ELFO in Rome

 

As those who follow Rome the Second Time may know, the administrators of the website are keen observers of Rome's WALLS.  Over the years, we have learned a great deal about the city's politics, about its heroes and villains, its neo-fascists and do-gooders, its martyrs and activists.  

And so, when we landed in the neighborhood of Pigneto in the spring of 2019, we were pleased to find an area dense with posters, graffiti, wall art and wall writing. Much of what we found was familiar.  But not the word ELFO, which appeared in several places, sometimes simply as "ELFO," but also as "ELFO AMOK" and "ELFO AMOK/LF.LF."  A mystery to be sure: possibly the initials of a local activist, or those of an anti-fascist martyred in the "Anni di Piombo," the "Years of Lead," a reference to a decade of ideological conflict and violence, assassination and murder, that began in the 1970s. Another layer of Rome's political onion, peeled away.  

Alas, none of that proved to be true. As we later learned, ELFO (which means "elf," a mythical being), refers to the animated television series "Disenchantment," written and produced by Matt Groening (best known for "The Simpsons," whose characters also appear on Rome walls), which premiered on Netflix in August, 2018--just in time to inspire the person or persons who chose to celebrate it on Pigneto's walls.  

It's in the genre of medieval fantasy, and it's set in the kingdom of Dreamland. As far as I know, it has nothing to do with Rome.  Sorry about that. 

Bill 

La Lega a Roma: a Story of Politics, Food, and History

This post--our 788th--isn't easy to categorize.  It's obviously about Italian politics.  But it's also about Roman food, and about food, politics, and history.

On a recent walk through the near-in suburb of Aurelia, we found two posters, both on the back of stalls in a traditional open-air market.  They were obviously part of a poster series, starting with the line "La Lega a Roma?"  La Lega is "The League," once "The Northern League," a conservative, anti-immigrant (it used to be anti-the Italian South, which includes Rome), business-oriented political party with its origins in northern Italy.  Today, especially after the European elections in May 2019, it's a national party, with the right-wing, Trump-like demagogue Matteo Salvini its popular leader.  So the posters ask us to think about what it would be like to have The League in Rome--that is, as the dominant party in Rome.

The first poster features a likeness of Julius Caesar, speaking these words:  "E' n'artra cortellata!"
A Roman friend helped us understand the words.  "'N'artra," she explained, "is Roman (as in the modern-day Roman dialect) for 'un'altra,' that is,"another," while 'cortellata' is Roman for cotellata, that is, 'stab.'"  For La Lega to be in Rome, then, is "like being stabbed one more time."  Caesar would know.

The second of the posters featured a woman who deals with the issue La Lega a Roma this way: "'E' come a carbonara co' la panna!"  Our correspondent explained:  "The woman in the picture was a very famous character in Roma: Sora Lella, sister of actor Aldo Fabrizi (you'll remember him as the priest in [Rosellini's 1946 film] Roma citta' aperta) and owner of a renowned restaurant on Isola Tiberina, considered the temple of traditional Italian cuisine in its heyday."

It was clear to me, then, that "panna" (cream) was not a good thing to put in pasta carbonara, one of Rome's classic dishes.  As food critic Mitch Orr writes on the Vice website, "Carbonara has egg yolk, Pecorino Romano, guanciale, black pepper, and pasta.  Under no circumstances can there be any other additions, and that goes double for cream."  To imagine the League in Rome is to imagine carbonara with cream. Disgusting.

The hashtag #Romanonfalastupida can be translated, "Rome, don't be stupid," or "Rome, don't be silly."  Romans took notice.  La Lega did very poorly in Rome in the 2019 elections for the European parliament (although that didn't stop Salvini from putting up posters thanking Rome).

Sora Lella (Elena Fabrizi), who was also an actress, began working in her family's restaurant in 1959.  She died in 1993.  The restaurant, known as Sora Lella, is still there.

Bill

Testaccio.  Difficult to decipher, but filling in the blanks:  "This time, I'll set myself on fire!"
Giordano Bruno, burned at the stake as a heretic in  1600. 

Lessons in Rome Politics, 2: Marchini's "Liberi"

In the last lesson in the ultra-sophisticated politics of Rome's mayoral race, we examined the posters of Alfredo Iorio: all invasion all the time.  Today, we take up the equally complex posters of Alfio Marchini. Marchini has a better chance of becoming mayor than Iorio, but that isn't saying much. The newspapers still take him seriously, but in the last poll the former polo player had only 11% of the expected vote.  He's handsome but apparently that's not enough.

Norman Rockwell:
Freedom of Speech

Marchini has spent a lot of money on posters.  His campaign theme is "liberi," which means "free." It's a worthy theme.  In American history, the concept of freedom was used effectively by Norman Rockwell in four 1941 covers for the Saturday Evening Post  (Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear) and in 1968 by Martin Luther King, Jr. ("free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last").

Marchini joins this distinguished company with his "liberi" campaign, mostly using the word as in "free to...."  One might imagine "free to get a good education," or "free to find stable employment," or "free to access quality medical care."  But that's not Marchini's approach.

Instead, one poster suggests the citizens be "Liberi nel dire no agli abusivi"--that is, free to say no to abuses.  The word "abusivi" is commonly used to refer to illegal construction or to restaurants that put tables on the street without the permission of the city government.  Maybe that's what Marchini means.  And maybe not.  Pick your abuse.

This one (below) says "Liberi di chiudere i campi nomadi":  Free to close nomad camps.  This is a curious form of freedom, indeed.  Donald Trump would like it, as in "Free to build a wall to keep out the Mexicans."  

The next one is more complex: "Liberi da chi ti ha tradito."  Free from those who have betrayed you.
Not clear who the betrayers are, but who cares?

In the next poster, we get a hint of who has betrayed the "voter":  "Liberi dai partiti."  Freedom from the parties.  Anti-government is a big theme this year, all over the world.

But's it's not all negative.  Here we have "Liberi di puntare sui giovani": Free to focus on youth, or perhaps free to rely on youth.

How about "Free to play polo"?   Bill

Lessons in Rome Politics: Iorio's Alien Invasion

Rome is gearing up for a mayoral election in June.  At the moment there is no mayor (sindaco), the last one, Ignazio Marino, having resigned in disgrace.

One of the fringe candidates is Alfredo Iorio.  He doesn't have a chance to be mayor, but his poster ads reveal how one segment of the population imagines solving the city's problems, which are legion--or not solving them.  

                                                  "I don't want to see the death of Rome"
 

                                   "Are You Unemployed?  Become an Immigrant"
                                       (below) "Enough Humiliation for Romans"

The most creative effort of the Iorio campaign is the poster below.  It works two ways.  On the one hand, the outer-space-like creature stands for unwanted immigrants and aliens:  "Let's stop the Alien Invasion."  On the other hand, the poster accuses other mayoral candidates, including two who have a chance of winning, as well as the former mayor (who isn't running, of course), of being aliens:  "They come from another planet/They want to conquer Rome."

Invaders everywhere! Welcome to sophisticated Rome politics!

Bill

Poster Lies: Alemanno Advertisements in the 2013 Mayoral Campaign

It's not unlikely that the average Roman gets most of his or her information about the political scene from, of all things, posters.  These ephemera are everywhere in the eternal city, and unavoidable.  Usually they're innocuous--along the lines of "I Love Rome" so vote for me, or "I was born in Rome, so vote for me."  But in the just-concluded mayoral run-off election, won handily by the center-left candidate, Ignazio Marino, the center-right, in a last-minute attempt to get votes for the their flailing incumbent, Gianni Alemanno, issued two posters of questionable ethical content. 

The one above reads "Zingaretti invita a votare Alemanno Sindaco"--Zingaretti invites you to vote for Alemano for mayor.  Straightforward.  Except that the poster seems to be suggesting that the well-known and widely respected governor of the province of Lazio (a sort of county executive), Nicola Zingaretti, is an Alemanno supporter.  Not so.  That Zingaretti is solidly center-left, a strong backer of Marino.  So what gives?  It seems the Zingaretti in the poster is--must be--Alessandro Zingaretti, a comparatively minor figure on the center-right and then a candidate for Rome's city council.  The old Zingaretti switcheroo. 

The second poster attacks the challenger by focusing on his career as a transplant surgeon.  The ad contrasts Marino's supposed attitude toward animal vivisection--enriching the pharmaceutical companies, with Alemanno's humane view--he asks people to contribute to families (human families?  animal families?) by adopting strays.  The large letters say, "For Marino it's a guinea pig," "For Alemanno it's a life."  At the bottom, the conclusion: those who love Rome--well, at least we're back to loving Rome--respect animals. 

Marino took 64% of the vote. 

Bill

For an earlier post on Marino's "Daje" campaign, see:

http://romethesecondtime.blogspot.com/2013/05/daje-note-on-mayoral-election-in-rome.html