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==Culture Life of Italy== | ==Culture Life of Italy== | ||
'''Cultural milieu''' | |||
The 20th century saw the transformation of Italy from a highly traditional, agricultural society to a progressive, industrialized state. Although the country was politically unified in 1861, regional identity remains strong, and the nation has developed unevenly as a cultural entity. Many regional differences are lessening with the increasing influence of television and other mass media as well as a nationally shared school curriculum. Though Italians have long tended to consider themselves citizens of their town or city first, followed by their region or province and so on, this is changing as Italy becomes more closely integrated into the European Union (EU) and as Italians come to think of themselves as part of a supranational community made up of many peoples. | |||
'''Daily life and social customs''' | |||
Since World War II, Italian society has profoundly changed, with a significant impact on daily life. One of the main elements of change is the more visible role women play in society outside the home, such as increased participation in higher education and the professions. One aspect of this changed role is that Italy records one of the lowest average numbers of children per woman in the world, as well as some of the lowest birth and fertility rates. The declining number of births was a subject of much concern in the first years of the 21st century, and some towns and villages, particularly in the depopulated rural south, were offering cash premiums and tax incentives for newborns. Of equal concern was the concomitant graying of Italy; in 2010 about one-fifth of the population was over age 65. | |||
For Italian families, among the most popular daily leisure activities are watching television, listening to the radio, reading newspapers, and going to the cinema; reading books and engaging in sports are less common among the majority of people. According to surveys, Italians are very satisfied with their family relations, friendships, and health status, while their economic status and their working positions are less satisfactory. This is especially the case in southern Italy, where there are fewer job opportunities and where unemployment is high. | |||
Though the popularity of home and wireless entertainment has grown, the use of public spaces remains important. Young Italians meet friends on a daily basis, often in the cities’ piazzas in the evenings, making frequent trips to bars, cinemas, pizzerias, and discos. Social media Web sites and mobile phones allowed Italians—especially those of younger generations—to maintain ties with friends, but online communication was generally seen as a method to facilitate, rather than replace, face-to-face interaction. Coastal areas are popular destinations in the summer. The automobile retains a strong hold on daily life as well. Ownership levels are high, and many cities and towns suffer severe congestion and pollution as a result. | |||
Food is traditionally a primary element of Italian life. Work patterns in Italy revolve around the midday meal, though the leisurely two-hour-long lunch break is disappearing. Bars and trattorie cater cheaply and quickly to the casual diner. The culinary traditions of Italy proudly bear several ancestries, chiefly Etruscan, Greek, and Saracen: to the Etruscans is owed the heavy use of grain, to the Greeks the widespread presence of herb-cooked fish, and to the Saracens the country’s love of pastries, rice, and citrus fruits. Although there is no one style of Italian cooking, there being a wide variety of regional differences, Italians everywhere share a love of noodles, and pastas bear such euphonious names as spaghetti (“little strings”), penne (“feathers”), macaroni (“little dear things”), and orecchiette (“little ears”). In the south, noodles are often dressed with sauces made of olive oil, tomatoes, and spices. In the north, especially in Piedmont, they are coated in cream, butter, and cheese. Many foreigners have grown accustomed to these regional variations, as Italian cuisine has become a popular cultural export. | |||
International dishes such as pasta and pizza and ingredients such as olive oil are popular back home in Italy, of course, but Italian cuisine remains characterized by strong regional traditions, local geography, way of life, and history. Northern Italian gastronomy is well known for its use of butter, rice, polenta, and cheeses. Seafood and shellfish are prevalent on the coasts. Meat dishes are popular in central Italy; for instance, wild boar is cooked in Tuscany and Umbria. The south is renowned for citrus fruits, olive groves, and vineyards. Italy is also one of the world’s largest wine producers, and every region in Italy is known for wine—to name just a few, Barbera and Barolo in Piedmont, Valpolicella and Soave in Veneto, Chianti in Tuscany, Primitivo in Puglia, Cirò in Calabria, and Marsala in Sicily. | |||
For most Italians in the 21st century, religious activity plays a much smaller role in daily life than it did in the prior century and is usually concentrated on Sundays or on special celebrations such as Christmas and Easter. However, older generations, especially in rural settlements, tend to be more involved and may attend mass every day. | |||
Italy: feast of the Epiphany [Credit: Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz]Regional life in Italy is typified by a diversity of customs and a great variety of festivals, even if it is their appeal to the tourist industry and to television that helps keep them alive. The majority of religious festivals are Roman Catholic, dedicated to the Madonna or to different saints. The feast of the Epiphany on January 6 exemplifies religious diversification as well as the pagan elements present in some of these celebrations. Traditionally, a witch called the Befana brings gifts to children on this day. However, in the villages of Mezzojuso and Piana degli Albanesi, both near Palermo, the Epiphany is celebrated according to the Byzantine and Albanian rites, respectively. The most notable Carnival celebrations are held at Viareggio and Venice, where in 1992 they were financed for the first time by major sponsors. | |||
Italy’s strong agricultural tradition gives rise to a multitude of festivals celebrating the harvest, food, country, and seafaring pursuits. These festivals reflect the traditional activities of the area in which they are held. For example, the olive and bruschetta festival at Spello (near Perugia) marks the end of the olive harvest, the fish festival at Termoli reflects the fishing tradition in the port, and the hazelnut festival in Canelli (near Asti) gives testimony to the importance of that local crop. At Senale (near Bolzano) the traditional migration of sheep across the Giorgio glaciers is celebrated, while fishermen in the port of Aci Trezza (near Catania) stage a farcical swordfish hunt every June. | |||
Some festivals are more sporting in nature, such as the historic horse race the Corsa del Palio in Siena, Florence’s “football match” in 16th-century costume, and the regattas of Venice, while others commemorate historical events, such as the Lily Festival at Nola (near Naples), recalling the return of St. Paulinus of Nola in 394 after a long imprisonment in Africa, and the festival of Piedigrotta in Naples, commemorating the battle of Velletri in 1744. The Venice Biennale, established in 1895, convenes every other year to celebrate the visual and performing arts. | |||
'''The arts''' | |||
Italy was at the forefront of the artistic and intellectual developments of the Renaissance, which drew their impetus from a reappraisal of the Classical Greek and Roman world. Artists and scholars in Italy were especially well placed to take the lead in such a revival, since they were surrounded by the material remains of antiquity. Earlier Romanesque and Gothic forms in both art and architecture were supplanted by the Renaissance, which escalated with a flourish into the Baroque styles of the 16th century. | |||
*VISUAL ARTS | |||
“Mona Lisa” [Credit: The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images]The great names in Italian art through the centuries make a long list that includes, among many others, Giotto, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Bernini, and Tiepolo. Broadly characterized by a warmth of colour and light, Italian painting enjoyed preeminence in Europe for hundreds of years. Continuous subjection to foreign powers, however, eventually enfeebled Italy’s artistic contribution, which sank into provincialism. Ties with European art were renewed about 1910 by the work of the Futurists, led by the poet Filippo Marinetti and the painters Umberto Boccioni and Giacomo Balla. Futurism was succeeded by the Metaphysical paintings of Giorgio de Chirico, who influenced the Surrealists until the 1920s, when he began to produce more traditional canvases. The subtle, quietist paintings of Giorgio Morandi placed him in increasingly high regard since his death in 1964. Argentinian-born Lucio Fontana’s work exemplifies the modern artist’s quest for form, expressed, for example, by a blank canvas slashed open by a knife. Modern additions to the Italian tradition of sculpture include the works of Giacomo Manzù, Gio Pomodoro, Marino Marini, Luciano Minguzzi, Alberto Viani, Harry Bertoia, Mirko Basaldella, and Emilio Greco. (For further discussion, see Western painting; Western sculpture.) | |||
Versace, Gianni [Credit: Slim Aarons—Hulton Archive/Getty Images]Italy is a world leader in high fashion, an industry centred in Milan, a haven for models, designers, and photographers who come to work in the houses of Versace, Gucci, Krizia, Ferragamo, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, and Armani, among many others. Italian design houses such as Modigliani and Alessi have also been strongly influential. | |||
*ARCHITECTURE | |||
Venice [Credit: Dallas and John Heaton—Impact Photos/Heritage-Images]The traditional image of old Italian towns situated around piazzas adorned with fountains remains valid in a country where ruins from Classical antiquity may stand alongside modern construction marvels. The Rationalist architecture movement of 1926 produced one of the outstanding Italian architect-engineers of the 20th century, Pier Luigi Nervi, architect of the Turin exhibition complex and the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Marcello Piacentini was responsible for much of the imposing architecture of the fascist period, such as the Esposizione Universale di Roma (EUR) area in Rome. Innovative architecture is represented in Milan’s Marchiondi Spagliardi Institute, by Vittoriano Viganò. Other architects of note include Renzo Piano, known for his international museums; Aldo Rossi, whose critical writings rivaled his built works; and Paolo Portoghesi, who created public buildings from curvilinear forms. (For further discussion, see Western architecture.) | |||
*LITERATURE | |||
Italian literature, and indeed standard Italian, have their origins in the 14th-century Tuscan dialect—the language of its three founding fathers, Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. The thread of literature bound these pioneers together with later practitioners, such as the scientist and philosopher Galileo, dramatist Carlo Goldoni, lyric poet Giacomo Leopardi, Romantic novelist Alessandro Manzoni, and poet Giosuè Carducci. Women writers of the Renaissance such as Veronica Gàmbara, Vittoria Colonna, and Gaspara Stampa were also influential in their time. Rediscovered and reissued in critical editions in the 1990s, their work prompted an interest in women writers of all eras within Italy. | |||
After the unification of Italy, writers began to explore subjects theretofore considered too lowly for literary consideration, such as poverty and living conditions in the Mezzogiorno. Writers such as Giovanni Verga invented a new vocabulary to give expression to them. Among women writers was a Sardinian, Grazia Deledda, who won the 1926 Nobel Prize for Literature. However, the most prominent Italian woman writer of the 20th century was Elsa Morante. | |||
The themes of writers in the 20th century ranged widely. The flamboyant patriotism of Gabriele d’Annunzio in the early decades of the century gave way to the existentialist concerns of Deledda and Ugo Ojetti, who focused on local aspects of Italian life. The fascist period forced many writers underground but at the same time provided inspiration for their work, as in the case of Ignazio Silone and Carlo Levi. Italo Svevo and Luigi Pirandello pioneered the psychoanalytic literary genre, prior to the revival of realism by writers such as Elio Vittorini. Alberto Moravia wrote of the corruption of the upper-middle classes and gained notoriety for the eroticism of his narrative. | |||
By the 1960s the literary world joined the protest movement against the corruption of the state, and poetry eclipsed the novel as the primary literary genre. Pier Paolo Pasolini, a poet, critic, and filmmaker, was the dominant creative figure of the period. Eugenio Montale and Salvatore Quasimodo won Nobel Prizes for their poetry, and Giuseppe Ungaretti founded Hermeticism. A onetime disciple of that movement, the spiritual poet Mario Luzi was frequently nominated for the Nobel Prize. | |||
Of literature in the late 20th century, the work of Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, and Primo Levi met with much success abroad; within Italy the work of Cesare Pavese, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Natalia Ginzburg, and Leonardo Sciascia was also well received. The last decades of the century saw the revival of the narrative and the historical novel, together with new forms of experimental and innovative language. In 1997 Dario Fo, a playwright known for his improvisational style, won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Writers active in the first years of the 21st century, working in a variety of genres, included Niccolò Ammaniti, Andrea Camilleri, Antonio Tabuchi, and Carlo Lucarelli. (For further discussion, see Italian literature.) | |||
*MUSIC | |||
Italian music has been one of the supreme expressions of that art in Europe: the Gregorian chant, the innovation of modern musical notation in the 11th century, the troubadour song, the madrigal, and the work of Palestrina and Monteverdi all form part of Italy’s proud musical heritage, as do such composers as Vivaldi, Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, and Bellini. | |||
Music in contemporary Italy, though less illustrious than in the past, continues to be important. Italy hosts many music festivals of all types—classical, jazz, and pop—throughout the year. In particular, Italian pop music is represented annually at the Festival of San Remo. The annual Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto has achieved world fame. The state broadcasting company, Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI), has four orchestras, and others are attached to opera houses; one of the best is at La Scala in Milan. The violinists Uto Ughi and Salvatore Accardo and the pianist Maurizio Pollini have gained international acclaim, as have the composers Luciano Berio, Luigi Dallapiccola, and Luigi Nono. | |||
Contemporary productions maintain Italy’s eminence in opera, notably at La Scala in Milan, as well as at other opera houses such as the San Carlo in Naples and La Fenice Theatre in Venice, and the annual summer opera productions in the Roman arena in Verona. Tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli were among Italy’s most acclaimed performers at the turn of the 21st century. (For further discussion, see Western music; opera.) | |||
*THEATRE | |||
There are a large number of theatres in Italy, many of which are privately run. A number of publicly operated permanent theatres (teatri stabili) are funded by the state and supervised by the Ministry for Tourism. Three public organizations to promote theatrical activity in Italy are the Italian Theatre Board (Ente Teatrale Italiano; ETI), the Institute for Italian Drama (Istituto Dramma Italiano; IDI), concerned with promoting Italian repertory, and the National Institute for Ancient Drama (Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico; INDA). In 1990 the government tightened its legislation on eligibility for funding, which severely affected fringe and experimental theatres. Financial constraints in subsequent years led to an increasing number of international coproductions. | |||
Italian theatre has been active in producing outstanding contemporary European work and in staging important revivals, although no native playwright has produced works that can rival those of Luigi Pirandello from the early 20th century. In the late 20th century Dario Fo received international acclaim for his highly improvisational style. (For further discussion, see Italian literature; Western theatre.) | |||
*FILM | |||
The heyday of the Italian film was in the 1950s. Neorealism, best represented in the work of Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica, diverged from the escapism favoured during the interwar years to take a candid look at prevailing conditions in postwar Italy. This new style attracted world attention. Cinecittà, the complex of film studios built by Mussolini near Rome, became known as the Hollywood of Europe. Rome became the centre for the international jet set, who frequented the grand hotels and smart cafés of the Via Veneto, attracting a new breed of celebrity-hungry photographers known as paparazzi. | |||
Fellini, Federico [Credit: David Lees—Time Life Pictures/Getty Images]Federico Fellini propagated this image of the capital in films such as Roma (1972) and La dolce vita (1960; “The Sweet Life”). Pier Paolo Pasolini, on the other hand, took a grittier look at the Italian underworld in films such as Accattone (1961; The Beggar). Other directors who made a lasting contribution to the cinema of the day were Luchino Visconti, with masterpieces such as Morte a Venezia (1971; Death in Venice); brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (La notte di San Lorenzo [1982; Night of the Shooting Stars]); and the screenwriter Cesare Zavattini. Some directors, such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Franco Zeffirelli, Sergio Leone, and Fellini, enjoyed more success abroad than at home. | |||
Bertolucci, Bernardo [Credit: © Fabian Cevallos/Corbis]In the late 20th century, Italian cinema fell into recession. Nevertheless, Italy can still claim some major international successes, including Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987), Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso (1990), Gabriele Salvatores’s Mediterraneo (1991), and Michael Radford’s Il Postino (1994; The Postman). Silvio Soldini’s Pane e tulipani (2000; Bread and Tulips), Marco Tullio Giordana’s I cento passi (2000; The Hundred Steps) and La meglio gioventù (2003, The Best of Youth), as well as Matteo Garrone’s Gomorra (2008, Gomorrah) were well received critically. Other directors of note are Gianni Amelio and Roberto Benigni, who won the Academy Award for best actor for a film he directed, La vita è bella (1997; Life Is Beautiful), which also won for best foreign movie. Italian films are increasingly coproductions of cinema and television companies. The Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) and Fininvest are presently Italy’s largest film producers, accounting for more than half of the film output, which numbers several hundred films and television productions each year. Rome’s Cinecittà also sees many non-Italian productions each year, particularly of films treating historical themes; examples include Gangs of New York (directed by Martin Scorsese, 2002), The Passion of the Christ (directed by Mel Gibson, 2003), and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (directed by Wes Anderson, 2004). (For further discussion, see history of the motion picture.) | |||
'''Cultural institutions''' | |||
Italy’s cultural heritage is an inescapable presence. The south and centre abound in vestiges of Greek and Etruscan civilization, and substantial Roman remains are visible throughout the peninsula. The most notable examples are the ancient Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum near Naples and the remains in Rome itself. A wealth of monuments, churches, and palaces testify to Italy’s cultural past, and the contents of its museums and galleries number more than 35 million pieces. Italy also has more than 700 cultural institutes, over 300 theatres, and about 6,000 libraries, housing well over 100 million books. | |||
Hera, Temple of [Credit: V.Dia—Scala/Art Resource, New York]Italy contains dozens of historic places designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as World Heritage sites. Among the places officially noted are the old city centres in Ferrara, Pienza, San Gimignano, Siena, and Urbino; archaeological sites in Agrigento, Aquileia, and Valcamonica; and the whole of the Amalfi coast and the Eolie Islands. Later additions to the World Heritage List include the Dolomites, the historic centre of Genoa, and the Rhaetian Railway. | |||
*USEUMS AND GALLERIES | |||
Italy’s museums contain some of the most important collections of artifacts from ancient civilizations. The permanent collection in the National Museum in Taranto provides one of the most important insights into the history of Magna Graecia, while the archaeological collections in the Roman National Museum in Rome and in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples are considered among the best in the world. The same may be said of the Etruscan collection in the National Archaeological Museum of Umbria in Perugia, the Classical sculptures in the Capitoline Museums in Rome, and the Egyptian collection in the Egyptian Museum in Turin. | |||
Italy’s towering artistic achievement during the Renaissance is reflected in the magnificent collections in the Uffizi Gallery, the National Museum of the Bargello, and other galleries in Florence. In addition to the Old Masters, the Uffizi, a public gallery since 1765, contains masterpieces by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Piero della Francesca, Giovanni Bellini, and Titian. The Bargello holds a superb collection of Florentine sculpture, with works by Michelangelo, Cellini, Donatello, and the Della Robbia family. The Pitti Palace houses an impressive collection of paintings by Raphael, together with about 500 important works of the 16th and 17th centuries collected by the Medici and Lorraine families. | |||
Many of Italy’s major galleries are concerned primarily with their own regional heritage. For example, the Brera Art Gallery in Milan is rich in work from the northern Italian Lombard school, and the Galleries of the Academy of Venice are the major exponent of Venetian painting, as the National Art Gallery in Siena is of the Sienese school. The Vatican Museums, in the enclave of Vatican City, are noted above all for the frescoes by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, which were restored in the 1980s and ’90s in one of the most ambitious conservation projects undertaken in Europe. | |||
A quarter of Italy’s museums belong to the Italian state, just under half to local authorities, and a small proportion to public bodies, religious organizations, and private owners. The numbers of museum visitors are dependent on overall tourism trends, but individual museums routinely count their annual attendance totals in the millions. In the early 21st century more than 5 million people a year passed through the Vatican Museums, and more than 1.5 million visited the Uffizi Gallery. | |||
*LIBRARIES | |||
Italy’s national library system is controlled by the Central Office for Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Institutes. This body oversees the work of cataloging and conserving the nation’s books and directly controls the State Record Library and some 50 state libraries. The two principal national libraries are based in Rome and Florence. Their work is supported by the main national libraries of Bari, Naples, Venice, Palermo, and Milan and their provincial branches. Each of these concentrates to a significant extent on the literary heritage of its own region. The university libraries are primarily concerned with the promotion of academic research. | |||
*CULTURAL INSTITUTES | |||
Academies and societies, representing a multitude of interests, have proliferated in Italy. Indeed, academies of the fine arts had their origins in Italy. For example, the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence was founded as the Academy of Arts of Design in 1563, and the academy of Perugia dates to 1573. Rome’s Academy of San Luca was a guild of painters, founded in 1577. Italy’s most famous learned society is the National Academy of Lincei, of which Galileo was once a member. The most-distinguished literary society is the Academy of Crusca, founded in Florence in 1582. There are also many historical and scientific societies, including the Cimento Academy, which opened in Florence in 1657. Foreign schools that were established for the study of Italian art and culture contribute significantly to Italian academic life. | |||
'''Sports and recreation''' | |||
For a country in which only a small percentage of the population is actively involved in sports, Italy has produced an impressive number of champions in cycling, skiing, basketball, water polo, volleyball, and football (soccer). Especially popular is football, which some Italian scholars claim was invented in 16th-century Italy as calcio and introduced at the Palio festivals of Florence and Siena. Italian football teams excelled in international play in the 1930s and from the late 1960s onward. The national team has won the World Cup four times, most recently in 2006. | |||
Automobile racing also is widely popular in Italy, and Italian engineers and drivers have contributed much to the sport. Ferrari racing cars, first manufactured in 1946, have won more than 5,000 major races and set many world records. | |||
Italian athletes have participated in every modern Olympiad. The Alpine town of Cortina d’Ampezzo hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics; the 1960 Summer Games were held in Rome; and Turin was host of the 2006 Winter Games. Italy’s notable Olympians include fencer Edoardo Mangiarotti, diver Klaus Dibiasi, Alpine skier Alberto Tomba, and Nordic skier Stefania Belmondo. In the first decade of the 21st century, Italy typically finished among the top 10 medal winners at the Summer and Winter Games. | |||
'''Media and publishing''' | |||
The legalization of local, independent broadcasting stations in 1976 radically changed the media landscape. Since then the number of newspapers and magazines published has declined, while commercial television and radio channels have mushroomed. The broadcasting sector is dominated by the three state channels of RAI and by three major commercial channels—Canale 5, Italia 1, and Rete 4. The latter three are owned by Fininvest, a multimedia company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi, who built up a virtual monopoly in the private television, advertising, and publishing sectors before becoming prime minister (1994; 2001–06; 2008–11). The French channel France 2 competes for viewers in northern and central Italy. About a dozen additional private stations struggle to secure the remaining one-tenth of the national viewership. Italian television has one of the highest numbers of television broadcasts in the EU and produces the largest number of films. Well-funded game shows and cabarets proliferate on the major channels, while small local channels provide a fare dominated by films and locally produced advertising. | |||
The commercial television sector developed in a legislative vacuum for its first decade after 1976. This had adverse effects for other sectors of the media. Because of its high viewing figures, television drew the major share of advertising revenue away from its habitual market in films and print media. The effects were especially disastrous for the cinema, but newspapers and magazines also suffered from lack of advertising revenue. As it became increasingly difficult for publishers to operate their newspapers and magazines at a profit, these were gradually taken over by larger industrial and business concerns, often with some compromising of their editorial freedom. In the 1990s legislation to reorganize the broadcasting industry—to prevent the creation of monopolies and to regulate restrictions on the press—proved highly contentious. | |||
The major national newspapers are Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, La Stampa, and Il Giorno. Local and regional papers are particularly vital in Italy, underlining once again the strength of regional identity in Italian culture. Among the newspapers with the largest circulation are the sports titles La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport. | |||
==History of Italy== | ==History of Italy== | ||