2020-01-15
2020-01-15
Lorenzo
Once upon a time, Lorenzo was the guy running
the phone shop close to the public library
in Faenza - my hometown - which is 40km
away from Tredozio. Everyone in town bumped
into his shop at least once, especially when we
were still used to revealing the magic numbers
by scratching that raw, grey coating on the
bottom of phone top-up cards.
I already knew Lorenzo, since I’ve been used
to going in his shop, sometimes holding on by
arguing about the nearby Apennines, of which
he’s a local expert. I think he was already genuinely,
yet subtly promoting Tredozio and its
surroundings.
He was particularly used to kindly help clumsy
elders, never breaking down the smile upon
his face - almost every day, from early in the
morning to late noon. I have the feeling that
he must learn a lot in the shop, how to listen
to any people complain or doubt while trying
to help, concretely. Because 5G must work
everywhere, and anywhere, and possibly without
paying too much. Patience is quite a thing
nowadays. Lorenzo is been also involved since
2019 as vice-major for Tredozio, one of the
reasons why he eventually decided to quit the
job at the shop, at one point. Even considering
the 90 € monthly salaries to run his position
as Vice-major, he preferred to stay closer to
Tredozio and its community. Something intimate
drove Lorenzo to this choice; something
that has not to do with politics as I was used
to. I would call it a politics of listening, which
16 nowadays is as rare as patience is. With this
image of Lorenzo, and with a yet vague purpose
of establishing a connection with this village,
I wanted to invite him for a friendly discussion
concerning Tredozio, rural areas, and the pleasures
and the hardships of living there.
As expected, our conversation ended up with
new, wider questions.
What does it mean to detach from
urban commodities, habits and behaviours?
Could this detachment represent an
opportunity to re-think ways of living?
How could we build a living and creative
environment as a way to enable
temporary living forms?
With these questions in mind and the warm
support from Lorenzo, I started my path to the
conceptualisation of possible, temporary living
forms and environments for Tredozio, and
me. On one side, I had to get into the territory,
understand the local specificities and inherit
the current social and cultural conditions. On
the other side, I had to relate to this new environment
as a hypothetical future inhabitant,
projecting my habits, aspirations and practices
into a rural, decentralised dimension.
