Vila do Conde is an extraordinary meeting point for multiple references of Portuguese culture. José Régio said in Portugal Guide which is “one of those villages that have soul”. It is no coincidence that Antero de Quental discovered there a unique moment of pleasure, health and peace of mind, between 1881 and 1891. We remember the care put in by Mr. Castelo in preparing the house for the poet. “It’s beautiful around here, with its noble and country feel and it puts people in a placid and gentle frame of mind. To grow old in peace, that’s exactly what I needed” – as he confesses to Alberto Sampaio. And the beaches where you walked or stretched out in the sun had the voluptuousness “that only poets and light-worshipping lizards know about”.
Here we came to Antero’s house, in the old Praça Velha, headquarters of the Center for Anteriano Studies, to speak to a good audience from the Dictionary of the 70s Generation with Augusto Santos Silva and Ana Maria Almeida Martins. It is always with emotion that one enters this mythical place, which welcomes us with a small exhibition entitled “What is worth us are the poets” by Beatriz Sendin with miniature figures made of fabric. In the small garden, I remember the hermit’s words: “The yard is very small, with 4 to 6 more trees it is full: the walls are proportional to the size. You can already see (he still addresses Sampaio) that what I need to carry out the philosophical transformation of Senhor Castelo’s yard is reduced to little.” In this golden decade, in addition to all the spirits that animate Vila Conde, figures such as Eça de Queiroz, Oliveira Martins, Guerra Junqueiro, Tomás de Melo Breyner, Luís de Magalhães José and Alberto Sampaio, António Feijó, Jaime Magalhães de Lima, João Lobo de Moura disembarked at the small and nostalgic train station. Who was waiting for them? The poet “rosy and resplendent with the lapels of his alpaca coat thrown back gallantly”. Some of the most beautiful sonnets in the Portuguese language were written here in this welcoming land, where we find the greatest references of our culture on every corner. “Beautiful village, collected and serious, but so full of character”, as Luís de Magalhães called it. The memory of Camilo or the origins of Eça de Queiroz remain in our conversations, but we are approaching our time. The city’s great hospitality leads us to remember, close to the unforgettable Velha Casa, the work of a local artist, Júlio Reis Pereira, just Júlio or Saúl Dias, the brother of José Régio, in his close relationship with modernism in Portugal, in a remarkable exhibition directed by Bernardo Pinto de Almeida and Laura Garrido e Caetano. The older ones are there, side by side with Júlio, in his Gallery – he, a poet and painter who is misunderstood and prematurely stored “in a chest too small for his real size”. And so we realize what is difficult for many to understand. Modernity, like things that are worthwhile, forces us to take the risks of understanding, to go beyond what is easy and common. The reality that surrounds us is complex and diverse compared to what one might think at first glance. Is it possible to live without ideas? The generation of Antero and his peers forces us to leave behind the easy and temporary conformity. In the shadow of the unforgettable Santa Clara Convent, it is essential to think of culture and life as indispensable realities. Therefore, Régio spoke of the soul of this land.
President of the Arts Council of the National Culture Center