Florence serves sponsors Not the other way around – Chronicle
Giovanni Morandi These are two stories that could have a happy ending and we cannot be sorry for this. The first concerns the Toyland at the Fortress with the big wheel and the ice rink where they run happily and carefree. The starvation wages that the wheel workers claim to receive lead us to remind us that there is always a Fire Eater in every toy country and what happens behind the puppet theater is always …
John
Morandi
These are two stories that could have a happy ending and we cannot be sorry for that. The first concerns the Toyland at the Fortress with the big wheel and the ice rink where they run happily and carefree. The starvation wages that wheel workers claim to receive lead us to remind us that there is always a Fire Eater in every toy country and that what happens behind the puppet theater is always different from what you see standing in front. The trade union protest staged in recent days to demand fairer working conditions is a symbol of a work situation that goes far beyond the perimeters of the Fortress. And it reminds us how many injustices there are to be remedied. The twinkle of the lights does not dazzle us to the point of not seeing the problems of those who have to work like Pinocchio’s donkeys, that is, a lot and with little compensation. So let’s hope that reality takes its cue from the fable that tells us about a generous Fire Eater to the point of giving five coins to that boy who seemed made of wood and who had animated the theater. We hope that the same will happen with the boys of the wheel also because we do not seem to expect to be paid with gold coins. Then there is the second story. That of the advertising projected on the Ponte Vecchio and at the Istituto degli Innocenti. A topic that has already aroused so much controversy between those who applauded the colored monuments and those who instead invoked austerity in the name of God’s light that has nothing to do with that of the illuminations. A scandal because the names of the sponsors appeared on the monuments. A controversy that inevitably refers to Ferragni welcomed as godmother of the Uffizi, to the use of monuments as a set for films, special events, wedding banquets for nabobs. Things already seen and if we have allowed the dinners of the sheikhs under the bust of Cellini or the statue of the Spring, we do not see why we pretend to deny visibility (as long as it is not tacky and in cinemascope) to those who finance the Christmas lights. If anything, it should be expected that the show lives up to the magnificence of the context. And anyway, the moral of the story is that sponsors are not needed in Florence but it is Florence that sponsors need. And this is a nice ending.
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