Friday, February 05, 2010

Graffiti is Italian: Graffiti in Italy

First impressions taking the train from Leonardo da Vinci Airport to Roma Termini?... there are a lot of kids with loads of free time and lots of paint in Rome.  Seemingly, every abandoned train platform and track-side structure was tagged with graffiti.  Also truly unexpected, the abundance of aged and abandoned buildings that scattered the landscape, within view of the rail line running from airport to central.  Years-long decay of structures and the defacing of buildings didn't impress this first-time visitor.  Italy sells itself on historic ruins, so the toll of nature and patina of age is expected in picturesque roman buildings.   It's the more contemporary neglect that was shocking.  Leaving Rome, there was lovely countryside to take in (looking a lot like Southern California), but even then graffiti gravitated to any building near the rail line..

The Florence is heavily affected by rampant tagging. The official tourism board has a page dedicated to historic graffito, but for obvious reasons, there is not mention of the current plague that affects the many of the city walls.  The Travelers Notebook touched upon Florence's graffiti issue in June '09 article, Florence Defaced By Graffiti, Declared Ugly and Depressing.

Outside the Accedemia, look for the block-plus long scrawled massages by those waiting in line for the David and other works.  In the barely populated off-season street, I didn’t understand why so much graffiti lined the walls until I noticed a simple message “4 hour.”

Being neither fluent in Italian nor of Florentine opinion, its impossible to know the local sentiment.  I heard from a local that the new, young mayor is working on the task.  As a visitor who was only in the city a few days, I can only imagine what those who live with this daily.




Graffiti - Florence, Italy, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.


Graffiti - Florence, Italy, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.


Graffiti - Florence, Italy, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.



Graffiti - Florence, Italy, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.



Graffiti - Florence, Italy, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.


Graffiti - Florence, Italy, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

2 comments:

Robert Boyd said...

As graffiti goes, this stuff doesn't seem too bad. I assume you photographed the most artistically interesting pieces. I like the little guy running from the centurion.

It's random annoying tagging (like on the bridges above 59 between Shepherd and Main) that I find most annoying. I am a lot more forgiving of graffiti that shows real visual imagination (without forgetting that people's private property is being damaged).

Mr. Kimberly said...

You are right about my restraint. The pix I took were of the rare good ones. The last photo was a pleasure to see, and my wife commented on its unusual quality.

The city is swimming in stupid tags. On almost every building in a dense city center. So many bad, lazy tags! If there's a Banksy lurking in Florence I didn't see any of his/her work. Near or on major landmarks, businesses, filling the alleys, seriously bad.