Nuccio Ordine delivered a gratitude speech upon receiving the Princess of Asturias Award, acknowledged as a moral and intellectual heir to influential mentors such as George Steiner, Emilio Lledó, and Umberto Eco. His passing on June 10 surprised many, casting a sudden stillness over the ceremony and leaving his words as a lasting echo of a life devoted to philosophy and teaching. In the afternoon, as the laureates prepared to receive their honors, Ordine’s Italian and Spanish writings resonated within Oviedo, reflecting both his quiet joy and the melancholy that accompanied his departure.
He recounted his own schooling in American environments in a way that underscored the stubborn poverty of his early years while underscoring a conviction: teachers lie at the heart of education in every corner of the globe, even where learning resources are scarce. He recalled a boyhood in Calabria, in a small village with limited access to bookstores or libraries, and used his memory to illuminate the enduring importance of educators in shaping futures.
Ordine was a public intellectual who spoke frequently in newspapers, classrooms, and at conferences during his final years. He warned that neoliberal policies threaten the future of education and risk eroding the status and prospects of public schooling. His deep admiration for Albert Camus informed his tribute, and he even included a letter from the author during his Oviedo lecture, highlighting the humble teacher as a beloved figure among grateful students.
His speech centered on a fierce commitment to combating inequality, weaving literary allusions with a hopeful, though truncated, vision of a brighter future—one he hoped would outlive him, even as he faced an increasingly somber present.
One of his last reflections contained a line he cherished from Oscar Wilde: a world map that omits utopia is not worth looking at. This sentiment framed his final, living argument that idealism remains a necessary compass, even as time weighed heavily on him.
Direct | Princess of Asturias Award Ceremony
This unfinished manuscript circulated among guests at the prize hotel and within the Campoamor, the theater that has echoed with the awards year after year. In a quiet hotel room, two women absorbed the ache of a void left by Ordine’s absence as the ceremony drew near.
These two earnest figures were Rosalía and Nuccio Ordine’s widow and sister, María. The recipient of the Social Sciences prize had died shortly after tasting the joy of this honor, and the draft of his speech circulated posthumously as a letter, never to be revised or expanded. The widow and her sister, invited by the Princess of Asturias Foundation to attend this tribute, spent days both mourning and finding solace in the knowledge that Ordine’s work left a distinctive mark in the country where his ideas resonated most.
Like Spain’s most influential modern intellectuals of the past decades, Ordine’s influence stretched beyond borders. His writings and public appearances, collected since his earliest masterpieces published with Acantilado, underscored a belief that knowledge grows when literature and science advance together. The testament of his intellectual legacy—often described as the benefit of useless knowledge—was celebrated by the community that admired him across borders and disciplines.
The widow and her sister, a bookseller by trade, attended the tribute to honor Ordine’s memory and the affection Spaniards bore for him. An early Spanish foreword, prepared for a later edition and now widely read, begins by acknowledging Steiner’s lasting presence in Ordine’s life and in the lives of readers who cherished his ideas. The text, written just before Ordine’s passing, has since been contextualized as part of his enduring legacy and the enduring friendship between scholars and students alike.
As the name Ordine rose among the Asturias prize recipients, many recalled his devotion to philosophy. He stood as a bridge between past masters and present scholars, seen as a thinker who could chart a future rooted in ethical inquiry. A colleague, Juan Cueto, highlighted Ordine as one of the rare minds who treated literature and science as a single, expanding project—an approach that echoed his own belief in humane progress and shared knowledge. The sentiment, often summarized as the merger of literature and science, reverberated through the hall as a testament to his lifelong mission.
According to a Basque scholar who admired Ordine, he was “one who reads a book with a pen in his hand.” The same voice noted that Ordine joined Steiner in the group of thinkers who insist on the mutual advancement of literature and science, expanding the horizons of knowledge. A physicist and fellow awardee noted that Ordine helped transform modern science into a form of collective art. In this light, his life was described as a moral beacon—an intellectual diamond whose light still guides students and scholars alike.
Diamante-born Ordine left a lasting imprint on the fields of science and philosophy through Acantilado’s publications. The publishing house’s director reflected on the enduring influence of Ordine, emphasizing his vitality, zeal, and unyielding commitment to defending his ideas. His absence from Cueto’s circle was felt as a quiet misfortune, a reminder of a life too soon completed yet still deeply resonant across communities of readers and thinkers.
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