tuscany # 42 ~ small is beautiful
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 07:14PM 
Street light ~ Firenze, Tuscany • click to embiggenUnlike (once again) the good 'ole US of America, one of things that we took away from our time in Italy was the fact that so much of that place is on a human/people scale.
To wit: small shops / stores / businesses and narrow streets and alleys, many of which are shared with motorized vehicles but are also made for walking - on all but the major thoroughfares it seems that people, not cars, rule. While I'm certain that they must exist, our travels seemed totally free from the ubiquitous corporate presence as we know it here in the United Corporations of America.
And the other thing that was noticeable by its absence in the small/medium sized cities, towns, and villages were the pockets of abandoned wastelands - derelict houses, buildings, factories, and weed infested / overgrown lots littered with trash / junk - that are the visual hallmark of virtually every American city, town, and village. Once again, they undoubtedly must exist but in no way near to the extent that they do in the good 'ole US of A.
I'm certain that Italy will not be confused with Nirvana any time soon, but it does seem that they do a whole lot more right than we do.
Reader Comments (3)
It comes from lack of experience, eh? The good ole' US of America was populated by folks that disliked their homeland and government and etc...sort of the way folk do here in the US of A.
So imagine (really far out imagine) a new chunk of land was discovered in the middle of the Pacific as large as Europe. A whole bunch of folk that dislike the USA go there, kill off or just rearrange the local people and decide to start their own little country. A whole new set of laws, rights, and freedom for all. Shortly thereafter all the other disgruntled folk around the world (disgruntle for various reasons) ascend on this Utopia and create a cornucopia of disgruntled folk. All of a sudden the original settlers are overrun by the masses of disgruntled that have misinterpreted their original intentions and made them their own.
All the while I'm sitting here in the good ole' US of A and thinking how crazy they must have been thinking it would be better somewhere else. We'd probably look stellar to them at that point too. maybe?
It does seems that everything is on a human scale in Italy. So it seems.
For another point of view, just Google "Naples" and "garbage" and see how the system has broke down in that country.
Yes, Italy does much of what it does very, very well, some things, like politics, TV, coping with corruption and organized crime, generally the institutions of the state, not so much. But as you found: it's not perfect and there is much to like.
But: this is not what made me comment. What made me comment (late as always), is this breathtaking composition. Love it. It's bold and classic.