Hunting: Contribution to the cause of hunting by Pasquale Cinquegrana.
The other day I came across an old issue of: Il cacciatore italiano, in which he remembered the figure of Indro Montanelli from Fucecchio, who in addition to being skilled with the shotgun, was a master of unattainable journalism, a pen relentless and pungent at the service of the citizen and of truth, a man of culture and intellectual honesty above the parties, and sorry if it is little, given that in our country it is difficult if not impossible to be a voice out of the chorus, and to earn esteem unconditional by all Italian politics and civil society.
All this earned him the recognition of "Gentleman Hunter" in 1998. From here to remembering men who preceded him such as M. Rigoni Stern, and who succeeded him as A. Ponce De Leon, the step was short, without detracting from the other highly esteemed "Gentlemen" who certainly with their work and activities of relevance, also thanks to the notoriety throughout the country for the merits acquired, they have kept the principles of hunting ethics high, bringing further prestige to the good name of hunting.
Mine does not want to be the celebration of a prize and / or association that, in any case, meritoriously assigns it but only of men, of those men who are part of our hunting background, yes men and men, our background not only made up of personal experiences as a whole circumstantial but of men who enrich us with their load of culture, high morality and great example for civil society, proud to take a shotgun. The demonstration that mine does not want to be pure servility to this award that brings honor and burdens to those who receive it, however, they do not necessarily have to be hunters to be rewarded, as I said, the demonstration consists in combining other gentlemen with the aforementioned "Gentiluomini Cacciatori" in fact, even if not awarded, (I cite a few, because the list would fortunately be long) Ettore Garavini, Vincenzo Celano, Pietro Geronzi, Giorgio Gramagnini, Giacomo Cretti etc. (forgive me the many, many that I do not name, also because I do not know them all) And even among those I have mentioned, I appreciated the qualities of some, the others I know for their fame and for the comments of esteem that often I happened to read.
As you can see all those mentioned including the first 3 have another weapon with which they try their hand, a weapon that not everyone uses with such skill: The pen, these gentlemen and the many not mentioned have made the history of Italian hunting. , to be precise, the bibliographic history of Italian hunting, transferring stories, hunting techniques, dog lovers, ballistics and so on and so forth in tomes, but what is more extraordinary when you think about it, is that these men have given voice to the millions and millions of anonymous hunters, our ancestors, the ancestors of all Italian hunters, those hunters who before us while living those same hunting experiences, albeit with other technologically less advanced tools than ours and with the most disparate, over time they had led them to be masters of hunting. Undeniably with the passing of the years there are skills that become part of the personal baggage of every single hunter, but it is equally undeniable that not everyone is accustomed to writing, there was the risk of losing a priceless baggage of hunting culture, which thanks to these champion of the pen and typewriter, we preserve a historical memory, a heritage of ethics and hunting culture that cannot be renounced.
We are and will always be grateful for what all those who have this precious magic in composing literary melodies have written and will continue to do. Good! this is our cultural background, which perhaps few categories of men can boast, nevertheless we risk disappearing. I must confess that all of this was a prerequisite for something else that is close to my heart. With this I would like to mention another "gentleman" in the soul, perhaps less known but nevertheless capable of bequeathing us his notebooks, the latter in my humble opinion could play a role of primary importance, for the defense and safeguarding of hunting in our country, and I am referring to Antonio Pinotti. (for once I deviate from "my" respectful and unconventional way of citing it, allow me a personal note, I hope that the FIDC wants to consider a posthumous conferral for the late Antonio, formerly federcacciatore emeritus 2008) Firm and convinced advocate of rural culture , how humble, tenacious and implacable defender of one of the daughters of the latter: The hunt, did not hesitate to travel the length and breadth of Italy (including the islands) to run to his bedside whenever the request was made. his irreplaceable work. Mind you! with this I am not trying to make him rise to the honors of the altars, probably he too will have had his little sins, (like all of us mere mortals) and will have erred in something, but I am sure that if it happened it was in perfect good faith and for too much love for his "creature". He did not even hesitate to bless the CA party as long as we do everything in our power to bring some serenity to “our” world, despite being an advocate of a single association. And here we come to the sore point, the party.
First I would like to make a quick history. Until a few months ago on "our" portals there were among us convinced opponents of the hunters' party and to be precise CA, many of these, also citing their own convictions supported by theories on the failure of the aforementioned, proposing in turn a movement, in this case the movement of rural culture and other realities connected to it, with associative ideas that certainly found my favor, from my point of view one thing did not exclude the other. (I think I can say of this last consideration that he had already glimpsed the possible coexistence (before me) even A. Pinotti are witnesses in his notebooks) Except then suddenly departing from these convictions and while continuing to carry on the movement, and in the wake of a nascent second political party (CRCA) they decide to bring on the scene a third political party or pseudo-such, in my view in a completely instrumental way, capable of making everyone's votes flow into their primary reference party , from the series: divide et impera, to which I add: Cui prodest? Certainly to our enemies! (certainly not us hunters) and someone to keep his little kingdom untouched. On "our" portals there are few other solons of ferocious criticism, of total defeatism, I ask these gentlemen what other alternative we have, if they know any, they made precise and clear proposals, and not of the useless and sterile controversy, convince me that there is another way forward I will follow you with my eyes closed, otherwise I will have to think that there is someone behind you to master the stick with the ropes that support you, (puppets) and until you are able to do this I am and will be for CA which, among a thousand sacrifices and with the sole force of self-financing, is trying to change the history of the hunting world in the country, any further adhesion will make it less and less small and vulnerable. If your gloomy predictions come true in the unfortunate hypothesis, what can I say; the fault must have been ours alone, and it was nice to dream for a few days.
Forgive me if the exposition is very simple and perhaps even imperfect in some passages, but it is dictated by the reason and heart of a humble hunter. From the reason for wanting to do something proactive and concrete, from the heart for the love that binds me to our way of approaching nature and having preserved in our DNA the memory of our evolutionary cycle. I just want to make a final consideration regarding the notebook left to us by A. Pinotti, I am waiting for someone to collect it, you might ask: (who does not know me) since you appreciate his works and you quote him often, why not you? For a very simple reason, I don't have his cultural and intellectual stature, at most I could be a good soldier, and a good soldier is better than a bad commander.
"Cheshire cat," Alice asked. "Would you please tell me, which way do I have to take to get out of here?" "It really depends on where you want to go," said the Cat. "I don't really care where," Alice said. "Then it doesn't matter which road you take," said the Cat. Charles “Lewis Carroll” Dodgson
Pasquale Cinquegrana