An educational consideration on the pandemic: endure...and progress.

Abstract

Towards the end of the 15th century, Alexander VI decided to expel the powerful Colonna family from the Papal States, perhaps to make way for his own family. The Colonna family took refuge in the Neapolitan Court, where the poet Sanazzaro dedicated a poem to them, which included the line «Flectimur, non frangimur undis» (we are bent, not broken, by the waves). This verse led the family to change its coat of arms and motto. To the traditional silver column, positioned in the centre, gallant and steadfast, a rough sea was added from which, out of the flanks, bunches of reeds emerged1. As for the motto, the poet's verse was incorporated. The message was clear: the Colonna family was declaring, we would say using the now famous words2, «I will endure, standing up to all» and «I am the reed that bends, but always remains standing». In effect, they knew to lay low and resurface once the storm had passed, as, after the death of Pope Borgia, they returned to Rome, where both their lineage and palace remain.