02.06.2009

Today is a national holiday in Italy, folks. I blogged about it a touch last time around, but I've got a very different perspective on it this year. Part of that different perspective is based in geography. This year, we're living in an area that is directly in line with the parade route, and today's parade route is, on most days, the most efficient way to walk to our classrooms off Piazza del Collegio Romano. As Una and I walked along Via dei Fori Imperiali this morning, however, we were trapped like rats - forced to watch the parade of endless segments of the Italian military marching in all their masculine, uniformed, glorious lock-step. I didn't think I'd be up for it, and especially not without at least one cappuccino under my belt.

The point is, we beat a hasty retreat out of there, roundabout though it was, and did the more sensible thing - hung around a group of military folk just off of Piazza Venezia in white riding pants, gold chest plates, and patent leather riding boots. It was their beautiful horses rather than the sharp dressing that drew us in, which to us, did seem more sensible.

Okay, so aside from the way in which today's parade makes the navigation of a chaotic urban center feel even more chaotic than usual, I am uneasy about the show of military might (warranted or not) that is Festa della Repubblica. There have been alternative parades for peace in previous years, especially during the 'W' years and the height of the Iraq war, but I found no information on any alternative celebrations this year. The symbolic purchase of flexing the national muscle in the June second parade has somehow become less significant to peace movements in Italy, or in Rome at the very least, in this, the year of Obama. As with the declaration of a 'post-racial' era in the U.S., I have to imagine/hope the lack of alt festivities does not necessarily prove this to be true.

On a lighter note, do check out Joe Augello's blog for the most surreal experience that any of us CAS in Rome folks had on Festa della Repubblica this year. You won't be disappointed.

Top: Firefighters scale/hang out on the Colosseum.
Middle: The horses . . . with distinctive haircuts.