L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2024 www.italoamericano.org 4 T h e r e a r e m a n y t h i n g s t o l o v e about fall. Per- h a p s m o s t notably this year, it's the relief from the excru- c i a t i n g h e a t t h a t g r i p p e d I t a l y o v e r t h e p a s t f e w m o n t h s . B u t b e y o n d t h e cooler weather, fall brings with it a sense of serenity, quietness, and protection. It's in the way the light soft- ens in the sky and how the days slowly shorten. There's something about this season t h a t f e e l s m o r e i n t i m a t e , maybe because it leads us toward October and Novem- ber, months often associated with mystery and remem- b r a n c e . T h e s e a r e t i m e s when we honor those who are no longer with us, yet love remains strong. Of course, fall also marks a return to routine—going back to school, the end of summer holidays — and tra- ditional timeless activities, like apple-picking, and the harvest of the season's final crops. But above all, fall is known for its breathtaking d i s p l a y o f c o l o r s : t h e vivid, expansive palette of autumn is unlike any other time of year. In Italian folklore, the r i c h c o l o r s o f f a l l — d e e p oranges, reds, and yellows— carry significant symbolic meanings that mirror the season's themes. Orange is traditionally associated with w a r m t h a n d p r o t e c t i o n , reflecting the harvest sea- son's role in preparing com- m u n i t i e s f o r t h e c o l d months ahead. Red, a color tied to life, love, and vitality, plays a central role in many autumn festivals, symboliz- ing the life-giving force of the land and the people's connection to nature. Yel- low, often linked to pros- p e r i t y a n d a b u n d a n c e , stands for the bountiful har- v e s t s t h a t , e s p e c i a l l y i n times of yore, would support families through the winter. These colors, beyond being typical of the season, are also entrenched in farming culture's reverence for the c y c l e s o f n a t u r e a n d t h e importance of fall as a time o f b o t h c e l e b r a t i o n a n d preparation. There is a profound con- nection between colors and human life, one as ancient and deep as history itself. Colors, like us, are children of nature. Through them, we learned to express feelings, ideas, passions. It is with color — along with light and shadow — that art comes to life and Beauty is created. It is with color that, through the centuries, we communi- cated with one another. I n d e e d c o l o r s h a v e played a key role in Italian art, fashion, and symbolism throughout the centuries, and functioned as a reflec- tion of the social, political, and technological changes in the country. Ubiquitous as they are, there is a whole w o r l d b e h i n d t h e m t h a t many are not familiar with, from which hues were popu- lar in each period of our his- tory and why, all the way to how colors were made. L e t u s b e g i n w i t h t h e ancient E t r u s c a n s , who w e r e k n o w n f o r t h e i r dynamic use of color in pot- tery, tomb paintings, and religious artifacts, with red, black, and white being par- t i c u l a r l y p r o m i n e n t . R e d symbolized life and vitality, black represented death and the afterlife, while white was likely associated with purity and the divine. The Romans expanded on this color palette, using a wider range of hues in their art and architecture. Red and purple were especially significant in Roman soci- ety; purple in particular, was made from the rare and expensive murex snail and was reserved for the elite. Eventually, it became a sym- bol of imperial power and the Emperor's toga, known as the toga picta, was often dyed in rich purple. Red was p r o d u c e d f r o m v a r i o u s sources including ochre and madder root, and was used extensively in Roman fres- coes and mosaics: it was a symbol of both the blood of life and the power of Mars, the god of war. Romans also h a d a c c e s s t o b l u e s a n d greens, created from miner- als like azurite and mala- chite, though they were less common due to the difficul- ty and cost of production. Blue had an association with the divine and the infinite and was often used in depic- tions of gods and the sky, while green symbolized fer- tility and nature. D u r i n g t h e M i d d l e Ages, color in Italy took on a highly symbolic and reli- gious dimension, connected with the Christian faith that dominated the period. The palette of the medieval era was largely influenced by the Church, which used color to convey spiritual messages: gold, which represented the divine light and the glory of God, was extensively used in religious iconography, par- t i c u l a r l y i n t h e h a l o s o f saints and in illuminated Italy in every shade: a cultural history of colors in the Bel Paese FRANCESCA BEZZONE NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS CONTINUED TO PAGE 6 Purple, a precious and rare color back in Roman times, was dedicated to the Emperor (This image was created with the assistance of DALL·E 2)

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