I have come to the conclusion that making a successful attempt to verbalize a visual image that illustrates the essence of Italy is impossible. After spending time pondering and reflecting on the past three months, on what I have seen and learned, I still cannot pinpoint an image that sums up my experiences. However, for the sake of this assignment, I gave it a shot, but I am not completely satisfied with what I came up with.
After a long day of wandering Naples with Alexander Valentino, our last stop on the tour was the Castel dell’Ovo on the water. From the top was a stunning aerial view, allowing one to see the busy port, the strip of fancy hotels, and some of the residential areas of Naples. We had walked through the Spanish Quarter down what seemed like 1,000 steps in order to reach the castle. Only a few steps before we reached the castle, there was a sign that, in Italian, said “no parking or you will suffer death by gun.” We were warned about this area of town, that we should not go there alone, that it was extremely dangerous. Yet it was so close in geographical proximity to the higher end, touristy part of Naples. Seeing from the castle the image of high-density apartments with clothes hanging in all directions framed by the fancy hotels stuck out to me, and was only one of the many illustrations of the contradictions in Italian culture.
This simple image serves as a symbol that sums up (as accurately as I can describe) my experience in Italy, one of absolute contradiction and haziness, indescribable. I never came to a consensus of what makes someone “Italian”, what determines insider and outsider status, etc. But at the same time, after traveling through seven (yes seven – Italy, the Vatican, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Monaco) countries, Italy had a unique feel. I felt at home there, even with the incredible diversity, there was simply something comfortable about the place. Was it the people? The language? The food? I’m not what it was, but despite the immense diversity of the nation of Italy, there is some common thread, some unidentifiable part of each Italian and each aspect of the culture that builds the Italian identity.
That's the wierd thing about "culture." It is somewhat ambiguous, you can point to certain "Italian" things, but none of them alone make a place "Italy" or a person "Italian." But there is an over-all feel for a place, a people, a way of life that you can identify as its culture. Viva Italia!
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