CLAUDIO VISCARDI
As west as west can go
By Lynda Cookson
Claudio Viscardi had not long left his homeland of Switzerland when he met a Turkish Robin Hood in a deserted square in Rome.
By this time, he had turned professional artist and sold his paintings on the piazza in Rome. There was a huge market in Porta Portese where, amongst the usual market paraphernalia, artists would sell their work. Claudio secured for himself a spot in the Piazza Navona where he sold much of his art to the Romans themselves, rather than to tourists. One particular Sunday, probably at the end of a month when all the artists sold well, the artists decided to celebrate their good fortune and went from one bar and friend’s home to another, enjoying each other’s company and spending some of their hard-earned art money. The night wore on and at about 4 am Claudio found himself walking alone across the big deserted piazza on his way to the bus station. Suddenly he found himself surrounded by a group of Turkish men, some of whom held his arms while others riffled through his clothing to find his wallet. Claudio had stuffed his day’s takings well down into an inside pocket of his jacket, leaving only a small amount of cash in his wallet. When the robbers seemed disbelieving that this well-dressed young man had no money, ‘You’ve got the wrong guy here’, he told them. ‘I’m just a poor artist with no money, and no paintings sold today from my stall on the piazza.’ At that, the leader of the gang shook his head, called off his men, reached into his own wallet, and gave Claudio 1000 lira!
