Why Monopoly is becoming a hit in Italy

Posted on May 25, 2017 by babbityjean

 The board game, Monopoly, quite popular in the United States decades ago, has been sold in Italy since 1935 (see the post from April 2015).  In 2011, to honor 150 years of Italian unification, an anniversary edition was published based on online voting for the cities that would be represented.  The results were surprising.  The largest cities, like Rome, Bologna, Venice, and Florence didn’t make the cut.  Most of the cities chosen were capitals of provinces.

Perhaps what is even more surprising is the popularity of a board game in a digital era that is dominated by video games.  In fact, the famous game in a box is having a resurgence.  Like the anniversary edition, new editions highlight local cities.  Leading the way in 2005 was an artist from Livorno with a new game, “Livornopoli,” that is set in the Tuscan town where one moves, for example, from the Piazza delle Carrozze to the via del Littorale.

Then one evening a group of friends from Turin, almost as a joke, thought it would be fun to have an edition set in their city.  They followed their intuition and in no time their idea became a reality.  Torinopoli is a tribute to everything about their city:  the classic characters, their proverbs in dialect, their habits and traditions, and, naturally, their streets, monuments, and neighborhoods.

But even more interesting is the way that these young folks financed the production of the game.  First, they used a crowdfuning platform, called “Produzione dal basso” to raise funds.  Then, they convinced various local businesses to sponsor the project in exchange for a place on the game board.

The success was overwhelming.  Launched at the end of 2016, there were 3,000 boxes in the first edition.  Torinopoli sold out in a few days.  The game had become the most coveted gift for Christmas that year.  Moreover, the entrepreneurs had collected 20,000 euros from the crowdfunding site compared to an initial request for 5,000!  Now, the group of friends is organizing a new campaign for the second edition, which has already collected 40,000 euros in a little more than a month.  Livornopoli also was a success, and the creator has decided to reprint the game but this time engaging the power of collective financing through the web.

Motivated by pride and love of their cities, other ingenious people throughout Italy are following this example.  Coming soon are Romanopoli and Pesaropoli, while Palermopoli and Bolognopoli are on the horizon.  Perhaps in the future we will also have Veneziopoli, Firenzopoli, and Milanopoli.  But above all, we hope to see a version from the citizens of Monopoli, a gorgeous city along the coast in the province of Bari.

Posted in Abitudini, English, Firenze, Foto, Italia, La Gente, Puglia, Roma, Sicilia, Storia, Toscana, Venezia | 1 Comment

Un indizio nella lingua ebraica a un cimitero svanito

Posted on May 18, 2017 by babbityjean

Il seguente post è basato su un articolo di The New York Times con lo stesso titolo che è apparso nell’aprile 2017.  La mia amica, Jean Perloff, ha tradotto l’articolo.  Una studentessa sorella e un Italofila, Jean è un’avvocatessa in pensione che vive a Santa Barbara (con frequenti soggiorni a Palm Springs e Cape Cod) e una ex-docente di italiano.

Degli scavi archeologici che dissotterrarono (o presero alla luce) dei manufatti sono comuni a Roma, ma gli archeologi che controllano un edificio sotto restauro erano sorpresi quando trovarono 38 scheletri ben preservati che gli archeologi credono che fossero stati seppelliti nel Campus Judeorum o Campo degli ebrei.

Gli studiosi sapevano che gli ebrei furono seppelliti nel quartiere di Trastevere a Roma dal 1363 al 1645, quando il cimitero fu traslocato per fare posto alle nuove mura della città.  Comunque, il ritrovamento dei resi era la prima indicazione tangibile – almeno in tempi recenti — di una parte del posto di sepoltura vicino al fiume Tevere.

“Noi non capivamo all’inizio a chi appartenevano gli scheletri,” perché non c’erano indicazioni per spiegare la loro provenienza, disse Daniela Rossi, un archeologo che era a capo dello scavo.  Lo scavo cominciò sei anni fa quando il lavoro cominciò sulla rinnovazione di un edificio dal primo secolo diciannovesimo.  Dopo aver scrutinato le cartine storiche che mostravano il cimitero, e dopo aver usato la tecnologia di “carbon dating”, gli archeologi stimarono che gli scheletri fossero datati dal mezzo secolo quattordicesimo al mezzo secolo sedicesimo, che anche coincideva con i dati quando esisteva il cimitero.

Eccetto due donne seppellite con anelli d’oro e un uomo seppellito con una bilancia, i corpi erano stati seppelliti senza vestimenti funebri “che è tipico delle pratiche funebri ebree”, disse la Signor Rossi.  De ulteriori prove l’attraverso un frammento di marmo / travertino trovato lì vicino fu scoperta la calligrafia ebrea associata inconfondibilmente con un cimitero.  Tutti gli elementi si conversero per identificare questo posto come il Campus Judeorum.

Gli ebrei vennero a Roma per la prima volta nel secondo secolo dopo Cristo, e per secoli ce ne furono molti nel quartiere di Trastevere, secondo Claudio Procaccia, il direttore del Dipartimento per la Comunità ebrea a Roma.  Sotto il Papa Paolo IV nel 1555, gli ebrei furono confinati in un ghetto e abitarono in posti sovraffollati e non igienici che spesso erano inondati dal Tevere.   Nei secoli precedenti “la condizione degli ebrei a Roma fu più accettabile che in altre città”, disse il direttore Procaccia.

Nel 1645, quando il papa Urbano VIII ordinò che fossero costruite nuove mura della città, il cimitero fu traslocato alla Collina dell’Aventino dove gli ebrei sono stati seppelliti fin dal 1934.

Le tombe furono capovolte durante la costruzione delle mura, ma è possibile che il cimitero fosse stato rovinato dopo che Urbano VIII nel 1625 decretò che gli ebrei dovessero essere seppelliti in tombe non indicate o senza nomi, mentre le lapidi già in esistenza dovrebbero essere distrutte.

Gli scheletri mostrarono segni di malnutrizione, ma la Signora Rossi disse che tale malnutrizione era tipica dei cittadini della classe più bassa in quel tempo, senza badare alla loro religione.  Il Trastevere era una volta un porto marittimo, da commercianti, e da lavoratori di magazzini, tutti di diverse religioni e diverse comunità.

Lo scavo fu documentato e gli scheletri saranno affidati alla comunità ebrea romana, che li seppellirà in un modo più giusto, secondo il Signor Procaccia.

Mentre gli archeologi scavano più profondamente, trovarono anche le fondamenta monumentali di concerie—la cosiddetta Coraria Septimiana—costruite nel terzo secolo dall’imperatore Septimius Severus per attrezzare l’esercito romano.  Trovarono anche diversi manufatti e le ossa di animali.

 

Posted in Comunità ebrea, Foto, Italia, Italiano, Roma, Storia | Leave a comment

Clue in Hebrew to a Vanished Cemetery

Posted on May 18, 2017 by babbityjean

The following post is based on an article in The New York Times by the same title that appeared in April 2017.  My friend, Jean Perloff, translated the article into Italian. A sister student and an Italophile, Jean is a retired attorney who lives in Santa Barbara (with frequent sojourns to Palm Springs and Cape Cod), and a former teacher of Italian.

Archaeological excavations that unearth artifacts are common in Rome, but the archaeologists who are monitoring a building under restoration were surprised when they found 38 well-preserved skeletons that they believe had been buried in the long-vanished Campus Iudeorum, or Field of Jews.

Scholars knew that Jews were buried in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome from 1363 to 1645, when the cemetery was moved to make room for the new city walls.  However, the recovery of the remains was the first tangible sign—at least in recent times—of one part of the burial site near the Tiber river.

“We didn’t understand who the skeletons belonged to at first,” because there were no markers to explain their provenance, said Daniela Rossi, an archaeologist who led the excavation.  The dig began 6 years ago when work began on the renovation of a building from the early 1900s.  After scrutinizing historical maps that showed the cemetery and after using carbon dating technology, the archaeologists estimated that the skeletons dated from the mid-14th to the mid-16th century, which also coincided with the dates when the cemetery existed.

Except for two women who were buried wearing gold rings, and a man buried with a scale, the corpses had been buried without funerary goods, “which is typical of Jewish funerary practices” said Ms. Rossi.  Further proof came via a fragment of travertine marble found nearby with Hebrew writing unmistakably associated with a cemetery.  All the elements converged to identify this as the Campus Judeorum.

Jews first came to Rome in the second century B.C., and for centuries lived in the Trastevere neighborhood, according to Claudio Procaccia, the director of the culture department for the Jewish Community of Rome.  Under Pope Paul IV in 1555, Jews were forcibly confined to a ghetto and lived in overcrowded and unhygienic conditions in an area that often flooded.  In previous centuries, “the condition of the Jews in Rome was more acceptable than in other cities,” said director Procaccia.

In 1645, when Pope Urban VIII built new city walls, the cemetery was moved to the Aventine Hill, where Jews were buried until 1934.  Tombs were upended during the construction of the walls, but the cemetery may already have been ruined after Urban VIII in 1625 decreed that Jews had to be buried in unmarked graves, while pre-existing gravestones had to be destroyed.

The skeletons showed signs of malnutrition, but Ms. Rossi said that such malnourishment was typical of lower-class citizens of the times, regardless of their religion.  Trastavere was once a seaport, and was mostly populated by artisans, traders, and workers of different religions and communities.  The excavation was documented and the skeletons will be entrusted to Rome’s Jewish community, which will bury them in a more correct manner, according to Mr. Procaccia.

As archaeologists dug deeper, they also found the monumental foundations of tanneries—the so-called Coraria Septimiana—built in the third century by the emperor Septimius Severus to equip the Roman army, as well as various artifacts and animal bones.

 

Posted in Comunità ebrea, English, Foto, Italia, Roma, Storia | Leave a comment