Montagnola where the most widely read German writer in the world moved to the 1919, at the age of 42. Because, despite his books dealing with oriental themes – between introspection, philosophizing and research on the dualism of the human soul – Hesse was not a great traveler. From his Germany she undertook numerous tours in Italy between 1901 and 1914. But his great journey was that of Malaysia, Indonesia and Ceylon in the company of his friend and painter Hans Sturzenegger, narrated in the book Viaggio in India. A disappointing experience: Hesse fell ill with dysentery, could not see the coveted India and did not find the mystical pathos he was looking for.

Montagnola Casa Rossa (photo Switzerland Tourism)

More than a traveler, Hesse was a great walker, a worthy heir to the sylvan wandering exalted by German romanticism. He wrote «Our craving for wandering and wandering life is largely love, eroticism. Half the romance of travel is nothing more than waiting for the adventure. But for the other half it is an unconscious impulse to transform and dissolve the erotic element ». A feeling that he felt above all in the valleys of the Canton of Ticino followed strictly on foot and told through many of the watercolors exhibited at the Hermann Hesse Museum in Montagnola together with his typewriter, letters, books, objects, various memorabilia and the Nobel Prize certificate for the literature he won in 1946.

Hermann Hesse Museum with typewriter (photo MIlo Zanecchia)

There is also information on family, marriages and his total aversion to war. After Hitler’s rise to power he never returned to Germany, where the Nazis banned his books accused of propagating pacifism. The Museum includes Caffè Boccadoro, inspired by Narciso and Boccadoro, one of his most famous novels, the friendship of two young people and their opposing life choices transformed – through the narration of different individual paths – into a passionate pretext for a investigation of the dualism inherent in man.

Watercolor by Hermann Hesse

A short itinerary leads to the discovery of its places in Ticino. From the Museum proceed in the direction of Lugano to the church of Sant’Abbondio, where his funeral was celebrated – despite Hesse professing himself philosophically Buddhist, then a cypress-lined avenue leads to the Gentilino cemetery where he was buried in August 1962. sixty years ago. By his will, only a humble stone plaque remembers him. Through the woods, the path goes back towards Montagnola, along via Hermann Hesse and reaches the Casa Rossa, where the writer lived and a plaque placed in 1977 for the centenary of his birth remembers him. Other itineraries lead to the places of contemplation where he used to stop.

Follow LaStampa Viaggi on Facebook (click here)

Don’t miss the free weekly newsletter, if you want to subscribe click here

See also  "Ideal City" Sun Li can't afford the heroine

You may also like

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

Privacy & Cookies Policy