“Capital of Culture 2027, the center of Brindisi will be in every neighborhood”

BRINDISI – In the center of Brindisi two sensations surpass the others: the heat and the buzz. The first – it is almost July after all – is mitigated by a few gusts of wind, perhaps a mistral. The second comes from the waters of the port, where the F2 racing cars are racing. Around, between the Teatro Verdi and Palazzo Granafei-Nervegna there are few people, who are getting ready to watch the national soccer team on TV. It will be a disappointment. Chris Torch says that “this is the center, but our goal is to make the outskirts a center too”. Carmelo Grassi and Roberto Romeo Romeo nod. The explanation of the apparently obscure sentence will arrive shortly. This is the story of a chat with the director of the candidacy dossier for “Brindisi Italian Capital of Culture 2027”. Torch is a cultural designer and consultant already involved in the processes that made Matera and Rijeka (in Croatia) European capitals of culture, respectively in 2019 and 2020.

Brindisi seen from an outside eye

Sitting at a table in a bar, Torch and Romeo sip a Lemonsoda. Grassi opts for a bottle of water. Torch is of Italian origin. Torchia was his original surname, his family came from Calabria. In the US, some family members insisted: “Chris, you’re not Italian, you’re American”. He came back here, perhaps for revenge, perhaps because roots are never severed. He chose Cilento. And he loves Naples. The first time he was in Brindisi was ten years ago. Now he has a task. “What’s the name of the prosecutor?”, he asks. Romeo replies: “Dr. De Donno”. “Well, yesterday (Thursday 28 June, during the meeting on the third sector, ed.), the prosecutor quoted Tocqueville. And he was right. He described those United States, a foreigner has a sharper gaze”. Grassi explains that this is the reason why Mayor Giuseppe Marchionna enthusiastically welcomed Torch’s name.

“Change is incremental”

Has Brindisi improved over the years? Some outside observers say so. Prefect Luigi Carnevale agrees with this thesis, for example. It is true, however, that the industrial crisis is biting. Perhaps some Brindisi residents regret the 1990s for an “economic” reason. Smuggling brought prosperity, generated related activities: restaurants were full, jewelry stores and car dealerships sold. “No one should regret that period,” Grassi cuts short, who is uncompromising on legality. “In any case, I agree with the thesis of the ‘foreign’ eye. When actors come here, they are bewitched by our Brindisi.” Romeo recalls “Le luci sulla città”: “We invented a festival in which we invited national personalities, we went around the city and then they told us about it.” Torch: “Change for a city is incremental, you can’t see it from the inside. It’s like for a child, you don’t see it grow. A family friend who doesn’t meet it every day, yes.”

The periphery that becomes the center

The conversation gets to the heart of things, with Torch giving listeners an anecdote: the parable – originally from India, also adopted by Sufism – of the blind men and the elephant. They have never met an elephant and have to conceptualize it. One will describe the tusks, another the trunk, a third the ears and so on. Putting all the experiences together we will obtain the concept of the elephant. Here, by each describing a part of Brindisi, we will give back the image of the city. Again Torch: “Public art must be thought of as mobile. A work can be moved, there must be interchange between the various neighbourhoods. So each neighborhood will also be a centre”. Grassi echoes him: “We must involve the suburbs”. Chiosa Romeo: “This way we can overcome disaggregation”. In the end it’s up to Torch to summarize the meaning of the chat, because the time to present the application dossier is not infinite: “Here, these are the ideas, now it’s a matter of moving on to the concrete. In the meantime, we already have all the pieces of our elephant”.