POENTES OLISIPONENSES – A outra ítaca

This was the theme chosen by writer, essayist, editor and translator Dr Alberto Manguel to discuss Olissipona after the decline of Roman civilisation from the 2nd century AD onwards. Centuries later, an inscription found on Monte da Lua in Sintra stated that the Sibyl had prophesied the expansion of the Portuguese in India. In early 1504, Amerigo Vespucci left twenty-four Portuguese sailors at a fort in Cabo Frio, Brazil; one of them, according to Thomas More, was Raphael Hytholoday, whose name means ‘Provider of Nonsense’ and who would be the first to tell the story of a land called Utopia. A grammatical error, a prophecy, an ideal society are some of the masks that the city of Lisbon wears to this day.