BELLAGIO: The Scholar's Paradise

by
Ibrahim Ado-Kurawa B. Sc (HONS) M. Sc Zoology (Applied Entomology)
Director Research, Institute for Contemporary Research (ICR) Kano and General Editor Weekly Pyramid The Magazine
Kano, Nigeria

(majekarofi@yahoo.com )
http://www.kanoonline.com/ibrahimado/

One of the most impressive, serene and conducive study centers in the world is located in the little Italian town of Bellagio on the banks of Lake Como. The center is a property of the Rockefeller foundation. Application for resident fellowship of one month is opened to all aspiring scholars, artists, writers and composers of achievement or promise.

I was a resident fellow at this center from 23rd April to 21st May 2002. Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu who was there in 1993 introduced me to this superb and perhaps the most prestigious congregation of scholars because of their diversity of disciplines and geographical spread from all the continents. I am writing this piece because I promised the president of the Rockefeller Foundation that I will encourage Nigerian scholars to apply for this privileged fellowship and the best mediums available to me are the Weekly Trust and www.gamji.com, www.kanoonline.com, and www.nigerdeltacongress.com.

I cannot explain the benefits of this place in this short piece. But I have to emphasize that it was the most distinguished gathering of scholars that I have ever been to. Out of he twenty-seven scholars, artists, writers and composers I interacted with, 17 were distinguished or emeritus Professors from some of the most esteemed universities in the world spread across the USA, Canada, Mexico, India and Sri Lanka (such as Harvard, Oberlin, Chicago, Berkeley, New York, Indiana, Minnesota, Georgia, Colorado, Miami and McGill). I must also confess that I have benefited by interacting with all the fellow residents.

To be accepted as a resident fellow the applicant is expected to fulfill these requirements: ten page summary of the work he/she intends to carry out at the center, a curriculum vitae, sample of his previous work (book, paper, artwork or music composition) a review or two of any of his works and three referee reports. So it is open to anyone who can meet these requirements.

From the information available two Nigerians (Lysle Obiora based in USA and Dr. Wale Sowande) were resident fellows in 2000 and in 2001 the only Nigerian invited was Professor Tanure Ojaide (based in the USA). About 140 resident fellows are hosted each year since the program was started. Any interested applicant can download application forms and necessary information from www.rockfound.org/bellagio I will advice anyone not used to writing competitive proposals to download the art of writing proposals from the social science research council site.

The Rockefeller foundation offers travel assistance for invited fellows from low-income countries by providing them with tickets and the necessary support to secure visas. I had a very nasty experience before I could get the visa. Apart from the letter of invitation, which was copied to the Embassy of Italy Lagos, Gianna Celli the Managing Director of the Bellagio Center had to contact the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for an intervention before I was issued the visa. That was not enough I was very depressed when the staff of our office informed me that the Embassy of Italy sent a lawyer to Kano from the chambers of one of my school mates to investigate my status in the office at 10;00 a.m. on the day I left to Lagos to get the visa. May be he phoned the embassy and informed them of his findings before I was issued the visa at 1 p.m. I was the only one from the northern part of the country out of the dozen applicants I met at the embassy. But does it mean the embassy had to send lawyers to investigate the dozens of applicants that flock the place daily or was I one of the few? Only the embassy can answer these questions.

Apart from the visa episode my journey was smooth and it has been the most interesting out of the six times I traveled out of Nigeria although it was also the least adventurous. This was because I knew where I was going and I was very sure of a very warm reception from the accounts of Professor Abdalla. And as expected I was received at the Malpensa Airport and driven to Bellagio were the resident assistant Elena Ongania met me at the gate of Villa Serbelloni. Thereafter I was taken to my room, which also included the study.

Resident fellows at the center are housed in the two main buildings- the Marenese and the Villa Serbelloni- and each resident is given a private room and bath and a study, either adjoining the bedroom or on the grounds. I was housed at room v3 in the centuries old Villa Serbelloni (see picture).

The greatest benefit of residence in the center to me was the opportunity of interacting with famed scholars, artists and composers at dinner and cocktails. These sociable times were informally coordinated by the highly experienced and friendly Gianna Celli, who was later given a leave to relax with the arrival of distinguished Ella Walker Fellows Gordon Conway and his wife Dr. Susan. Dr. Gordon Conway is a versatile individual. He was a university Professor and Vice-Chancellor and now a seasoned bureaucrat serving as the first non-American President of the Rockefeller Foundation. His friendly wife Susan is a university professor and a reputable ethnographer whose well-written books have received worldwide recognition.

Informal presentations by resident fellows were intellectually stimulating not only because of the variety of scholarship but because of their dept and the challenging and polite questions by the broadminded audience. I was invited to this prominent gathering of scholars because of my study on the press and national unity in Nigeria 1980-2000. Most of the scholars agreed with the suggestion I made during my presentation that only an unfettered flourishing democracy could solve the problem of the fractured Nigerian press and the danger it poses to the emergence of an enduring culture of freedom in this plural country.

I also gained from the presentations of the intellectuals not only because of their diversity but also because of the thoroughness of such informal seminars. I have benefited from presentations by the historians specifically on the identities in the USA, the achievements of the feminists, and the recurrent use of slogans such as freedom to gain the support of the populace whenever the US was going to war and that the imperial power cannot be benevolent although its individual citizens could be. I have also now understood the influence of international law on domestic jurisprudence and legislation. The renowned literary critic of Italian fiction won my admiration for the discipline that is not very popular with most writers. The brilliant artists made me to appreciate the blending of human talent with mechanical precision, while the award-wining poet displayed her creativity with the humility of an intellectual, which was a lesson in ethics of writing and the talented composer made the connection between music tones and spirituality universal. The four weeks of these seminars was indeed a inspiring journey into the worlds of many branches of knowledge.

The physical environment at the center is very conducive for study because of the quietness of area and the green view of the excellent and well-maintained gardens (see picture). The facility staffs were helpful in everyway. Their services at meals, cocktails and maintenance of homely rooms were excellent. I agree with the observation of most residents that these factors made most fellows accomplish their scholarly mission to Bellagio. I could not imagine what I accomplished at the center when I returned home and assessed the information I gathered from the free uninterrupted Internet service in my study. It could have taken me more than a year in Nigeria to accomplish what I did in four weeks at Bellagio.

Although the Bellagio Center is place for scholarly pursuits there is sufficient toleration for “cooling off” by music, games (indoor such trivial pursuits and outdoor such as tennis), boat riding, hill climbing, visits to historical sites and other engagements. The 60 acres center is full of beautiful gardens, forests, remains of a Roman castle and lakefronts for picnic lunch.

The Como district where Bellagio is located is one of the choicest tourist resorts of Italy attracting many tourists from neighboring Switzerland. I went to Como twice my first journey was in a hydrofoil, it took 40 minutes and the fare was E8.50 (about N1100) one way. I was in the company of other fellow residents, Francis Voigt founder of the New England Culinary Institute and spouse of the award-wining poet Ellen Voigt, Professor Sara Evans of Minnesota University and her spouse Charles Dayton a widely traveled man who had been to the peak of Kilmanjaro, Professor Eugenia Meyers of the National University of Mexico a extensively traveled lady who had been to Antarctica and Professor Prathiba Kranatha a renowned acoustic expert. We visited the Domo and also took the funicular to peak of the mountain from where we viewed the beautiful lake and the city. During my second trip to Como we also took the hydrofoil and I was in the company of another set of residents made up of Professor Andrew Cayton of Maimi University, Professor Jim Cobb and his wife Lyra, Professor Monika Totten of Tufts University wife of a fellow resident Professor Joseph Harris of Harvard and Gorge Marquisos an investment banker and spouse of the artist Antonia Contro.

The first time I visited a Catholic Church was when we were forced to attend a mass at St. Anne’s Primary School in Kaduna for a deceased pupil of that school, Amina Dagash of blessed memory who was a devote Muslim and was buried according to Islamic rites. The second time after more than three decades was at Como when I visited two churches out of curiosity as a tourist. The most impressive was the Domo or the Cathedral of Como (see picture) begun in 1396 on the site of Romanesque Basilica of Santa Maria. It was completed four centuries later when its great dome was finished in 1744. The Cathedral bears testimony not only to the artistic and architectural excellence of the Renaissance era but also to the determination of the people of Como to glorify their Lord.

Bellagio is certainly a place I will recommend for any scholar who aspires to be an intellectual or an intellectual who wants to stimulate his prowess for greater achievement. The environment made up of excellent choice of people and the blessings of the beauty of nature combine to make it a paradise on earth for contemplation that results in scholarly accomplishments of outstanding magnitudes as testified by the publications, compositions, performances and exhibitions of the alumni of the Villa Serbelloni.

One of the aims of the Bellagio center is to foster solidarity amongst scholars based on some shared human values through residency fellowships and conferences. Scholars from the USA and Iran held a conference and I was privileged to meet some of the conferees. They froze discussion on politics during their conference but they interacted freely amongst themselves as well as with resident fellows at dinners and cocktails. The conclusion I made from these interactions is that if the scholars and the Rockefeller Foundation could influence governments the world will be a better place because most of them mean well for humanity.

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