In the belly of the Cryptoporticus of Catania, where time has no direction

Here I am, in front of the Cryptoporticus. I pause at the entrance. Am I a 18th-century guest of Prince Biscari? Or a 19th-century nobleman, a 20th-century bourgeois traveler, a modern tourist… I can be all or none. And in the meantime, I pause. I want to savor the pleasure of waiting, to be suspended, to remain on the demarcation line between the known outside space and that inside which I catch glimpses of, still not apparent. I do not know where these steps will lead me, I know there are many and that my gaze partially encompasses them.

Enough, I decide, I encourage my lingering to give way to curiosity. I proceed towards what or whom? Is it a real path, concrete or an inner journey? Or perhaps a psychological route through hidden meanders that will lead me to the discovery of myself?

I walk, I walk and I delve. I lose sight of the temporal dimension, at times I immerse myself in the past centuries and listen to a deafening silence, rich with the voices of children running wildly, of innocent pranks, of the rustling of ladies' dresses and the tapping of dandy's canes, then I return to the present. Now it is the sound of my sneakers' soles on the ground that provides the background.

I walk, I walk and I delve. The tunnels encourage hiding and disappearing, losing oneself and finding oneself. Light and darkness, day and night, people and silhouettes, figures and shadows. Fiction and reality, form or substance, ephemeral or concreteness? And in the meantime, I wonder who I am and who I want to be.

I walk, I walk and I delve. I return to the past. Stolen kisses, clandestine meetings, forbidden loves… what and how many secrets are enclosed within this place? And again… wonder, fear, calm, restlessness, charm, peace, unease, serenity, amazement. What sensations, emotions, and states of mind accompanied the steps of those who walked these galleries? And what am I feeling? Here, I have plunged back into the present.

I walk, I walk and I delve. I stroll arm in arm with fantasy, imagination, drawn to this mysterious, unknown world. Magical, I would say. On the horizon, I glimpse the steps, I have reached the end of the path, I look back to better imprint in my memory what I have seen and what I have experienced. I am almost at the threshold, dazzled by the sun. A surge of regret and melancholy rises within me at having to leave this place, but I do not allow nostalgia to come looking for me because I promise myself to return. I know it will be another journey, a different journey and I am ready to embrace the new fragments of Centuries-old History that the cryptoporticus will want to tell.

State Scientific High School "Enrico Boggio Lera"