“French? Too difficult. So, between Spanish and Italian, I chose Italian and I still do not know why”.
A journey that began almost by chance – that made by 36 years old Jiří Špička, now associate professor of Italian language and literature at the at the Olomouc Faculty of Letters.
Fond of Latin when he was at high school, he immediately decided to apply it to a spoken language.
Fifteen years later, by now, an estimated Czech scholar in the academic world with several major publications, Jiří enthusiastically traces the various stages that led to his success.
While walking around the churches and the Baroque fountains of Olomouc, the professor tells about himself and the Department of Romance Languages of the University town.
“It all began in 1992 when Professor Carmine Mezzacappa arrived from Italy”. Without him, everything that exists today would not have been possible. After a year of language courses, Mezzacappa, together with Lenka Kovakova, a colleague of his, embarked on a new Italian language project within the University’s Romance Languages Department.
Thus, besides the language, the seven students of the new course were able, for the first time, to glance through the book pages on the history and theory of literature. All in the language of Dante
It was 1993 then and among those few and excited students there was also Jiří, just out of high school.
“At the beginning, we had nothing at all – recalls the now 36 year old professor – perhaps a dozen books or so by a few Italian authors, but nothing more”. So, it was Dr. Mezzacappa who provide the department with a large box of books, most of which on Petrarch, straight from Italy.
Jiří still remembers those lessons with enthusiasm and tells an anecdote which has, in some way, marked his academic career. During the annual department meeting, the Italian professor distributed a few poems for the students to choose from, to be read aloud to the public. During the performance, they read Palazzeschi, but Jiří still remembers well the crumpled paper that happened to end up in his hands. It was ” Pace non trovo e non ho da far guerra” Sonnet 134 from Petrarch’s Canzoniere.
“Those words struck me intensely, so I tried to write a “homemade” translation into Czech. The result was acceptable even if – as Jiří admits – there was little left of the pathos of the Arezzo poet. But that marked the beginning of Professor Špička’s Petrarchan adventure.
After the first three years of study, he completed a first piece of work on the genesis of the Canzoniere. The path had already been defined. Five more years and was followed by the secretum thesis – “Chi é chi nel secretum di Petrarca” – and finally this year, the work of which he is most proud of today: the monograph “Petrarca Homo Politicus”, a work of research and writing that lasted three long years – on the political aspects of the work and life of the great Italian poet. The book earned him in Italy the prestigious 2010 Flaiano award, that he received in the city of Pescara last July and which is now preserved in the showcase of the department.
Jiří Špička has also been recently appointed vice-rector of the faculty of letters for his research. He holds courses on both history and theory of Italian literature. His students are enthusiastic for his competence and friendly manners. The small classes at the University of Olomouc permit close relationships with students, so after lessons, you can talk and exchange ideas. Today, the numbers of enrolled students in the first and second year classes are 10, while in the third class, they are now down to seven.
“The real problem – says Jiří – is that after the three-year degree, the number of students who abandon university is quite high”. At present, the students enrolled for the two-year specialist degree course in Italian, are just two.
Jiří has now been teaching in Olomouc for ten years: “and just to think of it, I started as a clandestine,” the professor says with a smile, while he glances around the rich library of prose and poetry in his small studio. “At the beginning, I had been taken on as a service man, but I was already actually teaching”, Jiří laughs.
Then just as today, there is a certain interest for the language, many are those who attend the basic courses, which have become a sort of amusement for Czech students and to learn these basic elements are young people from various faculties. This year, we have two classes of thirty-five students, but we are already thinking of opening a third class for next year.
Besides the Italian language and Italy – which he has visited several times from north to south – both for study and pleasure -, Jiří tells of his affection for Olomouc. Even after ten years of teaching, he still enjoys walking from home to the faculty. He knows the anecdotes and stories of each building, monument and cobblestone alley. It tells of the thick city walls and beyond it which – up to the end of the last century – you were not allowed to build on. It is also thanks to this sort of enclosure that the centre gathers elegantly around the majestic Trinity column, a Baroque brownstone masterpiece.
The streets and squares are pervaded with is a pure and crispy atmosphere: the students in the city make up a quarter of the 100,000 inhabitants. In the conservatory Coffee bar, some boys are revising their piano scores. From a window on the first floor, which reveals an airy ceiling, the sound of light classical music fills the courtyard. At times, the impression you get is that is of being in an Italian village, full of history and secrets.
However, there is just time to get back to the studio, because – for Jiří – today is open day. He waits at his desk, amid his papers and the books of his Poet. There is just enough time for one last thing: “I’m already working on a new book on Petrarch, but this time the work will last at least five years”.
By Edoardo Malvenuti