And so it arrives, “La Settimana della Cultura” (The Week of the Culture) in Firenze. As if I wasn’t already swimming in Fiorentina culture. Fiorentini anxiously await this week as it signifies “free ingress” to the many eminent museums and palaces. I am definitely taking advantage, passing go and saving two hundred dollars (which seems like 3 euro these days…).
Eccola qua (here it is), an interesting side-note. Among the hundreds of Italians infiltrating i palazzi, i musei e le chiese (the palaces, museums and churches) epitomizing Firenze’s existence as a predominant tourist hotspot, there are also some seizing the day and going to the cinema, as viewings cost only 1 euro this Thursday. And so, the digital world meets the classical. The integrated circuitry of modern artwork and the preserved artistic masterpieces, which ironically are considered the foundation for the contemporary, merge to form a week of… culture?
And so I ask myself if this is a risky move, including movements of modern culture in Italy’s week of cultura. American students, flooding Firenze, appreciate this taste of home, surely. Tacky as many are, I must remember that I too am an American student. And Fiorentines like us. Without tourism, largely stemming from Japan and the States, Firenze’s economy may not be able to sustain all of these museums and their precious contents. History would be largely forgotten. But what are we supporting? Bars and cinemas? Or sculptures and palaces? My signora, having harbored nearly four generations of students studying in Firenze, clued me in on an interesting fact. As it seems to her, student interest in antique institutions is on the serious decline. My generation, digitally fascinated, frequents more often the discotecca next to “Santa Croce Church”, especially when there are specials. And so culture evolves.
This weekend I am making a trip to Assisi, Italy. Expect to hear from me soon!
-k
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