“In Florence we don’t need these strong colors” – Croca
by Olga Mugnaini Too much light does not illuminate, it does exactly the opposite. This seems to be the thought of Professor Sergio Givone (in the photo on the top right), who as a philosopher invites us to rethink this tendency to “cancel the oxen”, which seems to be a vice of our times. Professor Givone, then do you agree with the abbot of San Miniato, Bernardo Gianni, who criticized the lights on the abbey? “First of all, in addition to the appropriate invitation to sobriety, I would say …
by Olga Mugnaini
Too much light does not shine, it does exactly the opposite. This seems to be the thought of Professor Sergio Givone (in the photo on the top right), who as a philosopher invites us to rethink this tendency to “cancel the oxen”, which seems to be a vice of our times.
Professor Givone, then do you agree with the abbot of San Miniato, Bernardo Gianni, who criticized the lights on the abbey?
“First of all, in addition to the appropriate invitation to sobriety, I would say that we could speak of a real call against waste. But in general, I believe that we should review this world of ours that no longer has day and night, but a time perpetually illuminated, where the light shot seems to have to reign supreme “.
And what’s wrong with that?
“I believe it is highly wrong, because the same monuments have their fascination also for the darkness, even for the contours wrapped in the chiaroscuro. In short, we lose the ability to discover what is in the dim light. We get used to a form of thought unique. It is as if we only like what is perfectly visible, what ‘invades’ our perspective and our gaze “.
Okay, but at least for Christmas …
“Let’s remember that the Christmas lights come on in the night, in the dark, and at a particular time of the year. It’s what creates the atmosphere. Instead of what happens? They are used to sell, and in fact they start in November and are increasingly ugly, more brazen, colorful. They have nothing of the humble and poor light that illuminates the hut of Jesus. Let’s take the lights of the avenues … “
Why don’t you like them?
“But how do you do it! They have caged the trunks of the trees in those red lights that make them look salami. No, they don’t remind me of Christmas at all. And then I think that the idea of the glow that fills all the spaces is not good. it cancels the darkness. Let’s think of the atmosphere of a light that we see at the bottom of a forest at night: but a completely illuminated forest, what emotions can it ever give “.
I don’t dare ask her what she thinks of the Ferris wheel at the Fortress.
“Let’s say instead that the wheel, placed there, is all in all acceptable. But even that is an example of this exaggerated concession to the use of shot light, with an excess of play that I do not like. These are things already seen: London, Vienna … But does Florence really need this? “
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