VicenzaPiù - Notizie, Inchieste, Analisi su Vicenza e provincia

Last week, I left you with the vista of Piazza dei Signori from the top of Contrà del Monte. In the Monte del Pietà itself there is a fascinating exhibition throwing perspective onto the history of local craftsmanship. This is an exemplary way of using our monuments to underline the continuity of artistry, or craftsmanship perhaps, which defines Vicenza's heritage. As I have written elsewhere, Palladio seems to me Vicenza's glitzy wrapping, whereas craftsmanship expresses her soul. Are there any real artisans left in Venice? Certainly, most of the lace placed enticingly next to a loom in Burano comes from Taiwan. Ok, the Murano glass at its best is still worth a look.

But Vicenza's crafts are still a living reality. One of my friends, a certain Adriano, who speaks mostly dialect and learnt his craft in the time-honoured fashion as an apprentice at the age of fourteen, recently had a exhibition of his sculptures in the Villa Braga Valmarana in Corso Fogazzaro. I took my sister to see it on her way back from Florence, and she spent an hour there, enthralled by the bronze figures inspired by Greek mythology. Unfortunately she couldn't afford any of the exhibits.
I've heard that there are plans afoot to convert the former prison San Biagio, itself a former monastery, into an exhibition area. Can you imagine how beautiful it would be to walk down a pedestrian Contrà San Biagio to reach it? Another exhibition area is the Romanic chapel of Sant'Ambrosio in Contrà Busato, near the local police station. The chapel is worth visiting for itself, and occasionally has a temporary exhibition of contemporary art, although I've often felt the exhibits clash with the elegance of the building. I have yet to visit the exhibition at the Basilica.
All this potential deserves the right stage. We were told during the mayoral campaign that there would be a genuine and forthright attempt to give back life to the city centre by banning its greatest enemy. Not the kebab restaurants - on the contrary, they encourage budget visitors, and don't detract those in search of tradition from the snacks and wine of the Cursore or Ostaria del Vicolo to name but two. Nor the call-centres, of which there are practically none in the centre. Vicenza's enemy is abuse of the motorcar. And Mr. Variati has done little or nothing to meaningfully improve matters. I see that Ms. Lazzari has signed up to a manifesto supporting culture. Don't we all? There seem to be a number of well-meaning platitudes. But surely we need concrete action. Despite the inevitable protestations by the usual lobbies.
I see Verona and Padua both trying to make things better whilst we stagnate. Imagine - Ok, so I know it's quixotic to imagine, and that Lennon's vision will never come to be - but imagine visiting the places I've mentioned above with only a few silent electric vehicles gliding amongst the pedestrians and cyclists. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
Mr. Bossi is a self-confessed philistine, so it was a pleasant surprise, whilst on the subject of culture, to see that the Regione is financing a programme to project contemporary films at the very reasonable price of 2 euro. I shall be curious to see Posti in Piedi in Paradiso by Carlo Verdone at Cinema Roma next Tuesday. It had better be good, because I'll be seeing it after a long day, and if it's not I'll fall asleep.
Being an expatriate, I am obviously an internationalist, and I am sorry to see the scant participation in our cultural life of the ethnic communities, perhaps I should say particularly my own. It is Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee, and what celebrations there are is the valiant work of the Italian ladies teaching English in our secondary schools. The private English schools here seem to have let the occasion slide. Still, if not culturally present, at least the Serbian, Rumanian and Moldavians are religiously present. The Serb church in Contrà della Misericordia, and the Moldavian church in Contrà Porta Santa Croce celebrated the Sunday of Orthodoxy last week, first Sunday of the Lenten fast (Orthodox Easter is a week later than the Western one this year), with over five hundred faithful taking Communion. However, I feel the town council and the ethnic groups could enhance community relations by having a meaningful cultural dialogue. An ethnic dance programme perhaps in Piazza dei Signori. A window for Vicentini to see the cultures of their fellow citizens, rather than the patronising ‘Festa della Badante'.
Well, as I write, it's Saturday evening, and I had a furtive look in the cupboard to see if my good wife had left enough red wine for tomorrow, (remember the Italian saying: you can't have you wife drunk and the barrel full) and then I remembered - in Mr. Monti's Brave New Italy the supermarkets are all open tomorrow. Nothing to worry about.