L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 8 FRANCESCA BEZZONE T oday, I feel like to w rite about Rome and Italian heritage, but for once - our regular readers may be aware of my penchant for classical history - I won't delve into the depths and beauties of the Empire, but focus on the Rome of today. At least in part, let us say. Our breathtaking capi- tal has been going through a bit of a rough patch, as many of you have probably learnt, even from the pages of our newspaper, yet her millennial history demon- strates Rome is never really beaten nor conquered and she always, always rises up with pride, more beautiful and rele- vant than before. And what goes for Rome, ladies and gentlemen, goes for Italy as a whole: il Bel Paese struggles, the government is w eak , TV is aw ful but Italy remains Italy, idiosyncratic and criticized, but loved and envied like no other place in the world. Our regular readers know we at L'Italo A mericano truly believe one of the reasons our country remains so beautiful, so warm, so welcoming is the pro- found tie she has managed to maintain with her past, not only historically and artistically, but also in the most humble and common of things. The way her people like to shop in small gro- cery stores rather than supermar- kets, that habit to buy a tray of pasticcini after Sunday mass to bring home, pensioners gather- ing for coffee every day, at the same bar, to chat about life and current events, their eyes still as bright as they were some fifty or sixty years earlier, when they may have done th e s ame as teenagers. Italy has art, has nature, has culture, but it also has a heart- warming simplicity, disarming and impossible not to adore once you get to know it. The simplici- ty of the small gestures and habits we spoke about just now, of course, but also that of the myriad of old, traditional crafts that, quite literally, made the country: an army of tailors, gold- smiths, and rope makers; cheese- mongers, fishermen and carpen- ters; lacemakers, blacksmiths and campanari who, throughout the centuries, built the country stone upon stone with their skills and abilities, making it the box of treasures it is today. And when we consider the way, in the past, painters, sculptors and architects were largely consid- ered "craftsmen" and all started as apprentices in workshops, the importance of this word, craft, in the history and culture of Italy becomes even more essential. But let us return to Rome, today, to look at it with different eyes. For a moment, let's put aside her monuments and canon- ical history, but also the glitz of the Dolce Vita and Via Condotti. We'll discover the city with a special tour, bringing us into the ateliers and workshops of those craftsmen who keep alive the flame of tradition and heritage in its streets, a piece of unique art- work at a time, with the simplici- ty and humbleness typical of craftsmen all over the country. And mind, this isn't a simple virtual tour we're all taking together, through a pocketful of words pleasantly placed - or so I hope - onto a white sheet of paper: it's a real thing. Indeed, people interested in discovering with their own eyes the lives and work of craftsmen and women in the capital's historical centre have been able to do it, since 2013, thanks to the Botteghiamo initiative. The definition of the project is very simple: it aims to give importance to historical crafts, or antichi mestieri, as we say in Italy, and to tell their story through the discovery of their secrets and curiosities. Down to the knitty-gritty, Botteghiamo is a tour dedicated to visiting tradi- tional workshops located in the historical rioni of Rome: Ponte, Parione, Regola, Borgo, Monti, Trastevere and il Tridente. Your guide will lead you through the history of these areas and tell you about many of their typical crafts and about their development, value and resilience to modern disposable culture. During the walk, you'll have the opportunity to visit three or four botteghe artigiane, or workshops, where craftsmen will tell you about what they do, how they do it and, well…why they do it. Because isn't the essence of it all just in that? In why we do cer- tain things, take certain deci- sions? And I am ready to bet that many of the talented craftsmen and women of Botteghiamo will probably tell you they were uncontrollably drawn to their craft, as if inspired, nay, called to do it by some inexplicable neces- sity. A necessity to keep tradition alive, of course, but also to count, to become part of a cen- turies-old community that tran- scends time, bringing together within the same, ideal bottega the hearts, bodies and souls of mil- lions artigiani who weaved the fabric of this country through history. Others will speak about their family and how their craft has been defining its very essence for generations: and fam- ily is a the core of Italianità, let's not forget it, and this tells you how incredibly important crafts- manship is not only for the econ- omy and heritage of the country, but for its very social and affec- tive structure. You'll start your walk from the Piazza di Pasquino, a location our readers are familiar with, as we dedicate often our pages to the tales of Pasquino, and to his irreverent sense of humor. Well, the choice of this particular spot to begin the Botteghiamo tour is not haphazard: Pasquino was an artisan himself, possibly a barber or a shoemaker, himself a sym- bol of the world participants are about to enter. You can choose an Italian or English speaking guide, and you'll also have the opportunity to enjoy some deli- cious traditional food samples during the tour, at one of the bot- teghe alimentari part of the itin- erary. And to remember it all once you go home, you'll receive a little gift, which is in itself a gem of Italian craftsmanship: a beautiful hand drawn map of Rome historical rioni, with all their traditional botteghe, com- plete with their names and con- tact information. Orientated as it is on tradition and on its role in the develop- ment of Rome's own social and cultural fabric, Botteghiamo is an experience that gives more than it seems. Beside the sheer enter- tainment and educational value of the tour, it is the concept itself of it that counts, because it will keep alive and beating the heart and soul of a city and of a coun- try, even in times when anything that is unique, non homologated, non mass produced paradoxically seems to lose value to the eyes of people. Botteghiamo is more than a tour among Rome's botteghe artigiane, it is a trip into the very soul of the country, a way to understand why Italians still want to craft and refuse to sur- render to the "cheap and dispos- able is chic" philos ophy of today's economy. Because there is more to craftsmanship that the mere final product, even when it is something so exquisitely made it turns into a work of art. Craftsmanship is the essence and the s oul of the country, because it is tradition and learn- ing, it is family and past, it is his- tory and future all at once. Botteghiamo is more than a tour among Rome's botteghe, it is a trip into the very soul of the country © Konstantinos Papaioannou | Dreamstime.com Botteghiamo, Rome and the soul of Italian heritage NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

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