Artemis Cooper, biographer of Patrick Leigh Fermor, reached out and gently touched the surface of the yellowish Taygetian stone that lined the fireplace. Every thing in the Fermor house reminds her of a story told through the mouth of the author. So the inanimate stone became the occasion for a living narrative for those of us who were lucky enough to be in this stunning room, where Joan and Paddy (as he was affectionately called) entertained friends and dined overlooking the garden and the sea. There, in Kardamyli, the column was present at the rally during the course of May 17-19. It was organized by the start of a broader collaboration between the Institute of Ideas and Imagination and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Public Humanitarian Initiative (SNFPHI) of Columbia University and the Benaki Museum.

The author crossed the whole of Europe in the 1930s, on foot he came to Mani, on foot he discovered this paradise, through which he decided to pass. Therefore, there was no better place and no better occasion to travel through the history of the march than his home. But before we started, Artemis had to talk to us about the insides of the man and the building. “So this stone,” he began, “came from a mountain not far from here. Then, in the 60s, when the house was being built, mining was carried out like this: Patrick, with the foreman and the brigade, climbed on donkeys to where the rock was. They set up stoves, ran to cover their heads, and after the explosion they went to collect what was left of the dynamite. Can you imagine this scene? she was talking to Mark Masauer, head of the Institute, who had taken it upon himself to find out all her secrets. After all, Cooper had known Leigh Fermor all her life. They met through his friendship with her grandmother when she was still a toddler. Much later, Patrick agreed to write his biography on the condition that it be published when he and his wife were already dead.

It was not easy to get him to talk about his adventurous life. Patrick felt uncomfortable. Until Artemis came up with a trick. While helping him arrange stacks of papers and books, she accidentally pulled out something and excitedly said: “Look what I found!” and then the genie of memories came out of the lamp, and Leigh Fermor “returned” to his past. Two days in Kardamyli with artists, historians, academics filled the house, and we all had the feeling that Paddy, somewhere up there, would be happy with the spark of discussion and laughter that filled the space where he once lived.