Diogo Mainardi: The Fall: A Father's Memoir in 424 Steps

Sette … Otto … Nove … Dieci … Undici … Dodici …

Tredici … Quattordici … Quindici … Sedici …

404

Tito and I pass the statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni.

In The Stones of Venice , John Ruskin wrote:

I do not believe … that there is a more glorious work of sculpture existing in the world than that equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleone [sic].

405

406

In the previous image: the equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni by Andrea del Verrocchio.

The photograph was taken by Tito.

407

If Andrea del Verrocchio made the most glorious equestrian statue in the world, then I can say that I made the most glorious club-footed* boy in the world.

( * The Portuguese term for clubfoot is pé equino or “horse foot.” )

408

Tito continues to ride toward Venice Hospital:

… Duecentododici … duecentotredici …

duecentoquattordici … duecentoquindici …

duecentosedici … duecentodiciasette …

409

After two hundred and eighteen steps, Tito stumbles and almost falls on the uneven paving stones in Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo.

I catch him before he falls and start counting again from zero.

410

In his final poem, entitled “Wild Broom,” Giacomo Leopardi describes an apple falling onto an ants’ nest and destroying in an instant the results of the ants’ vast labor, so painstakingly achieved.

I am Tito’s ant. His falls are a constant reminder of the precarious, temporary nature of everything I have tried to build.

411

Now Tito and I are standing before the Scuola Grande di San Marco, the entrance to Venice Hospital.

I show him the finest sculpture on the façade, The Healing of Anianus , in which Mark the Evangelist is applying his miraculous cure to the cobbler Anianus’s wound.

412

413

In the previous image: The Healing of Anianus .

The sculpture dates from 1488. It was made by Tullio Lombardo.

Tullio Lombardo was the son of Pietro Lombardo.

The photograph was taken by my son Tito.

414

Just as Pietro Lombardo created the Scuola Grande di San Marco with his son Tullio, I am writing this book with my son Tito.

This is all I can create.

415

Tito and I go up the disabled ramp and into the Scuola Grande di San Marco.

416

We pass the porter’s lodge of Venice Hospital and cross the old atrium of the Scuola Grande di San Marco, now deserted.

417

Trecentocinquantaquattro … trecentocinquantacinque

… trecentocinquantasei … trecentocinquantasette …

trecentocinquantotto … trecentocinquantanove …

418

We reach the cloister where I saw Tito for the first time, in an incubator, with a tube up his nose and with his face green.

419

420

In the previous image: Tito in the Dominican cloister.

421

When I saw Tito in the incubator on the day he was born, I knew that I would always love and help him.

Since then, nothing has changed.

I will always love him. I will always help him.

422

In 1483, Pietro Lombardo and his son Tullio Lombardo were commissioned to produce a sculpture of Dante Alighieri for his tomb in Florence.

They portray Dante Alighieri in meditative mood, his hand cradling his chin, as he composes the Divine Comedy .

423

I continue to count Tito’s steps as if I were reciting Dante Alighieri:

Quattrocentodiciotto … quattrocentodicianove …

quattro centoventi … quattrocentoventuno …

quattrocentoventidue … quattrocentoventitre …

424

Four hundred and twenty-four steps.

This is the farthest that Tito has ever walked. As Dante Alighieri said in Canto III of his Purgatory , a good slingsman could still hit him with a stone. But as I stand, cradling my chin in my hand, it seems to me that a good slingsman could hit anyone with a stone, however far he walked.

Tito resumes his walk. I stop counting his steps.

Unless otherwise stated, images are from the author’s personal archive. The images are listed here by chapter number .

1.1 Canaletto, Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo , Akg-Images/Latinstock

1.2 Image of Ezio Auditore da Firenze © 2012 Ubisoft Entertainment. All rights reserved. Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries

1.3 Photo of Le Corbusier, Archivio Cameraphoto Epoche/Getty Images

1.4 Tintoretto, The Stealing of St. Mark’s Body , Mondadori Portfolio

1.5 Tito as James Stewart, Mark Rappaport

1.6 Vincent Price in Tower of London , MGM Licensing

1.7 Image from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein , Everett/Latinstock

1.8 Selection of Jews, Akg-Images/Latinstock

1.9 Monet, Palazzo Dario , Akg-Images/Latinstock

1.10 Canaletto, Campo San Vio , Akg-Images/Latinstock

1.11 Still from Abbott and Costello Go to Mars , Universal Studios Licensing LLC

1.12 Image of Christy Brown, Andrew Whittuck, 1969

1.13 Still from Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , Universal Studios Licensing LLC

1.14 Leopardi on deathbed, Mondadori Portfolio/Leemage

1.15 Titus in Monk’s Habit , Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

1.16 The Prodigal Son in the Tavern , Nicolas Pioch/Web Museum

1.17 Photo of Proust in Venice, Roger-Viollet/Glow Images

1.18 Man Ray photo of Proust, Granger/Glow Images

1.19 Ezra Pound in Venice, Mondadori Portfolio/Walter Mori

1.20 Ezra Pound’s funeral, David Lees/Corbis/Latinstock

1.21 Photo of Christopher Nolan, Simon Townsley/Rex Features

1.22 Still from Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , Universal Studios Licensing LLC

1.23 Statue of Tommaso Rangone, Andrea Jemolo