Cultural Artefacts

We find ourselves peeling away onion skins of language, culture, commerce and religion, searching for morsels of authenticity with which to connect. Today we turned the tourist taps on full bore, bought the multi-venue ticket and followed in the steps of many thousands around the cathedral, the museum, the bell-tower and the ancient church that pre-dates all the others - especially the Roman ruins that have been exposed below its floor

Of course there are frescoes and Renaissance paintings (a Tintoretto), sculptures, textiles, gold and silver work of enormous size, incredible complexity and intricate symbolism. There are some descriptions in the awkward English of literal translation, some only in Italian and many things with no commentary at all. Almost nothing is set in its historical or cultural context, interpreted for a modern sensibility

This has the effect of making it more overwhelming - constantly feeling that significance is being missed and the real meaning of the work obscured. Are we missing a lot because we have almost no Italian? Is the uncritical, minimalist presentation here typical of the Italian approach to religious artefacts? Is the financial power of the Catholic church, or its desire to glean money from tourists a factor? Are there religious sensitivities here that preclude a critical approach? It is impossible for us to know

More widely than this, we wonder to what extent we are seeing Italy at all - in a tourist enclave that is in part a de facto open air museum. Shops, restaurants, bars, everything is tailored to an affluent, transient clientèle. It hard to pick out grains of true worth amid the chaff of packaged 'culture

Every so often something stands out: a painting conveying genuine human emotion, rather than religious symbols; a cafe where there is clearly a love for food above the commercial deal; or a washing line on a back street and a rack of ancient bicycles (without thieves) - proof that there is real life here, underneath the symbols and reproductions