Why is talking about the collapsed monuments after an earthquake viewed with malice?

I spent a good part of Sunday, May 20, watching the stream of news, images and updates about the earthquake in Emilia Romagna. The social networks then on these occasions go wild and images of before and after, jibes at politicians going to the stadium rather than to the earthquake zones, and a variety of links of various kinds and genres pop up like mushrooms. I saw a fair number of people, known and unknown, posting pictures of the destroyed monuments, statements on the subject, appeals for three countries that lost all their historical and artistic heritage in half a day.

At that point I also saw a corresponding number of comments, first of all the refrain people lost their homes and you think about the monuments. And so I felt a little bit like Sean Penn in This must be the place when he says Something disturbed me. I don’t know exactly what, but it disturbed me.... Unlike good old Cheyenne I, however, know exactly what disturbed me and I would like to express it.

An earthquake like Sunday’s is terrible because it scares, it breaks lives, it brings down houses, it brings down monuments. And it leaves behind a living mess made up of so many pieces that have to be put back in place, to start again. The evacuees and the houses that need to be put back in place are and must be the priority, but let us not tar those art historians or those interested parties who speak out on the side of monuments with amorality. They are not cynics who don’t give a damn about those who are sleeping in tents. They are not fixated people who care only about their relics of the past. They are people who are concerned with remembering that the obliterated artistic heritage is one of those pieces of clutter that the earthquake has scattered and needs to be put back in place. And so they speak by referring to that precise piece, without putting it in competition in importance with everything else, but simply reminding us that it exists.

Then again, how can we blame them. We are a country brimming with art-historical culture, yet we slowly allow a unique piece like Pompeii to collapse. Yet, to stay on the subject of earthquakes, the historic center of L’Aquila has become the ghost of itself, and neither houses nor monuments have been fully restored. With these assumptions, let us imagine what those in the industry think will happen to a handful of old towers and churches in the Lower Po Valley, in towns unknown to most, unless you live near them!

The urgency in action invoked by those who have spoken out is not meant to disrespect those who have lost their homes, who certainly have more need than anyone else. However, it is an urgency that is good to be reminded of right away, and not when, years later, we find ourselves crying out in scandal because it is still raining in the earthquake-affected church. In fact let’s face it, now this whole idea that we redo the monuments and not the houses seems to me unfounded as well ... at the very least, in the country where blame-shifting is fashionable, neither is rebuilt!

The heritage of places is part of everyone, no matter what cultural differences there are. The obligation of its protection is included in our Constitution, in Article 9. But fine words do not often coincide with deeds: there is a lack of money, and unfortunately there is often a lack of interest as well. So I am saddened by those who derive malice from the words of those who, as insiders or simply interested in the subject point this out.

I hope that my Emilia, in the affected countries, will soon have its houses fixed, its evacuees with a roof and its heritage restored. I hope that there is no laxity from any point of view, and that the aftermath of the earthquake is resolved in all its messy pieces. I hope that those who speak on behalf of the heritage will not be treated superficially by the commentators of the last hour, but will be considered with the proper weight they deserve. Finally, I hope that we can sow here the seeds of a positive example to follow, in every respect.

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