A Swiss-Italian Walk With Hermann Hesse

by Kathryn Cicerchi
In the quiet cemetery of San Abbondio, standing majestically on the Collina d'Oro (Golden Hill) in Montagnola, Switzerland, rests author Hermann Hesse. Easily missed amidst the domed splendor of nearby marble tombs, Hesse's inconspicuous gravestone notes the life of the beloved Nobel Prize winning, most widely read German author of the 20th Century. His simple stone, next to that of his third wife, Ninon Hesse Auslander, and a pot of drooping, yellow sunflowers, reads only,
"Hermann Hesse: 2 JVLI 1877 - 9 AVG 1962."
It was here in sun-drenched, sparkling Ticino, the southe...