Monsù Tomè : racconto

A nostalgic voice carries the listener into a sun‑warmed Ligurian town where a slender, slightly stooped figure named Monsù Tomè commands quiet respect. The narrator recalls first meeting the septuagenarian during teenage summers in Loano, observing his disciplined gait, the scarlet tip of his nose, and the melancholy that hints at long‑forgotten glories. Though once a hopeful seminarian turned soldier, Tomè now lives alone, tending his registers with meticulous care and offering the occasional witty remark to any willing ear.

Beyond the surface of his tidy office, Tomè reveals a life stitched together from aborted ambitions, a brief literary flirtation, and steadfast loyalty to shifting regimes. His Sundays are spent speaking freely, allowing the old officer to balance duty to his former monarchs with a personal, almost solitary, sense of honour. Listeners are invited to share in his quiet contemplation of memory, duty, and the gentle dignity that endures even as the world around him moves on.