176. Culture

We travel overseas to be immersed in culture, whether that means the highest manifestation of the fine arts, or the everyday values and practices of the people. Bergamo and its sister city of Brescia shared the honor of being Italy’s 2023 Capitals of Culture, so we were eager to see what that was all about.

In Post #174, I described the project my friends and I took on, knitting scarves to connect a 50 mile-long human chain linking the two cities to mark their shared designation. So there was no doubt we would make a stop there on our journey; having played a tiny role in the culture there, I felt a proprietary interest in the place.

As we were only in Brescia for 24 hours, we had no time for the fine arts, which was fine by me. I much prefer watching the world go by, and trying to soak up as much of the daily atmosphere as I can. What I saw was a prosperous, lively city, with lovely shops and cafes. The piazzas had a mix of centuries-old churches mixed with Fascist-era architecture.

Everywhere, there were posters trumpeting Brescia’s great honor. I came across two art installations marking the occasion. The first was “#TheGate2023,” which linked Brescia to Bergamo and allowed you to communicate with people in the street there.

The second was a hanging rhinoceros by Brescia-born artist Stefano Bombardieri. Amazingly, I saw this same sculpture on display in Venice in 2021. What are the odds of seeing a hanging rhinoceros not just once, but twice?

But the cultural expression we really enjoyed was at dinner that night. We tend to head for humble, neighborhood trattorias featuring cucina povera, literally the cooking of the poor. But this time, we found ourselves in a neighborhood joint that turned out to be a tablecloth and doily kind of place. For the entire meal, we were the only ones there, but that didn’t stop the owner and staff from greeting us warmly, conversing with me in Italian (Yikes!) and serving us a great sampling of sophisticated dishes, that included beet gnocchi with shaved truffles and artichoke tartine.

When we were done, it took us nearly an hour to get their attention to get il conto, because it would be unthinkable to rush us. Italians have the cultural value of lingering over a meal together enjoying food and each other; Americans like us have ants-in-their-pants and are itching to get on to the next thing.

Our lives would be enriched if we could adopt this aspect of Italian culture at least part of the time. And we wouldn’t even have to hang a giant rhinoceros in our house.