L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Continued from page 4 Riviera (Liguria) and larg- er seaside cities like Paler- mo and Naples. But if we have to be faith- f u l t o h i s t o r y , t h e f i r s t e x a m p l e o f s t a b i l i m e n t o o p e n e d m u c h e a r l i e r , i n Livorno in 1781 and was called Bagni Baretti, bet- ter known as Bagni Caval- leggeri, because they were located just beside a fortress guarded by the cavalry. The o f f i c i a l n a m e , h o w e v e r , c a m e f r o m C o n s u l P a o l o Baretti who represented, in those years, the Savoia's K i n g d o m o f S a r d i n i a i n Livorno. Baretti liked that stretch of sea and had the intuition of turning an old wooden building into five single rooms where people could take a bath in the sea in full privacy. Sea water was "brought" inside the rooms thanks to an inge- nious mechanical system. T h e 2 0 t h c e n t u r y brought about considerable c h a n g e s i n t h e n a t u r e o f s t a b i l i m e n t i b a l n e a r i , b e c a u s e t h e y s l o w l y b u t steadily lost their health- care structure allure, get- t i n g c l o s e r a n d c l o s e r t o what they are today: a place of leisure and relaxation. As y o u w o u l d e x p e c t , t h e change was mirrored also in fashion trends: men began wearing shorts and t-shirts t o t h e b e a c h , w h i l e i n 1925 Coco Chanel created t h e f i r s t m o d e r n - l o o k i n g swimsuit for women: tight- fitting blouse and pants. Of course, there wasn't an inch of flesh in sight, really, not o n l y t o p r o t e c t w o m e n ' s " d e c e n c y , " b u t a l s o t h e i r w h i t e , d i a p h a n o u s s k i n . B a c k t h e n , b e i n g t a n n e d wasn't trendy, as only farm- ers and outdoor laborers, in general, had sun-kissed skin. H o w e v e r , t h i n g s w e r e t o change in the 1930s, when people came to the conclu- sion that getting tanned was- n ' t a l l t h a t b a d , s o m e n d i t c h e d t h e t - s h i r t a n d w o m e n w o u l d s h o w s o m e more cleavage. Surely, these early exam- p l e s o f s t a b i l i m e n t i w e r e quite different from what we know and love today: their a i m w a s , m o s t l y , t h a t o f offering protection from pry- ing eyes – especially for the ladies, one may add - and making the benefit and sea- water and air available in a more - let us say - elegant fashion. But their modern iteration is a different thing. While they did enjoy their golden era – a golden era that, to be truthful, hasn't quite ended, yet – particu- larly in the 1950s and 1960s, their popularity began to rise during the years of Fascism, with the Duce being a fan of seaside holidays himself. In those decades, another tradi- tional Italian summer icon w a s c r e a t e d , t h e c o l o n i a , which we could compare to a s e a s i d e s u m m e r c a m p , where children could spend time by the sea in groups, u n d e r t h e s u p e r v i s i o n o f a d u l t s e m p l o y e d , i n t h a t c a s e , b y t h e O p e r a N a z i o n a l e M a t e r n i t à e Infanzia, a branch of the Fascist state. After the end o f t h e r é g i m e , c o l o n i e remained and, just like sta- bilimenti, they became pop- ular in the 1950s and espe- cially 1960s, when they were organized by both parishes and towns. We said it, though, the apogee of stabilimenti baln- eari were the years of the economic boom, the 1950s and 1960s: you'd travel to the sea on your Cinquecen- t o , a n d t h o s e a f t e r n o o n s s p e n t l y i n g l a z i l y o n a d e c k c h a i r w o u l d b e c o m e memories to cherish. Those years were quite important a l s o f r o m a c u l t u r a l a n d social point of view, with w o m e n f i n a l l y b e c o m i n g more and more emancipated and stepping closer to equal- ity with their male counter- parts: this could be seen also on Italian beaches, where the explosive bikini, creat- e d i n 1 9 4 6 , b e c a m e c o m - mon. Quite a huge step, if you think that, in the early years of its existence, wear- ing it in Italy was against the law. S t a b i l i m e n t i b a l n e r a r i were, and still are today, also a place where friend- ships were born: families would befriend one another and often returned, summer after summer, to the same stabilimento, booking adjacent seats for the length of their holidays. But perhaps, the most ten- der of all stabilimento-relat- ed memories are those sea- side teenage love stories that lasted the time of a holiday: we all had one, and we all thought it was going to last well beyond the summer. But then, September would come and, with it, school and the regular routine of o u r l i v e s . S o o n , t h o s e p r o m i s e s o f e t e r n a l l o v e would fade from the mind a n d t h e h e a r t , a n d f o c u s would return to old flames or shift to new ones, closer to home. Our beloved seaside vaca- tions wouldn't be quite the same without stabilimenti b a l n e a r i , a n d n o t o n l y because with their services they help us relax even more when we are on holiday. You see, those stripy deckchairs and beach umbrellas, those tiki-style cafés just a stone's throw from the water, the o p p o r t u n i t y o f m e e t i n g every year, often for many y e a r s , t h e s a m e p e o p l e , make them a bit of a home away from home. They are also usually run by families for generations, which adds to that particular feel. Truth is that, yes, they have become a bit of a luxu- ry for many families in these years of economic restric- tions, but we still love them, and the fact they bring most of us back to our youth, to t i m e s w h e n e v e r y t h i n g seemed beautiful, bright and possible. A quintessential stabilimento balneare (Photo: Lucamato/Dreamstime) Stabilimenti balneari are not only an essential part of our economy and of our tourist industry, but also an icon of our summers: rows and rows of deckchairs and beach umbrellas, each stabilimento with different colors… Pretty Spotorno, on the Italian Riviera, in the 1950s (Photo: Cardaio Federico/Dreamstime)

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