Peter, you're a brave soul to write this! The Dolce Vita vendors are not gonna be happy. I've spent months at a time living in two different borgos, but they were both within driving distance of trains that would get you to Salerno or Naples in an hour. Drainage and wifi were annoyances, but manageable. But yes, the nonnas and the cats, as lovely as they are, are also sad in a different light. (Omg, spay and neuter some of these poor cats!) And the old folks are tough and hearty in a way that is hard for most people to appreciate now. Sleeping on hard little beds. Eating soup almost every day. The heat is one thing, but the damp winter cold is something else entirely in most borgos. It's difficult to accept that these villages are dying if you are a lover of history and ruins. They were each their own universes at one time, full of traditions and systems for living with nature, and we have lost that wisdom in just a couple of generations. That alone deserves so much consideration and study. I'm an art and architecture person, but I would love to see more agricultural/science people investigating these borgos to understand how they were designed so well that they survived in isolation for centuries.
I was so happy to have this as guest post. Don’t necessarily agree with it all, but it’s a good reality check. Literally as we try on daily basis with ITS Journal.
I never had problems with the people. I grew up in a small Hungarian village, so I appreciate directness more than I appreciate fake politeness. And 10X more a local who spent her/his life working hard in the countryside than a trust fund baby who is bored and in search of an identity… To be honest, the closest I felt to an Italian, in general, was with people in Calabria and Sicilia, exactly bc of this.
Marciaso was obv a wake-up call for any kind of dolce vita dream, but I spent weeks in “functional” borgos as well, even in some famous ones like San Gimignano or Todi. So I am not at all against this whole concept, contrary: let’s save the ones who CAN be saved.
But let’s be real, the solution is not another cultural event which is just Italian opera. :D The solution is the super-boring, not so celebratory infrastructure investment stuff, that barely makes it to the last pages of a local newspaper. :)
And yeah, thanks, I needed to write this in mega-sarcastic tone, otherwise I fall into the dolce vita vendor area, which… well, we all know what we think about them… :D Cheers, P
Yes, the answers are indeed boring and require continuity, not a two day conference in a castle and speeches by men in fantastic blue suits who want to valorizzare il territorio.
so you need to give 10 mill for a new mobile health station that goes around 10 small frazioni around this town, you can have 2 nonnas by your side and you can stand in the middle for a photo op but thats it, no event, no celebration, no speech, and next day, we are going to ask you another 10 for a small fire station, there you might cut a ribbon and have a small speech in front of 10 firemen, good?
vs
Big “The culture of <insert borgo name> and how to preserve it” conference turned event with 1hr speech in front of the crowd of uni students and teachers and intellectuals from milan and rome, fireworks and food and prosecco night as closing.
No one would think for more than 2 seconds about the right choice. :D
Peter, you're a brave soul to write this! The Dolce Vita vendors are not gonna be happy. I've spent months at a time living in two different borgos, but they were both within driving distance of trains that would get you to Salerno or Naples in an hour. Drainage and wifi were annoyances, but manageable. But yes, the nonnas and the cats, as lovely as they are, are also sad in a different light. (Omg, spay and neuter some of these poor cats!) And the old folks are tough and hearty in a way that is hard for most people to appreciate now. Sleeping on hard little beds. Eating soup almost every day. The heat is one thing, but the damp winter cold is something else entirely in most borgos. It's difficult to accept that these villages are dying if you are a lover of history and ruins. They were each their own universes at one time, full of traditions and systems for living with nature, and we have lost that wisdom in just a couple of generations. That alone deserves so much consideration and study. I'm an art and architecture person, but I would love to see more agricultural/science people investigating these borgos to understand how they were designed so well that they survived in isolation for centuries.
I was so happy to have this as guest post. Don’t necessarily agree with it all, but it’s a good reality check. Literally as we try on daily basis with ITS Journal.
Well you were the trigger for which I wrote it so I'm glad you liked it. Anything you disagree with, shoot, I'm all in for debates.
I never had problems with the people. I grew up in a small Hungarian village, so I appreciate directness more than I appreciate fake politeness. And 10X more a local who spent her/his life working hard in the countryside than a trust fund baby who is bored and in search of an identity… To be honest, the closest I felt to an Italian, in general, was with people in Calabria and Sicilia, exactly bc of this.
Marciaso was obv a wake-up call for any kind of dolce vita dream, but I spent weeks in “functional” borgos as well, even in some famous ones like San Gimignano or Todi. So I am not at all against this whole concept, contrary: let’s save the ones who CAN be saved.
But let’s be real, the solution is not another cultural event which is just Italian opera. :D The solution is the super-boring, not so celebratory infrastructure investment stuff, that barely makes it to the last pages of a local newspaper. :)
And yeah, thanks, I needed to write this in mega-sarcastic tone, otherwise I fall into the dolce vita vendor area, which… well, we all know what we think about them… :D Cheers, P
Yes, the answers are indeed boring and require continuity, not a two day conference in a castle and speeches by men in fantastic blue suits who want to valorizzare il territorio.
Exactly, but tell that to policians:
so you need to give 10 mill for a new mobile health station that goes around 10 small frazioni around this town, you can have 2 nonnas by your side and you can stand in the middle for a photo op but thats it, no event, no celebration, no speech, and next day, we are going to ask you another 10 for a small fire station, there you might cut a ribbon and have a small speech in front of 10 firemen, good?
vs
Big “The culture of <insert borgo name> and how to preserve it” conference turned event with 1hr speech in front of the crowd of uni students and teachers and intellectuals from milan and rome, fireworks and food and prosecco night as closing.
No one would think for more than 2 seconds about the right choice. :D
You're right, and that's why (and here's where I piss off all the Italians) Italy needs immigrants.
Good luck electing them! :D