L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 6 F or Italians, the piazza or square, is not just the architectural space that characterizes cities and villages, but an open air, urban living room. It is the heart of each Italian town where history, architecture and social relations become one. The piazza means belonging to a society and it means daily life. In each town, it reunites the two most important buildings, the city hall and the church: the political and the religious power face each other, with people's daily life, new acquaintances and commercial deals all taking place between them. The piazza is a space which is not only constituted by architec- tural arrangements but, more than any other, comes to life thanks to the people who fill it w ith meaning. A s k Italian migrants what they miss and they will definitely answer "la piazza del mio paese." The piaz- za has a meaning that goes well beyond that found in a dictio- nary: it means even the most lonely people can find someone to talk with. It means that, with- out spending a single cent in a restaurant or a movie theatre, they can enjoy hours of social life, feel a sense of belonging, learn about births, deaths, mar- riages and finally go home with- out that terrible feeling of estrangement and loneliness typ- ical of when we feel alone. On the Italian piazza, there is usually also a café, the most important bar, as it is called in Italian, of the town, the place to see and be seen, where older people sit down for hours sip- ping an espresso and reading the newspaper while, from time to time, they lift their eyes to gaze at new generations passing by: girls dressed up for a Sunday stroll and boys straight out of the barber shop with gel-sleeked hair. The piazza is also the start- ing and ending point of Sunday laps on the corso, the main street of the town, where young people walk back and forth and shy teenage girls blush, feeling the gaze of young boys who use the same space to display their bud- ding manhood. The piazza has its own rituals where people are the actors mak- ing it alive; often the circolo, the city club house where older men go play cards or chat, also faces the main piazza, along with the main newspaper stand, the bank, and the house of the town's most prominent family. The piazza is alive the entire day: it seems to empty at dinner time jus t to explode after, when the intimacy of a family meal is balanced out by returning to the social dimen- sion of community life. The piazza also has a strong political meaning, used as a metaphor to describe involve- ment in a political protest. Scen- dere in piazza, literally "going down to the square," means peo- ple come together to protest, where the use of the term strong- ly signifies the union of people around a cause. Of course, the piazza also contributes to preserve the mem- ory of the past, as well as of a lifestyle which is continuously threatened by the characteristics of the society of today. While around the world we powerless- ly observe a progressive isola- tionism of young people hiding behind a computer screen, in Italy they still flood piazzas to socialize, just as it happened centuries ago. It is this sense of community and belonging which I feel immigrants miss in Ameri- can society. In the USA, the piazza does not exist as it does in Italy, leaving the immigrants from the Bel Paese with a sense of emptiness that is impossible to fill. The Italian piazza, w hos e name is very similar to the Greek plateia and the Roman platea, both meaning wide space, draws its origin from the Greek agora and the Roman forum. The agora was the center of the religious and commercial pow er but, above all, it was the symbol of democracy, so much so that the Assembly gathered there to dis- cuss political issues. In Rome, the forum played a similar role but, additionally, it was also a monument to Roman civilization so that Latin culture could be visible even in the remotest cor- ners of the Roman Empire. This is the origin of the concept of "ideal city" that was supposed to respect and display the imago Urbis, the city image of Rome. According to this criterium, each city had to have the typical struc- tures of the Roman world: the spa, the amphitheatre, the basili- ca, the temple and the forum. Just like in the Hellenic culture, the main square was the pivot around which revolved the life of the community, but it was also its symbol and thus had to be majestic, with a portico connect- ing it to the temple. The forum consequently became also the geometric centre of the city. After the year 1000, .squares s tarted to be differentiated depending on whether they had a religious, political or commercial role. In Siena and Padua, for example, the cathedral square, the public buildings square, and the market square are in three distinct locations. In Modena, the cathedral is at the heart of the ancient urban centre. In Flo- rence, Piazza della Signoria, where the city hall is, has been created after the demolition of houses and towers, and it is total- ly separated from the Old Market square and the Cathedral square. During the Renaissance, the con- stitution of the square was deter- mined by the us e of perspective. Until a few decades ago, the Italian piazza maintained its cen- tral role in the town and also its function. Then, many w ere closed to car circulation. This choice has not always been suc- cessful and many squares, like Piazza San Silvestro in Rome, lost their role and life. Today, music is helping many squares keep their old lively nature. It is on the main square of the town that, often, concerts take place thus pushing people to reunite as it used to happen until a few decades ago. It is to the piazza that Italian songwriters dedicated s ongs like P iazza Grande, by Lucio Dalla, who referred to the city of Bologna, which becomes the symbol of all cities, and Piazza del Popolo, by Claudio Baglioni, dedicated to the Roman square with the same name, where he refers to the gathering of young people on the square who sang "and became one." Are we ever going to find a similar place in a US town? No, definitely not, which proves that the square is not just an architec- tural concept but a historical, social, and cultural one. Italy's own salotto: la piazza Piazza Duomo in Siracusa: the Italian piazza is more than an architectural feature, it is a place to meet, exchange ideas and socialise Here's Florence's own "salotto buono," piazza della Signoria LIFE PEOPLE PLACES TRADITIONS DONATELLA POLIZZI

• Cover