Students’
demonstrations
How sad to
take the baubles and bells off the Christmas tree, store them in boxes, wrap
the wreath, vacuum the tinsel bits and pack the nativity away till next year. It is a shame to have to collect all the
Christmas cards and jam them in the recycling box. Some are so pretty. The house seems empty and dull and it is over
two months to spring. But I must say I
had a good Christmas time full of family, friends and good food. Here is what I did.
As soon as I
arrived in Rome for Christmas, I fell ill.
During the journey, I caught a bad cold which soon developed in
bronchitis. I spent my first three days
stuck in the house, following the latest depressing news on the Italian TV
channels.
There had
just been a demonstration against the Minister for Education's bill to reform
the universities. Videos and photos of
students fighting the police and one another were everywhere. There was the sensational case of one student
who smashed another in the face with a helmet, breaking his nose. The continual
advice for parents on all radio and TV channels was, “Keep your children at
home during demonstrations”.
Reading
newspaper articles I found the problem was rather complex and somewhat similar to the events in other
European countries due to the global economic crisis. Heavy cuts to education, jobs and welfare in
Italy have provoked a sense of
widespread uncertainty, especially for the future of young people. University fees have not risen, not yet. The maximum fee you can pay in an Italian
state University is € 2,000 per year, but most people declare low incomes and
pay less. The cuts are mainly in
research and funding for schools, which will have enough money to pay only
teachers and employees. Universities
would be funded according to their results and by evaluation of their activities. It seems fair at first glance but it is felt
by Italian students to be curtailing the autonomy of state Universities and to
promoting private ones.
Demonstrating
students were accused of violence and illegal behaviour by the Right-Wing,
while the Left and the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano
suggested finding a new way to communicate with young people and trying
understand the reasons for their protest.
The
newspaper Corriere della Sera
(Tuesday 21st December, page 11) printed a letter by an Italian
student who lives in England. She
wrote, “Io, come moltissimi miei coetanei, sento una rabbia così viscerale e furiosa
contro questa classe politica – di destra, di centro e di sinistra – corrotta e
stantia, che negli ultimi vent’anni si è solo preoccupata di perpetuare il
proprio potere e i propri interessi, appropriandosi indebitamente della nostra
democrazia.” (I and most
of my peers feel a deep-rooted, intense anger against this political class –
Right, Centre or Left – which is corrupt and stale, which in the last twenty
years cared only about perpetuating its power and self-interest, taking
possession of our democracy). Her
statement is so clear that it doesn’t need any comment.
At the
University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ some students were on hunger strike, a strict
diet of tea and water, very hard in this time of the year. Other
students were preparing a new demonstration for Wednesday 22nd
December. “We’ll surprise you,” they
announced. And they did. It was a peaceful protest this time. They were in the streets of Rome, their hands
painted chalk-white and shouting the slogan, “You are shut in your palaces; we
are free in the city.”
That same
evening President Giorgio Napolitano welcomed a delegation of eleven
students. He listened to them,
sympathized with their problems and the tension magically decreased. In other Italian cities like Palermo, Torino,
Bologna, Napoli and Firenze it wasn’t so peaceful and idyllic. Streets and railway stations were occupied
and shop windows and cars were damaged.
Certainly
there is a clear feeling of social instability in Italy that has a parallel in
the precarious Italian political situation.
In this climate it is hard to plan your life or hope for a better
future. One example demonstrates the
situation: the streets of Naples full of heaps of rubbish nobody has bothered
to clear away.
In Rome my
first impression was of general urban decay in streets and buildings
due, I suppose, to the lack of funding as well as the usual carelessness. It was common to see layers of litter in the
streets or freshly painted surfaces covered in graffiti. Shop windows were less splendid than they
used to be and street decorations duller.
Among friends and relatives we heard rumours of people fired, forced to
reduce their working hours (and wages) or moved to distant working
locations. It seemed like there was
little to celebrate.
As sick as a
parrot
I coughed,
sneezed and spat for three days, not a nice sight. Then of course I was stuck
at home for three more days of Christmas celebrations when we always stay at my
parents’ or my parents in law’s house. At the end I really looked forward to a
bit of fresh air. Nevertheless I had time to read and get updated about the Berlusconi
Era, which seems to last in spite of all the bad omens from the Opposition.
His control
on the Italian Parliament seems stricter and more powerful than ever. Many
journalists say that the Italian man in the street can see in Silvio Berlusconi
his own weaknesses: slyness, ambiguity, a tendency to lie and be cocky, utter
self-interest in the management of the state and an endless show of a harem of
girls. A paradisiacal dream for many, much more fun than respecting rules,
honesty and monogamy. Besides he is extremely wealthy, successful and owns
several TV channels, newspapers and magazines.
Many Italian
intellectuals wonder how it could happen. Maybe Silvio Berlusconi speaks a
language more understandable and realistic than the majority of Italian
politicians, feeds people with illusions instead of promises, which are anyway
hard to be maintained in the paralysed yet unstable Italian social and
political climate. By voting him and his coalition Italian people chose dreams
instead of a disappointing reality.
At Christmas
Eve to make things even more unsettled, if possible, two parcel-bombs were
delivered to the embassies of Chile and Switzerland seriously injuring the two
clerks who opened them. And after Christmas there was one more for the Greek
embassy, luckily it did not go off. All the parcels were signed by an Anarchic
Italian group (Federazione Anarchica Informale, Cellula rivoluzionaria, Lambros
Fountes, a Greek anarchic killed in a demonstration by the Greek Police). As it
often happens in troubled countries the fight is among ordinary people, the
anarchic students of the social centres against the clerks of the embassies.
The Establishment remains untouched.
In this
uncertain panorama what scared me most was the news of a family feud in the
south of Italy (Vibo Valentia, Calabria) where a father and his four sons were
shot dead in their farm because of old grudges and a row for some pieces of
land. What shocks me is the hatred and sudden violence among people that
probably knew each other since they were born, lived in the same village and
shared the same life. I can’t explain it unless I think of a narrow, closed
world ruled by a ruthless code.
To lift up
my mood I devoured the second book of Jo Brand’s autobiography: Can’t Stand Up For Sitting Down. I had
brought it from England giving it a special place in my suitcase and cherishing
the moments I could finally read it. It was cracking and illuminating to see
how she rose in the competitive world of stand-up comedians, never afraid of
speaking her lines straight, never giving up. Interesting how the book is also
rich of her opinions about books, films, ads, TV and radio programs and fellow
comedians. The cutest part is the one about her family, because in this mayhem
she managed to have a nice family, a husband and two daughters. Fantastic!
My favourite
parts are when she breaks all conventions and delivers an unexpected cracking
line or when she describes horrible misadventures that kept her at home or in
hospital for weeks without defeating her usual unbeatable humour. It was
relieving to know that also Jo Brand, like most writers, avoids to face the
blank page, and instead looks for “a Pointless Task That Doesn’t Really Need
Doing”. Writing a book, especially if you aim to make it interesting, is hard
work.
But it
wasn’t enough. As soon as I finished with Jo Brand I tackled The Fry Chronicles to keep in the same
genre.
Actually it
is a very different book. Though funny and entertaining, the narration has a
slower pace, Stephen Fry indulges in long speeches and detailed descriptions
covering only eight years in more than four hundred pages. Surprisingly I did
not find his weaknesses real mistakes but just human things, quite widespread
at all levels of our society.
I admired
his versatile knowledge and his incredible ability to develop his many talents,
apparently without effort.
All in all I
had fun.
Italian
Identity: 150th anniversary of the Unity of Italy
After
Christmas I felt much better and I could have little tours about Rome with my
husband and Valentina - the other children were busy with their friends.
We went to
St. Peter’s, the Protestant cemetery, had a walk in the centre and visited some
churches to see Caravaggio’s paintings. Old
Rome came back to me with its winding alleys, scratched ancient buildings and
travertine churches.
One day it
rained the whole day: streets and pavements were a large, deep puddle. We were so soaked we had to change from top
to toe when we went back home.
We also
visited a big bookshop in the centre and I bought a book that intrigued me: L’identità italiana (Italian identity)
by Ernesto Galli della Loggia. He is an
historian and a journalist who writes for Corriere
della Sera. I had heard about the
book on a TV program and wondered if I could learn more by reading it.
It took me
only two days to finish. It was
extremely interesting and very useful in helping to understand the Italian
mentality and its historical background. Here is a short account of what it says.
The book
starts by looking at the geographical position of the Italian peninsula, which
made Italy the meeting point of different migrations of people and of various
cultural experiences coming from all over Europe and the rest of the world. They mixed, blended and clashed in Italy,
influencing each other, adding a great variety of cultural and ethnic aspects. Its differing populations were united under
the Roman Empire; when it fell in 476 AD Italy was invaded and divided in
different states for about fourteen centuries. According to the author these geographical,
anthropological and historical circumstances shaped the Italian mentality
making it adaptable, open and global. It
is remarkable that in spite of all these differences Italy managed to become
one nation. The reason is that there are
two main characteristics common to all the country: poverty, due to the
shortage of agricultural products, and beauty, due to the mild climate, variety
of landscape and art.
We can’t forget that both the Roman Empire and Catholicism
represented strong sources of identity as well. Ancient Rome left a tremendous cultural
heritage visible in not only the monuments but also law, literature and
technical improvements which formed the backbone of the country especially at
high levels of power. On the other hand
Catholicism had been for a long time the only unifying aspect of the peninsula,
“the only really ‘Italian’ component”. It
is understandable how much Catholic sensibility and morality influenced Italian
mentality at all levels. For about seven
hundred years (from the fifth to the twelfth century) the Church was the only
‘Italian’ public institution in the peninsula, which was ruled by foreign
powers. But at the same time the Church State
often prevented the development of the Italian nation by taking active part in
the political fights among the different states and asking the help of a
foreign power when it needed it.
From this
precarious, fragmented social and political situation Italian people became
aware of a general instability, of the remoteness of institutions and of the
fact that you can only trust people near you, like your family.
Besides,
Italy is the country of Counter-Reformation and Inquisition, which demanded a
strict moral behaviour but also total obedience to the Church, suffocating any
discussion or different opinion. Consequently
it encouraged a tendency to duplicity and pretence that often ended in an
empty, formal religious attendance.
The Unity of
Italy happened in 1861 and was completed with the capture of Rome on 20th
September 1870. It was soon clear that
Italian people were not used to common rules and to one state. Individualism, different cultural norms and a
variety of historical backgrounds divided the country. The ruling body, the House of Savoy, was far
away from the centre of the country and its strict rule did not help to unite
it. Besides Italy did not have a
democratic background but an oligarchic one, from the times of the Roman Empire
to the Communes or free cities of the Middle Age and then the Signories of the
Renaissance. People who had ruled Italy had always belonged to a few families, a
faction or a group that retained power by threatening, bribing and putting
their people in the key places. Even
Roman Catholicism is a hierarchic and oligarchic religion, not a democratic
one.
For all
these reasons it is difficult to find in Italy a single capital that can be its
political, economical and cultural centre. Milan is the economical centre but it is
detached from politics. Florence was the
cultural centre in the past and Rome the religious one. So the nation has not one centre but multiple
local centres in the different parts or regions of Italy.
According to
the author another characteristic of the Italian identity is a tendency to
individualism but also a preference of safer, closed groups, like families,
factions or social classes. This shaped
a paralysed society where modern man couldn’t find his space and gain his
place. Any kind of power or property was
consequentially in a few hands and politics was not considered a service to
people but another way to rule and to take possession of public properties and
share it with the people of your family, faction or party.
It is clear
that there is a lack of a strong State with common interests and rules commonly
respected. For Ernesto Galli della
Loggia this is due to the lack of a central absolutistic power in the past. The consequence of such a factious mentality
is that individual merits and ambitions are shattered in such a society.
This lack of
a proper modern culture is also the result of the Church, in disallowing
freedom of thought and originality of expression, and the family, closed to the
horizons of individual development.
Also linked
to belonging to a group, family, faction or party is the characteristic of trasformismo, that is the “policy of
forming opportunistic alliances in order to retain power and weaken the
opposition” (from the dictionary Il
Ragazzini 2011, Zanichelli, Bologna), a common practice since Guelfi and
Ghibellini and a sure way to keep the power at any cost.
The negative
side of individualism is that people expect to bend and adapt common rules to
their self-interest, which makes Italian people unruly citizens. According to
the author even in the Italian Communist party family relations and social
class had great influence.
When Italy
became a nation in the middle of nineteenth century, from seventy to eighty per
cent of the population was illiterate, the highest percentage in Europe after
Russia (ninety per cent).
This model
of an Italian identity is based also on comparisons with other European
countries, especially France and the UK. Of course this highlights the lacks and
absences in Italian society and its inadequacy, already clear for Dante:
Ah, slavish Italy! thou inn of grief!
Vessel without a pilot in loud storm!
Lady no longer of fair provinces,
But
brothel - house impure!
(Divine Comedy, Purgatory, canto VI, from: http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/dante/pu06.htm
)
Machiavelli ends The Prince
with the image of Italy “without head, without order, beaten, naked, ragged,
trampled on” and therefore “ready to follow a flag, provided that there is
someone that takes it” and waiting for “its saviour”.
I can deduce that the State in Italy is not supported by a solid structure
of classes, intellectuals or its people in general. There is not a common way to work and behave
for the sake of the Italian State.
The author also reminds us that during the Risorgimento the dream was
of a ‘new Italy’, a modern Italy that unfortunately never became a reality
because it was impossible to break self-interests, factions and family links
which were preventing equal rights and reward for their merits to the majority
of its people.
The consequences of this are subtle rebellions and covert retaliations,
like tax evasion and mass illegality. In
this climate good honest people are doomed to surrender.
In conclusion the Italian State remains weak, its administration
disorganized and its image without morality or values. In this view the only authentic institutional
references since the unity of Italy, a hundred and fifty years ago, remain the
Roman Catholic Church and the Carabinieri.
The final wish of Ernesto Galli della Loggia is that in the future
Italy would be capable of accepting its identity and developing it in a more
modern and fair vision of the individual and of its society, respecting the
laws and the common interests of the nation.
I really hope it will happen, for the sake of all Italian people. It would be a wonderful gift for the 150th
anniversary of the Unity of Italy.
MAXXI, Contemporary
Art; why not?
We couldn’t
miss visiting a museum. And what better
place to visit, in an ancient town like Rome, than the new national museum of
XXI century art, MAXXI?
It is
located in the northern part of Rome, not far from Flaminio Stadium, an area of
military constructions and housing blocks.
The museum was built on the site of a military barracks. It has a total surface area of 29,000sq.m,
with construction cost of one hundred and fifty millions of Euros. It took about ten years to complete but it was
worth waiting for.
The Iraqi
architect Zaha Hadid, who project-managed the build, did an astounding job,
which won the Stirling prize in 2010. The
edifice extends into its surroundings without jarring. It is not too high, or too small, or too
‘modern’. Its intersecting galleries emerge like slides
stepping their way into each area.
Entering it,
the first impression is of a free space where you can stroll, experience, chat,
comment, laugh, read the captions, find a place to rest and get involved in
works of art. Walking inside the
building is quite impressive. You can
discover astonishing views from glass walls, promenade decks that criss-cross
with galleries or flow into huge halls where art items find a wide, comfortable
space.
At the
entrance desk we took a grey folder where we could store all the leaflets and
the information we found around the museum. Every work has a thoroughly informative comment
in Italian and English and some have leaflets to take away and keep in the
folder.
MAXXI also has
a section for architecture and organizes workshops for children, with free
guided visits for parents, and art talks at the weekends. According to Zaha
Hadid, the aim of MAXXI is to feed the cultural vitality of the city and be a
place where you can exchange ideas, “an urban cultural centre” rather than a
traditional museum. Certainly its shape
gives the idea of innovation, exchange and intermingling.
As in every
museum of contemporary art, or XXI century art, what you find inside can be
quite puzzling, sometimes interesting, even impressive and at other times
bewildering, even ridiculous or outrageous.
It is no longer a problem of liking a work of art or not but a matter of
being engaged with it in some way. It
can strike you by its colour or shape, the title or the comment you read on the
caption. It makes you think, dream,
explore, find something different. This
is the kind of experience I am looking forward to in a contemporary art museum.
I try to forget all my previous
knowledge about art, all the great artists of the past, and be open to this new
experience, here and now. It is usually
very rewarding because there are always works that provoke me, make me think
and start a process.
I especially
liked the room with sculptures of leather, wood and marble by Giuseppe Pennone,
where the walls were covered with leather representing the bark of a tree. The same patterns were on the marble
floor. It made me think of roots and
bark again. In the middle of the room a timber
beam with resin represented sap. I felt it caught the majesty and vitality of a
tree, making it resemble a live fortress.
The other
work I especially liked was Pasolini
Chapel by Adrian Paci: a hut with black and white drawings inside, from the
film Gospel according St. Matthew by
Pier Paolo Pasolini. It expressed both the
poverty of Jesus Christ and the spare quality of Pasolini’s art.
There was
also a huge tapestry by a South African artist with two black figures dancing
on the foreground (or this is how I interpreted it) which made me think of
archetypal ancestors.
A lot of works
were sculptural, places you could enter and explore, with videos to watch and
sounds to hear. The clear aim of all of
them was to provoke and engage the spectator in some way.
In an
Italian newspaper I read that some strange incidents happened in contemporary
art museums. In Naples (Capodimonte Museum)
workers left timber beams on the floor and people thought it was a sculpture by
Jannis Konnellis. In Manhattan (Leo
Castelli gallery) artists covered their paintings with black cloths in protest,
and visitors commented on the pieces as if they were Minimalist Art. In Padua a work called Legg-io by Isabella Facco (shelves with photos, books and other
items) was taken by dustmen and loaded on the dustcart.
So, what is
Art? We need to accept that today “anything could be art” or “nothing could any
longer be excluded”, as Arthur Danto says in Beyond the Brillo Box. This
is total artistic freedom, where ordinary people can find ordinary items in a
museum, manipulated and used in a different, clever way by smart artists: that
is a person belonging to the ‘Art World’.
They decide what is and what is not art, according to exact reasoning
and rules, including those of the art market. In a way it reminds me of Middle Ages guilds.
As
spectators we need only to trust them and enjoy, if possible.
Here are
some interesting articles where you can find more information about MAXXI:
and also explanatory
videos:
Montecassino
Abbey
On the last
day of the year (which was also our last day in Italy, as we were to fly back
to England on 1st January) we had a trip to Montecassino Abbey with
some friends.
I had never
been there before. But I had read a lot
about it, especially with reference to WW II, when a famous battle between SS
and Allied forces, lasting for four months, took place on the mountain slopes.
I was deeply
impressed by the majesty of the large pale Abbey set on top of the mountain,
visible from far away, impossible to miss.
When we reached the mountain and started to drive up the sharp U-bends I
realized how steep the slopes where, almost vertical in some parts. I could imagine how hard it had been for the
Allied soldiers to climb them under the SS fire.
The Abbey
dominates the valley underneath, the Liri valley, and is on the site of a
temple once dedicated to the god Apollo.
Around 529 AD St. Benedict started to build the Abbey, including in it
part of the temple. He was an ascetic
monk born in Nursia from a noble Roman family. Thanks to his great charisma and a holy life,
he founded several monasteries in Italy and started the Benedictine order based
on prayer and work (ora et labora, an
effective motto).
In the
anarchic political climate of the Italian peninsula, the Abbey was destroyed
twice before the year one thousand; by the Longobards in 574, and by the
Saracens in 883. The most flourishing
period was the age of the Abbot Desiderius (from 1058 to 1087), who succeeded
in mediating between the Normans – who ruled that part of Italy at the time –
the Pope, Gregory VII, and the Emperor, Henry IV. Montecassino became an important centre of
political, cultural and spiritual life. The
monks copied ancient manuscripts, handing down classic and medieval knowledge,
the Abbey was enlarged and a new basilica was built.
After
Desiderius’s death (he was even Pope for a few months, Victor III) there was a
long period of political and social crisis when the Holy See moved to Avignon.
In September
1349 a terrible earthquake destroyed the monastery and the Pope decided to
annex the property of the Abbey to the Roman Church and elect an Abbot.
The
Renaissance was a peaceful period. The
Abbey was annexed to St. Justine’s congregation and maintained its power in the
land around.
When
Napoleon’s troops arrived in 1799 the first thing they did was to abolish the feudal
privileges Montecassino still held in the area. When Italy was finally united in 1861 the
Abbey’s properties were taken by the king of Savoy and it was proclaimed a national
monument.
During WW II
the Germans constructed the Gustav Line to prevent the Allies from taking
Rome. The Line passed through
Montecassino, which was in an ideal position dominating the south entrance to
the Liri valley. From its peak, the
Allied forces were easily seen and open to fire.
In 1943 the
treasure of the monastery (codes, goods and paintings) was transported to Rome
by the Germans. An astute move, because
after the failure of the first attempt to seize the Abbey in January 1944 the
Allied forces decided to bomb the monastery.
They thought German troops were hiding there. Not all the Allied Generals agreed because
they were unsure that they had been fired on from the monastery. Monks and civilian inhabitants (about a
thousand refugees) were warned about the bombing with leaflets, but the Germans
would not allow an evacuation.
On 15th
February 1944, 1,150 tons of explosives destroyed Montecassino Abbey, killing
hundreds of civilians. Only the people
who took refuge in St. Benedict’s chapel, where the old Roman tower once was,
survived because that part did not collapse. Among them were all the monks and the old
Abbot, Gregorio Diamare.
The SS
troops occupied the ruins after the bombing and stopped the Allies for other
three months till they were finally defeated on 18th May 1944. In June the monks came back to rebuild the
monastery “as it was, where it was”, funded by the Italian government. In October 1964 Pope Paul VI consecrated the
new basilica and St. Benedict was declared patron saint of Europe.
When we
visited the Abbey with the guide we could see all the cloisters, the new
basilica and the St. Benedict chapel, but we couldn’t visit the library. The word Pax in red letters at the entrance
reminded us of the community of monks who lived there a peaceful, ideal life
centred on love and obedience, dedicated to learning, autonomously organised
thanks to the lands the Abbey owned.
The square
white building, similar to a fortress, retains the ancient shape of this
essentially Renaissance architecture, austere and elegant at the same time. The
overall impression is that of a citadel of culture and spirituality that
managed to keep its influence amongst opposing factions, devastating wars and social
and political crises.
Still today,
entering the basilica, the luminous fresco by Pietro Annigoni (Apotheosis of
St. Benedict, 1978) states clearly the sources which inspired, created and
preserved all this thorough centuries: St. Benedict’s motto based on reading,
meditating and writing about the Holy Scriptures, the Abbey’s economic and
social importance in the area and the fact that it has been a place of holiness
since ancient times.
To know more
you can visit the website: http://www.montecassino.it/eng/index2.html
That evening
at home, we heard the end-of-the-year speech by the President of the Italian
Republic, Giorgio Napolitano. The speech
focussed on the problems of young Italian people and their future. The President underlined the gap between the
political world and ordinary people, who are worried about the lack of progress
and of opportunities for improvement which they are experiencing at all levels.
He invited people to be hopeful, to
understand the global situation and its problems and to help transform the
world into a more just and peaceful place.
For this reason European countries should work together, he said, strong
in their institutions, to overcome the global economic crisis. He also talked about the problems of the
national debt and of unemployment, especially among young people, inviting
economical and political powers to invest in them for the future of the country
and of democracy. He made a particular
appeal to the thoughts that inspired and informed the Unity of Italy during the
Italian Risorgimento and the speech of the Pope about collaboration between the
State and the Church. His final desire was
that all should “feel for Italy”, wishing for a better, united Italy, sharing
duties and hopes.
It was a
most inspiring speech.
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