Thursday September 10, 2015 11:47 PM
Ciao amici!
Questo sarà veloce perché devo andare a letto presto This will be quick because I must go to bed soon.
I just have a few things on my mind right now, mostly because I'm super tired, sono stanca. Also, I've had to deal with the annoying task of setting up my AT&T phone with a new SIM card. Those of you who have AT&T know my struggle. They are impossible. Anyway, it's all set now so I can finally sleep but I didn't want to go to bed before writing a few things that ran through my mind today or else I will forget all about them. Was that a run on? Probably.
First things first (I'm the realest -- I'll probably look back at this in the future and not understand a single reference. It's a song, Cecy, it's a song), the architecture. This has been a thought that has crossed me on more than one occasion since I arrived in Italy. Do you guys ever wonder why Italy looks the way it looks? Why is it one of the most photographed countries? Well, I've found myself asking these questions and I think I figured it out (maybe, secondo me in my opinion): the reason Italy casts such a spell of aesthetic over us is because it looks just as it looked years ago. You won't look around and see a skyscraper, save that for New York. That's what I love about Italy, it doesn't try to fix what isn't broken. Some may say countries that don't succumb to the ways of contemporary architecture are far behind, but I disagree. Italy is very sophisticated and quite ahead, thank you very much. It might not be the richest country in the world, but the people here are happy and love their culture, something that I can't say about other, more wealthier, countries. Back to my epiphany: I was on the bus (story of my life) when my Italian mother pointed out a beautiful cinema movie theatre to me. At first glance it did not look like a movie theatre, or at least not the kind of theatre I am accustomed to. In America everything is new, and everyone is obsessed with the new. The new, the new, the new, and in the process we often forget about the old that made us into who we are today. This Italian cinema looked, to me, like every other charming building with shuttered windows and lightly colored walls that I see in Italy. That, my friends, is what makes Italy, Italy. That is why we are enchanted by their beautiful strade streets and mesmerized by their immaculate architecture. Just so you get my point: would you photograph a street in Italy that was a mixture of the charming Italian architecture that you picture when you think of Italy and the new, straight edged contemporary architecture? Maybe, because that holds a beauty of contrast all of its own, but what Italy would you rather hold on to? At least for me, it is the old, charming, balconied, cobbled streeted Italy.
In other news, as I was at the bus stop with my Italian mamma (lol, bus stop again..), a man that spoke spanish came to ask me and my mamma for directions. He thought we both spoke Italian and we understood each other well enough, but when it came down to giving specific directions I reverted to using my spanish language. It was such an amazing moment for me, because there I was, in Rome, learning the Italian language, and helping a fellow hispanohablante spanish speaking person, with directions in a place that I dreamed of visiting. It was a piccolo small, yet very special, moment for me.
Un bacio da me a voi.
Alla prossima!
No comments:
Post a Comment