OTTAVIA
Se
volete credermi, bene. Ora dirò come è fatta Ottavia, città - ragnatela. C'è un
precipizio in mezzo a due montagne scoscese: la città è sul vuoto, legata alle
due creste con funi e catene e passerelle. Si cammina sulle traversine di legno,
attenti a non mettere il piede negli intervalli, o ci si aggrappa alle maglie di
canapa. Sotto non c'è niente per centinaia e centinaia di metri: qualche nuvola
scorre; s'intravede più in basso il fondo del burrone.
Questa
è la base della città: una rete che serve da passaggio e da sostegno. Tutto il
resto, invece d'elevarsi sopra, sta appeso sotto: scale di corda, amache, case
fatte a sacco, attaccapanni, terrazzi come navicelle, otri d'acqua, becchi del
gas, girarrosti, cesti appesi a spaghi, montacarichi, docce, trapezi e anelli
per i giochi, teleferiche, lampadari, vasi con piante dal fogliame
pendulo.
Sospesa
sull'abisso, la vita degli abitanti d'Ottavia è meno incerta che in altre città.
Sanno che più di tanto la rete non regge.
Italo
Calvino,
Le città invisibili
If you choose to believe me, good. Now I will tell
how Octavia, the spider-web city, is made. There is
a precipice between two steep mountains: the city is
over the void, bound to the two crests with ropes
and chains and catwalks. You walk on the little
wooden ties, careful not to set your foot in the open
spaces, or you cling to the hempen strands. Below
there is nothing for hundreds and hundreds of feet: a
few clouds glide past; farther down you can glimpse
the chasm's bed.
This is the foundation of the city: a net which
serves as passage and as support. All the rest, instead
of rising up, is hung below: rope ladders, hammocks,
houses made like sacks, clothes hangers, terraces
like gondolas, skins of water, gas jets, spits,
baskets on strings, dumb-waiters, showers, trapezes
and rings for children's games, cable cars, chandeliers,
pots with trailing plants.
Suspended over the abyss, the life of Octavia's inhabitants
is less uncertain than in other cities. They
know the net will last only so long.
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
If you choose to believe me, good. Now I will tell
how Octavia, the spider-web city, is made. There is
a precipice between two steep mountains: the city is
over the void, bound to the two crests with ropes
and chains and catwalks. You walk on the little
wooden ties, careful not to set your foot in the open
spaces, or you cling to the hempen strands. Below
there is nothing for hundreds and hundreds of feet: a
few clouds glide past; farther down you can glimpse
the chasm's bed.
This is the foundation of the city: a net which
serves as passage and as support. All the rest, instead
of rising up, is hung below: rope ladders, hammocks,
houses made like sacks, clothes hangers, terraces
like gondolas, skins of water, gas jets, spits,
baskets on strings, dumb-waiters, showers, trapezes
and rings for children's games, cable cars, chandeliers,
pots with trailing plants.
Suspended over the abyss, the life of Octavia's inhabitants
is less uncertain than in other cities. They
know the net will last only so long.
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities
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