pastradamus
27th May 2017, 02:22
I'm a completely annoying-dickhead when I leave my country of Ireland. Never go on holiday with me. Anywhere I go I like to totally immerse myself in the local culture, go off the beaten-track and point my finger at the local curiosities to the extent that I become semi-obsessed with them. But I'll never be that guy that spent a weekend in Barcelona and insists on pronouncing it "BAR-TELL-OOO-NA"....A special place in hell awaits. Nevertheless, I did fall in love with Italy.
I'm just back from Rome. During the day we visited beautiful places such as the pantheon, the Colosseum, the Vatican museum and so on.
I'm Irish, I like a drink, it's part of our national make-up for most working class Irish people. My Italian better-half insisted on a place called "Campo Di Fiori". She continued " It's a wonderful place, during the day its a market and at night time its party central." - It wasn't. There are three bars operating here. One that has been dominated by the spoiled Army-brat lunatics from the US International College, Another referring to itself as the "DJ BAR", which is obviously a ruse to attract dickheads but one called the "market" -in English. I liked this place, A nice crowd, great bar-man and a beautiful view of a beautiful statue - That of Giordano Bruno. I had no idea who he was. Neither did she.
I made it my mission to look up this interesting artifact on wikipedia and was blown-away. The statue itself on Campo di Fiori is one of a hooded and mysterious man. It's an impressive sight.
Giordano Bruno was a Dominican Friar. Most importantly he was a Mathematician, Cosmologist, poet and Philosopher. To put what i'm about to digress in context - Theologian's were ALLOWED to discuss the universe and philosophize there forth.
So it wasn't that strange that he should do so. His first mistake was preaching Erasmus to people, that drew the heat. He had to exile to Noli in Genoa, Savona, Turin and finallly to Venice where he fell-out with the son of a wealthy Venitian Merchant. The pupil went to the local inquisitors office and filed against Bruno for heresy.
Bruno mounted a spectacular defense. Advising that it was his right as a Catholic Theologian to ask questions of the Universe etc...all was going well, due to Bruno's skillful defense, that is until he drew interest from Rome and the Borgia's. The Borgia's were basically power-hungry idiots who possessed extreme wealth and controlled much of Rome like a personal fiefdom. With it came to extreme punishment on people with opposing ideologies they were completely intolerant.
Venice, Reluctantly, sent him to trial in Rome. Bruno defended himself masterfully, but they had him picked from the start and as a result he was burned at the stake, hung naked, upside down - In Campo Di Fiori - where I had been drinking. I felt ashamed not knowing this.
But what was Bruno killed for? Well the one that put the biggest nail in his trial was the "Plurality of Worlds". The plurality of worlds is old-speak for "LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS". When the Borgia's kill you / Burn you to death, they ask for you to also admit you are wrong and that you "Made a mistake", but your judgement is final and you are going to die so Bruno refused to apologise for this and accepted his faith. He was hung naked, upside-down and burned at the stake. There are many theories surrounding him - "why was he killed" - But I accept the plurality of the worlds to be the last roll of the dice for Bruno, they had him snared with that. This man died many decades before Galileo. Galileo is famous, he isn't. Galileo spoke about the earth revolving around the Sun, this man did just that but also advised that there may be life on other planets. Who is more revolutionary?
So next time any of you are in Rome, Go to Campo Di Fiori and have a drink with Giordano Bruno. You may learn something - I certainly did.
- The Wikipedia article on him is amazingly accurate and should be checked-out - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno (this does a better job than me).
The left should know this man for his "never-say-never" attitude. The "you can never prove me wrong" attitude. He knew his days were numbered and fought anyway, because thats all he could do.
I'm just back from Rome. During the day we visited beautiful places such as the pantheon, the Colosseum, the Vatican museum and so on.
I'm Irish, I like a drink, it's part of our national make-up for most working class Irish people. My Italian better-half insisted on a place called "Campo Di Fiori". She continued " It's a wonderful place, during the day its a market and at night time its party central." - It wasn't. There are three bars operating here. One that has been dominated by the spoiled Army-brat lunatics from the US International College, Another referring to itself as the "DJ BAR", which is obviously a ruse to attract dickheads but one called the "market" -in English. I liked this place, A nice crowd, great bar-man and a beautiful view of a beautiful statue - That of Giordano Bruno. I had no idea who he was. Neither did she.
I made it my mission to look up this interesting artifact on wikipedia and was blown-away. The statue itself on Campo di Fiori is one of a hooded and mysterious man. It's an impressive sight.
Giordano Bruno was a Dominican Friar. Most importantly he was a Mathematician, Cosmologist, poet and Philosopher. To put what i'm about to digress in context - Theologian's were ALLOWED to discuss the universe and philosophize there forth.
So it wasn't that strange that he should do so. His first mistake was preaching Erasmus to people, that drew the heat. He had to exile to Noli in Genoa, Savona, Turin and finallly to Venice where he fell-out with the son of a wealthy Venitian Merchant. The pupil went to the local inquisitors office and filed against Bruno for heresy.
Bruno mounted a spectacular defense. Advising that it was his right as a Catholic Theologian to ask questions of the Universe etc...all was going well, due to Bruno's skillful defense, that is until he drew interest from Rome and the Borgia's. The Borgia's were basically power-hungry idiots who possessed extreme wealth and controlled much of Rome like a personal fiefdom. With it came to extreme punishment on people with opposing ideologies they were completely intolerant.
Venice, Reluctantly, sent him to trial in Rome. Bruno defended himself masterfully, but they had him picked from the start and as a result he was burned at the stake, hung naked, upside down - In Campo Di Fiori - where I had been drinking. I felt ashamed not knowing this.
But what was Bruno killed for? Well the one that put the biggest nail in his trial was the "Plurality of Worlds". The plurality of worlds is old-speak for "LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS". When the Borgia's kill you / Burn you to death, they ask for you to also admit you are wrong and that you "Made a mistake", but your judgement is final and you are going to die so Bruno refused to apologise for this and accepted his faith. He was hung naked, upside-down and burned at the stake. There are many theories surrounding him - "why was he killed" - But I accept the plurality of the worlds to be the last roll of the dice for Bruno, they had him snared with that. This man died many decades before Galileo. Galileo is famous, he isn't. Galileo spoke about the earth revolving around the Sun, this man did just that but also advised that there may be life on other planets. Who is more revolutionary?
So next time any of you are in Rome, Go to Campo Di Fiori and have a drink with Giordano Bruno. You may learn something - I certainly did.
- The Wikipedia article on him is amazingly accurate and should be checked-out - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno (this does a better job than me).
The left should know this man for his "never-say-never" attitude. The "you can never prove me wrong" attitude. He knew his days were numbered and fought anyway, because thats all he could do.