Vicenza, Italy

How can a cityscape radically change in the span of a walking distance?

Counting steps might feel odd, but try and map an ever-changing city without it. The book the Vicenza-based writer Vitaliano Trevisan is most known for was titled “15,000 Steps.” Its protagonist doesn't feel emotionally attached to his suburban neighborhood; nevertheless he refers to its landmarks, measuring their distance in steps. Urban spaces evolve and walking paths may change, originating new living dimensions along with different cityscapes. Marked by XVI century architect Andrea Palladio's architectural style, that gained the city its UNESCO World Heritage status, Vicenza has been bombed and rebuilt, before exploding in several residential quarters radiating from the city center.

Even though Trevisan is not at all merciful to Vicenza's urban sprawl, it's a fact that the city has expanded both geographically and economically, becoming the third pole in terms of exported goods in Italy and a fertile ground for small enterprises. The many urban redevelopments also brought much debate about issues in community life and, for example about the A31 Valdastico Sud highway in 2005 and more recently about a project to build a new American military base in the Dal Molin airport. The real and the imaginary mesh and collide between the city and its literature; take a walk and explore how.

Mission Report

We met Vitaliano on a sultry June day. He's waiting for us in a square surrounded by trees with his hands crossed, without any hurrying. He's got his own sense of time and doesn't seem to care at all. He leads us to the door of his bar where it has always been. It's the most popular place in which to see and hear ordinary people and foreigners, which today in Vicenza are a good part of citizenship. Vitaliano doesn't stare at people, he studies them. You realize that you're willing to give him a part of your intimate space. He's a sincere person and always looks you in the eyes, smiling, always available to speak with you about deep problems, never banal. He tells us about the 25 years he spent working in business, and how his meeting the director Matteo Garrone allowed him to fully commit to his passion: writing. A "First Love," like the title of the movie he stars in.

We chat for half an hour. It's not an interview, can not bear the questions, phrases made, and there is no need to ask, you understand immediately. When you speal you want to give him something more than the norm.

Vitaliano then leads us to the suburbs, the place where he lives, shows us the horrors of architectural loss of identity, history, knowledge, leading to degradation, not only in terms of liveability, but of aesthetics and visual modesty. Most of the people living there don't even notice that aspect of their district, because the changes happen quite slowly, slowly enough for them to get used to the visual shock, but not enough to avoid the sense of resignation, quickly turning into depression. He shows us his own garden: plants grow through holes in the cement, eating away at it slowly. It's up to nature to pull back this hardened veil of shame, because no one else can.

The gaze of Vitaliano captures life smallest nuances, hidden secrets that apparently have no value and meaning, precisely because they are too small. For you must look down to see and nobody has the time to do so. The time Vitaliano is not time, it's an off-time, a necessary interior made of intimate glances and silence.
Samuele Belloni