Ruggero Morghen’s ‘Il Belpensante’ Offers Deep Cultural Reflections
Television, religious morality, the intricate world of the Internet, everyday life events, reading, and non-fiction. Some people passively experience all this, letting it go by without even noticing, while others manage to develop a well-informed opinion about it all—deep, never banal, and openly expressed.
One of these is surely Ruggero Morghen, a retiree born in 1957, librarian with a great passion for writing. For several years, all his reflections—frequently published in newspapers—have been compiled into a book.
The book and its features
The latest release, available in some bookstores and tobacco shops in the area (but also in Trento, at the Artigianelli), is titled “Il Belpensante” (The Well-Thought One) and is the fifth in a series united by a common thread: its annual periodicity and the author’s dedication to certain themes he considers significant and profoundly human.
It is “the diary of a year between readings and (TV) watching,” as Morghen himself subtitles it, a collection of essays that chronicles a season of news, television programs, books read, and more or less curious events. It also keeps an eye on local affairs, distinctly Gardesano, worth a mention of two or three words.
Reflections and cultural initiatives
As happened a few months ago, during the popular uprising of Pasina residents against the heavily criticized road system, a topic on which Ruggero Morghen shared a personal reflection—published on these pages—offering an original perspective outside conventional schemata.
Similarly, all his writings are crafted with this same approach. “Il Belpensante” costs 10,000 lire and is printed in pocket size, on recycled paper.
“A deliberate choice,” Morghen explains himself, “which reassures me and makes me satisfied. I would love very much if one day this ‘literary effort’ of mine became a constant—a sort of event awaited by Rivani residents.”
Compared to his previous publications, this book features some news, starting with the section dedicated to “stories and other essays,” which are less reviews guiding the reader toward certain texts and more like invitations to read. Sponsorships, an inevitable toll to sustain such cultural initiatives from extinction, are part of this effort.