At what point is the Puglia? What image will it offer of itself to the leaders of the G7 expected to Borgo Egnaziain that day Fasano, from June 13th to 15th? «We may not be California, but fortunately (or thanks) we are no longer what we were a quarter of a century ago», wrote the director Rosario Tornesello in these columns, evoking the title of an essay by Franco Tatò. The forum of heads of state and government was founded in 1973 in response to the oil crisis and so far Italy has hosted its annual summit six times: twice in Venice, once in Naples, then in Genoa in 2001 marked by the outbreak of the movement no-global, in L’Aquila in 2009 shortly after the terrible earthquake, and in Taormina. They are all cities that are symbols of the magnificence but also of the contradictions of the country, where charm and problems almost always go hand in hand. «Mixture of light and mourning», wrote Gesualdo Bufalino of his Sicily, but the definition is valid at least for the whole of the South. In this sense, Puglia would need to «simply» respect itself, that is, its own identity as it has changed in recent decades , starting from the landings of the Albanians fleeing the communist tyranny in the early nineties. It was the harbinger of a much larger exodus, from the Balkans to Asia and Africa, which continues to sweep Europe and which found its dramatic icon in the arrival of the twenty thousand desperate people on board the ship “Vlora” in Bari on 8 August 1991.
Yes, with the «Vlora» the traditional Puglia “gateway to the East” becomes a quivering port of the West, a hospitable landing place towards people and dreams of a better life, reviving a vocation mentioned in the official website of the G7 Italy 2024: «This land has welcomed over the centuries different peoples, cultures and religions who have left a profound legacy on its territory”. Puglia becomes «Lamerica» in the film by Gianni Amelio, the chimera of a promised land for migrants capable of impacting our own destiny, which appears suspended “neither here nor elsewhere” to quote a suggestive title by Gianrico Carofiglio. We then discovered that we were living along a wound in the global world with the inevitable trauma that this entails, but also with the opportunities of a frontier with a “Western” or rather “Eastern” inspiration in light of the Mediterranean location. From there was born, we remain convinced, the boom in literary, cinematographic and musical creativity which has made Puglia a protagonist on the international scene, as well as in the debate on meridian subjectivity thanks “primarily” to the reflections of Don Tonino Bello and the philosopher Franco Cassano.
The echo of those stories or “narratives” reverberated in public life and gave rise to the so-called “Apulian spring” which for better or for worse is still talked about, although its driving force actually ended about fifteen years ago. Years ago. In the meantime, in the wake of films and books, Puglia became an increasingly sought-after and expensive tourist destination, in some cases “unapproachable” for the Apulians… Luxurious farmhouse-resorts, stars galore, influencers in underwear (without, sometimes ), famous stylists and political celebrities in recent years have promoted the charm of the “most beautiful region in the world”, with the bluest sea, the best food, grandmother’s fantastic recipes, etc. All true, for goodness sake. Yet, there is a risk in this identity obsession that flaunts tradition or presumed such in order to adapt it to the needs of territorial marketing. It is the risk of turning our gaze backwards towards a bucolic and pre-modern arcadia that actually never existed, of narrating a folklore of seductive peasant girls with designer labels and handsome men in waistcoats and caps, presenting itself as an emporium of frisa and pizzica «very picturesque», as Enrico Montesano said in a popular parody dedicated to «travels, joys, meetings, surprises of a romantic English woman».
Marco Ferrante in his illuminating novel “Ritorno in Puglia”, just released by Bompiani, he talks about the energies and imbalance brought about by the Albanians in the protagonist’s countryside, who at a certain point diagnoses the “collective bovarism” of the territory, “that is, a rather hypersensitive false on the spirit of the places: the magic of the cradle and mother earth, tradition as a guarantee of healthy archaism, the claim to think of oneself as an anthropological reserve…”. A sort of regressive impulse that sacrifices reality on the altar of tourism, and not from today if already in 2013 the chimneys of the former Ilva were expunged from the photographs of a regional campaign to promote Taranto and its “Caribbean” beaches (authentic image , but so to speak «incomplete»). Well, perhaps at the G7 meeting we could present ourselves valorising the light and brightness of Puglia (aerospace, excellent agriculture, clean energy, creative businesses…), without however hiding the shadows. For example, the Xylella annoying also affects the olive tree around the residence of the Earth’s greats, a symbol of a growing imbalance between man and nature no less than climate disasters in a tropicalized Mediterranean. Migrations do not stop, on the contrary they demand concrete answers instead of xenophobic slogans, and in the meantime a new exodus concerns our young people leaving for better study and work opportunities, with the incipient desertification of the internal areas and the South in the process of emptying also due to the demographic freeze. While at the G7 we will talk about Artificial Intelligence in a session with the intervention of Pope francesco, in Puglia there remain problems of artificial deficiency in transport, healthcare and schools. In short, it would be a real shame both to mimic California (which, moreover, no longer corresponds to the myth of the past) and to display the past like an identity card, if only because it has expired.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Read the full article at
Puglia Newspaper
