Salvatore Satta
Il Giorno del Giudizio

From the window of his villa on the Fregene beachfront, the man watches the waves in the distance. He averts his gaze from the shore, climbs the stairs to his study, and grabs the diary from the desk. He opens the first page, takes the pen, and notes the date marked on the calendar: July 25, 1970.

For some time now, his mind has been clouded by the thought of death, and he is convinced that he only has a few years left to live. The fear of oblivion that follows the end of the earthly experience has led him to dig deep into his memories. Like a procession, the faces that have crossed his life present themselves before him as if awaiting a final judgment.

A few weeks later, he writes to a friend: «That mysterious thing I told you about is the story of my family, which is the story of Nuoro and Sardinia. So far, I have written three chapters. [...] I will send them to you, and you will be the only one to see them. You will tell me if it is worth continuing: since the work, if ever finished, is certainly not destined for publication. It's not of this world».

Two years later, he writes in another diary, on the date of January first, what seems to be the conclusion of that painful journey back in time:

"I resume, after many months, this story that perhaps I should never have begun. I age rapidly, and I feel that I am preparing for a sad end, because I have not wanted to accept the first condition of a good death, which is oblivion."

It was not, therefore, the thousands of faces crossed in his life who implored him to tell their stories: it was he who implored them to testify to his.

"I was once small, too, and I am assailed by the memory of when I followed the swirling snowflakes with my nose pressed against the window. They were all there, then, in the room brightened by the fireplace, and we were all happy because we did not know each other. To know each other, one must carry out their life to the end, to the moment one lowers into the grave. And even then someone must be there to gather you, revive you, recount you to yourself and others as in a final judgment. That is what I have done in these years, what I wish I hadn't done and will continue to do because it is no longer about someone else's destiny but mine."

The memories of the man gazing out the window of his seaside study see the light a few years later, but the man who wrote them is no longer there. In the procession of souls that fills the snow-covered cemetery of Nuoro, in fearful anticipation of the final judgment, now there is also his.

Recommended editions:

• Salvatore Satta, "Il giorno del giudizio", Padova, CEDAM, 1977 (first edition)
• Salvatore Satta, "Il giorno del giudizio", Ilisso, 1999 (preface by George Steiner)

Other related works:

• Manuelle Mureddu, "La danza dei corvi", (graphic novel), Betistòria, Nuoro, 2016
• Stefano Brugnolo, "L'idillio ansioso. «Il giorno del giudizio» di Salvatore Satta e la letteratura delle periferie", Avagliano Editore, Cava de' Tirreni, 2004