VicenzaPiù - Notizie, Inchieste, Analisi su Vicenza e provincia

Always on the lookout for freebies - and I'm sorry, Coviello, but Città, the free offshoot of the GDV is my source (Coviello's note: «Don't worry, Bob, I'm for free...dom press»)- I cycled frenetically across town from Ferrovieri to the Conservatory in order to pick up a complimentary ticket to listen to the Sound of Poetry in the foyer of Dr. Hullweck's Mausoleum. Freebies usually attract the same faces, including my own, so I was surprised not to recognise any of the other guests. This was a sort of promotion of a nascent department of the Conservatory dedicated to contemporary music, as far as I could understand. Music by Billy Strayhorn and Federico Benedetti accompanied poems by Shakespeare, Petrarca and a certain Elio Pagliarini.

There were two lady jazz singers, and a jazz quintet. They played well, and sang well, though I was a bit perplexed at why they didn't stick to jazz standards, as we couldn't really decipher the words. There had to be an innovative finale - we were asked to read aloud a letter by Petrarch about life, to the background of soundpainting - sort of cacophonic sound from the band- as we read.
I walked out into the Vicenza evening haze with a vision of the Pompidou Centre playing in my mind. The whole atmosphere was more sophisticated than what I am used to in the bars where I drink wine at a euro a shot. Still, it's the 21st Century, and frankly, I found this more stimulating than Fogazzaro.
The next freebie wasn't quite a freebie. The Regione has subsidised the viewing of one film a week at Cinema Roma on Tuesday evenings to the tune of you paying two euro. This week's offering was Magnifica Presenza by Ozpetek. The programme appears to cover films that are on the circuit, rather than Variati's programme a year or two ago of sponsoring films that one would otherwise be unlikely to see. Much as I enjoyed Magnifica Presenza, I preferred Variati's initiative as it seemed to offer a platform for emerging local talent.
Two in a row, so on Wednesday I gave the cultural scene a miss and settled down to read about AIM. The latest instalment involves a larger than life character called Bruno Carta. He tells us that far from being a mistake, that AIM Bonifiche would have been bringing enormous sums of money into Vicenza if no-one had intervened. He says he is a successful businessman and all he needed was another couple of years, but then the centre-left, Ubaldo Alifuoco in particular, spoilt everything. Incredibly, he goes on to say that although Alifuoco is to blame, it's impossible to sue him, because he hasn't written anything that can be legally challenged. By implication this means that Alfuoco got it right - which is likely, as unlike the protagonists, what aim does he have except pursuing the truth?
I read with sadness that the former headquarters of the Guardia di Finanza have been sold off by Variati's lot to an estate agency connected to a certain Romano Pigato, whose son Domenico is a councillor in Cicero's group which supports the mayor. This area is one of the lesser pearls in Vicenza's crown, but with a vast green area, and a former convent and monastery reflecting the Venetian heritage of the town, my knee-jerk reaction is that it should remain in public ownership.
Well, Thursday was another freebie day - this time more in character with the usual ones. A free Mozart concert for flute and strings in the newly restored Palazzo Cordellina. The aging freebie hunters like me were there in force. Former Communist Pupillo, now president of the Bertoliana was enthroned in the front row, and democratically asked us if we wanted an encore. We clapped enthusiastically.
It reminded me of the time thirty odd years ago when he asked the crowd in Piazza dei Signori who were waiting for Berlinguer, who was late, if they wanted to sing the Internationale. The valleys of Vicenza have a long choral tradition, and many former Communists hail from the tanneries and Marzotto textile factories. The Square uncharacteristically shook to the triumphant notes of the Communist anthem. I'm not joking! It really happened.
This Saturday morning, I read the International Herald Tribune at the library - another freebie- and was surprised to see an article about corruption in Italy based on research by the Research Centre on Security and Crime run by Lorenzo Segato in Torri di Quartesolo.
The article diagnoses perfectly the political cancer leading to the squalid backroom deals involving almost all political parties. We live in a culture of corruption, and fighting it involves not just stopping Ferraris, but changing our attitude to corruption in the first place.
Italians, however, may at least be happy that unlike Tony Blair, former premier Berlusconi didn't participate meaningfully in the bloody war crimes perpetrated by NATO in Iraq. Blair's party was thrashed in last week's by-election by George Galloway who is seeking Blair's incrimination by the Hague tribunal.
A Happy Easter to those that celebrate it, and following the cordial dialogue between the Bishop and the young communists, to those that don't.