one of the most bazaar places i have ever been in my life.
walking the length of the city in about an hour, with limited italian communication capabilities and endless dead end alleys. watching limitless tourists and sought imagery, the place seemed to be an icon with a temporary existence. a place that might just vanish when the tourism industry fades and society in general loses interest. what happens to places of such history when the technology that attempts to fortify them is also the cause of their demise?
standing in piazza san marco, watching temporary bridges be constructed, wondering why, was there a parade or celebration in my future? looking from the workers, to the tourists, to the drains and realizing that the puddles in the center of the city were not subsiding, but growing. seeing their edges swell and diminish and swell again, releasing water into the heart of a place that is known by all...
the city is drowning from the inside and the solution is to erect pedestrian bridges 18 inches above the ancient pathways. there is no city there already. there is a skeleton of the past that does not house a current civilization or society. through the looking glass of place, without any occupants to see.
what happens when people lose the desire to visit?
the city will just wash away.
Yeah, I'm pretty much done with it. Other places to go now.
ReplyDeleteBut, Redentore will endure. "A noble, logical diagram, once recorded, will never die, but long after we are gone, will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency."
ReplyDelete