Darwin's Trial: Overcome or Still Relevant?

Charles Darwin was one of the most divisive figures in history. He was a man without half measures: either accepted in full or criticized in his entirety, with such illustrious figures as Benedetto Croce ("Darwin's apes," "throwing man into the degenerating abyss of materialism"), Niccolò Tommaseo ("Moses of the Apes"), and more recently theologian Jürgen Moltmann ("a bad teacher"). And the list could fill an entire encyclopedia, so much so that his "On the Origin of Species," first published in 1859, made history. Despite over 160 years since its publication, that work continues to divide. And precisely because it is a controversial book, the traditional "Trial" on August 10th at Villa Torlonia in San Mauro Pascoli (Forlì-Cesena) decided to put him on trial as the defendant.

"Darwin's Trial" is the central theme of this event, promoted by Sammauroindustria, which for 25 years has been grilling a key figure, theme, or period in human history. Participants armed with a paddle will decide the verdict, a far from simple choice. In "Darwin's Trial," Marco Ferraguti, a professor at the University of Milan, will lead the prosecution, while Stefano Mazzotti, director of the Ferrara Museum of Natural History, will lead the defense. The presiding judge will be Gianfranco Miro Gori, founder of "The Trial" and director of Sammauroindustria. The event will take place once again at the Pascoli Tower in San Mauro Pascoli, a place of great symbolic significance: it was administered by Ruggero Pascoli, father of Giovanni Pascoli, who was killed by unknown assailants on August 10, 1867. The verdict in "The Trial" will be delivered by the audience, armed with a paddle. Admission is free, and the event starts at 9:00 PM.

Prosecutor Marco Ferraguti, author of numerous publications on the subject, translator of texts on Darwin, and one of the founders of the Italian Society of Evolutionary Biology, is convinced that Darwin is a man of many lights and shadows: "We will try to look Darwin in the eye. Over the years, the 19th-century evolution-versus-evolution debate has been overcome, and today everyone accepts that life on Earth had a history, but strangely, Darwin, the man who pioneered this discovery, is often criticized. We will try to dispel some myths and present the jury with the lights and shadows of a complicated man, who, however you look at it, left a profound mark on human culture."

Defender Stefano Mazzotti is convinced of Darwin's brilliance and has no doubts about the relevance of his theories: "The ideas and insights of the great English naturalist Charles Darwin revolutionized human culture. The theory of evolution constitutes that complex set of theoretical and experimental elements indispensable for interpreting all life phenomena, including the origins of the human species. Through the mechanism of natural selection, biological evolution has produced the great diversity of life forms on our planet."

Promoted by Sammauroindustria, the 'Trial' was born in 2001 from the idea of reopening the case on the murder of the poet's father, Ruggero Pascoli, killed in an ambush on 10 August 1867. From that first intuition, other trials followed, on 10 August of each year, on figures who have made the history of Romagna (and not only): the Passatore di Romagna (2002), The Romagna cuisine (2003), Romagna di Mussolini (2004), Mazzini (2005), Secondo Casadei (2006), Garibaldi (2007), Togliatti (2008), Badoglio (2009), the Romagnolo (2010), Cavour (2011), Pascoli Appeal Trial (2012), Rubicone (2013), Pellegrino Artusi (2014), The '68 (2015), Julius Caesar (2016), Russian Revolution (2017), Romagna of the 5 Marches on Rome (2018), Machiavelli (2019), I Vitelloni (2020), the Communist Party (2021), Ulysses (2022), French Revolution (2023), Heart (2024).

The 25th edition of the 'Processo' was presented today (Friday, August 1) by the president and director of Sammauroindustria, Daniele Gasperini and Miro Gori, the mayor of San Mauro Pascoli, Moris Guidi, and the councilor for culture, Lisa Maroni.