Stacja Rovigo. Przyjazdy, odjazdy

Rovigo is the name of small town in the northern part of Italy. No Baedeker, no guide notices the name in its hot list of Italian “miracles”. Rovigo is the common, ordinary place, no spectacular monuments or tourist attractions one can meet there. In this context, it seems to be a bit enigmatic and striking, that the famous poem by Zbigniew Herbert has been entitled after Rovigo (it’s the title of the penultimate set of poems by Herbert, as well). Why Herbert decided to honor such “invisible city” in his poetry? The author brings out the main motives of the poem and tries to delineate deep semantics of the very name Rovigo.