PalenQ

Anyone who has traveled to Italy in the past few decades will know that graffiti is everywhere - seemingly on all walls, on many train cars (even at times painting the whole windows over) - and is just ubiquitous.

Whilst i do not mind the usual sultry edifices along rail lines being brightened up by at times to me wonderful art - the equal to me of the Great Masters in various Italian museums - it by all measures has gone too far with aerosol art often being just the scrawling of slogans or names

Well it seems PM Berlosconi is tired of it too and has vowed to wage a war on graffiti, which he says not only ruins the romance of old cities but costs a hell of a lot to remove.

But this is one war i fear the Italians will not win (begats the Q when was the last war they did win?)

Does graffiti bother you - again good aerosol art does not bother me but it's all the slogans, tags, etc everywhere that seems to much

Can the war be won. Graffiti the word would seem to be of Italian derivation.

wliwl

I have no idea if it can be won or not, but, geez, the graffiti is pretty bad over there. It's kind of sad really.

Dukey

Gives a whole new meaning to the term, &quot;Bella Italia&quot; and for <b>obvious</b>reasons.

RJD

Try to remember the graffiti wars in NYC. The defacing of public buildings and the subway in particular were a garish affront to the sense of order as the Italian and French graffiti are today.
It can be stopped over there with a will to do so as we have done here. Think how much more pleasant NYC is today. Rome next then Paris.

PalenQ

How about security cameras catching some and then making them scrub it off, etc.

and it's not just Italy though it seems to have the most glaring graffiti it's also the U.K. and Germany and Holland with a major graffiti problem - if indeed it is a problem.

I was riding trains along Britain's Kent-Sussex coast recently and all those trains seem graffitied to Hell - even many windows blotted out - often by scratches all over them.

danon

'I have no idea if it can be won or not, but, geez, the graffiti is pretty bad over there. It's kind of sad really.'&quot;

I agree. On our visit to Rome (in May) we stayed in a lovely residential district Parioli ; the graffiti on beautiful, old buildings were a disgusting site .

PalenQ

Q- Does Italy have more graffit because:

1- they are more graffitiosos?

2- The government does not clean it up as well as other countries - so it piles up so to speak

tcreath

I agree...the amount of graffiti in Italy is out of hand. I find it particularly disturbing when on statues and historic sights such as the Colosseum.

It would take a LOT of security cameras and diligence to stop the graffiti artists.

PalenQ

You also see centuries of pigeon poop on facades and even interior statuary - and mounds of dust as well so my thought that maybe neglect leaves the graffiti - esp on historic buildings there longer than other countries would take to maintain it in a cleaner form

LuvToRoam

People that engage in graffiti are defacing other people’s property, making them criminals. Calling them artists really only encourages such bad behavior. They are never punished so why would they stop? We were stunned, absolutely stunned to see beautiful old buildings as well as every pole, sign and piece of glass in sight defaced with graffiti in so much of Italy. Obviously there really isn't a will to clean it up or discourage it. We have been to many, many other places that just don't have that problem. Hope Berlusconi wins this war.

tedgale

How did NYC turn the tide???

I remember my first visit to the NYC subway (1977). As the train pulled into the station, I saw this car totally covered with &quot;tags&quot; and whatever -- windows included.

I remember saying: &quot;Oh isn't that interesting: they invite kids to decorate the trains.&quot; I had NO idea this was uncontrolled and unpunished vandalism.

Then it got worse.

Then it got better.

Apart from ordering paint-proof (Chauvinist note: CANADIAN) subway cars, how did they stop the vandalism?

ekscrunchy

Lots of graffiti artists were encouraged to do &quot;street art.&quot;


This commercial site has examples:


http://www.littleviews.com/home/newy...fiti_cards.cfm

Jean

We were in Venice a couple of weeks ago, and I'd say they're losing the graffiti war there. It's much worse than we saw on our last visit, and in no way would I describe any of it as art. We even saw a church defaced with a spray-painted directional sign &quot;San Marco -&gt;.&quot;

PalenQ

As i understand it the NYC subway beat graffiti two ways

by removing it ASAP - here today gone tomorrow

and by security cameras nabbing miscreants and fining them and i think assigning them to clean off graffiti

I think removing as soon as possible deters graffitists greatly. And in Italy this seems to rarely happen

Connie

It gave me the impression that they had no pride in their wonderful cities. We all spend lots of time and money going to visit and they are defacing them.

I kept thinking they needed some sort of government and media campaign to try to get the culprits to think differently about what they are doing.

It really turned me off and took me a while to learn to not focus on it.

PalenQ

Ever since i started going to Italy in 1969 i was struck by how at archeological sites like Pompeii there were weeds growing out of the ruined houses, etc. and litter laying around and even, back then, 'guides' selling what they portrayed as actual relics.

Sites just were not kept up well

and weeds growing out of church facades, etc.

I just figured that Italy had so many old churches, ruins, etc. that they had become blaze to them and their upkeep.

I still cannot understand why until now no one seemed to care. I detest Berlosconi generally but applaud him in this effort.

Hans

&quot;But this is one war i fear the Italians will not win (begats the Q when was the last war they did win?&quot;

WW1, for example.

sueciv

I too was dumbstruck by the sheer volume of graffiti. Some of it not to imaginative, just black spray paint. But then again, when we had that apartment in Rome last Thanksgiving, I also noticed how, well, sullen the people seemed to be. I didn't seem much &quot;la dolce vita&quot;. (I probably spelled that incorrectly too...)
Now back to graffiti, could it simply be the lack of opportunities?
Lack of hope? The government is a mess, low unemployment, kids have to live with Mom and Dad for WAY too long...they're &quot;stuck&quot; with little of a way out?
Its so sad - Rome is beautiful in spite of it though.