After 1999 Oscar Prize won by Roberto Benigni "Life is Beautiful" (La vita รจ Bella), Italy won another one this year.
"The great Beauty" (La grande bellezza) managed to bring back the little golden Oscar after 15 years. In reality I am not a big Cinema fan. The last movies I watched were cartoons and I was obliged to go with my children but there's always a certain "Italian pride" when we win something regardless is a Football word championship or a friendly Curling match against Samoa Island (That, for obvious reasons, I hope we will win...).
But having a look a the two titles I think there must be a reason if in both cases the word "Beauty" is mentioned.
A movie coming from the "Bel Paese" the Beautiful Country as old poets used to call Italy winning the Oscar Prize must talk about Beauty. In whichever sense you can mean it.
Beauty of the place
Beauty of the arts
Beauty of the design
Beauty of the people
Even an ironic and often cynical showman like Jeremy Clarkson (I like him a lot though), always considered our cars and our places as among the best in the world.
I had already posted this link but I want to do it again... I am always touched when I see it.
So, being surrounded by all this Beauty, that is the normal environment for us make us losing the real importance of it.
The RESPONSIBILITY we have to preserve this and, possibly to improve it (see also my post People always get used to beauty though). This is a real responsibility, both for the country but also for the world as Italy has got the highest number of UNESCO world heritage sites.
That's part of the legacy, part of our DNA and culture that cannot be taken away unless we REALLY WANT TO.
It's our treasure that we are not fully exploiting, that we are even spoiling and ruining.
But we often do not realize that we have this incredible treasure and opportunity. We always look outside forgetting our beauty and not looking after this. "Bel Paese" is often used in ironic sense and used as an excuse to destroy everything.
STOP! Breath deeply and start looking around. Start looking outside and, with a clear and open mind, try to be objective.
THEN....
Time for the 3 points i would like to give to our colleagues managing our tourism to implement to try and go back to "beauty". It may look too simplistic but I am convinced that we should start from simple ideas and develop them.
1) COMMUNICATE!
I find incredible that in today's world, people cannot communicate in English. English has undoubtedly become THE LANGUAGE and not being able to communicate will simply cut you out of everything. If you do not tell people you exist, people will not know. And, most of all, nobody will listen to you. Everybody in Italy MUST learn English and be able to communicate.
This BLOG is the proof that, if you think you have something to say, you will find someone ready to listen.
Communication is making guest's life simple. Nobody wants to go where their life will be difficult.
2) PREPARE YOURSELF
It's like when you are dated, you must be prepared to always look GOOD and TIDY. We must have a plan to keep our treasures ok and always ready to be visited and appreciated.
Sad to say that, if we do not have the funds to do this (and I cannot really believe we do not have funds to look after what's extremely important for our country) we have to choose what MUST be looked after. It is better to have something great that everything bad.
Show people how to do things, where to do things and guide them. You are dating someone and nobody wants to end the story after the first date.
3) BE KIND WITH PEOPLE AND UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCES
Why people come here? Because they like Italy, a place that is DIFFERENT from where they live. The difference is the reason why they are here and if there was no difference they would simply stay home.
Difference is an opportunity, not a burden to be carried and pointed out every time you see things you do not understand. Listen and learn, you will be a better man afterwards.
Then you will be ready for that...
A presto
Have a nice week end
"The great Beauty" (La grande bellezza) managed to bring back the little golden Oscar after 15 years. In reality I am not a big Cinema fan. The last movies I watched were cartoons and I was obliged to go with my children but there's always a certain "Italian pride" when we win something regardless is a Football word championship or a friendly Curling match against Samoa Island (That, for obvious reasons, I hope we will win...).
But having a look a the two titles I think there must be a reason if in both cases the word "Beauty" is mentioned.
A movie coming from the "Bel Paese" the Beautiful Country as old poets used to call Italy winning the Oscar Prize must talk about Beauty. In whichever sense you can mean it.
Beauty of the place
Beauty of the arts
Beauty of the design
Beauty of the people
Even an ironic and often cynical showman like Jeremy Clarkson (I like him a lot though), always considered our cars and our places as among the best in the world.
I had already posted this link but I want to do it again... I am always touched when I see it.
So, being surrounded by all this Beauty, that is the normal environment for us make us losing the real importance of it.
The RESPONSIBILITY we have to preserve this and, possibly to improve it (see also my post People always get used to beauty though). This is a real responsibility, both for the country but also for the world as Italy has got the highest number of UNESCO world heritage sites.
That's part of the legacy, part of our DNA and culture that cannot be taken away unless we REALLY WANT TO.
It's our treasure that we are not fully exploiting, that we are even spoiling and ruining.
But we often do not realize that we have this incredible treasure and opportunity. We always look outside forgetting our beauty and not looking after this. "Bel Paese" is often used in ironic sense and used as an excuse to destroy everything.
STOP! Breath deeply and start looking around. Start looking outside and, with a clear and open mind, try to be objective.
THEN....
Time for the 3 points i would like to give to our colleagues managing our tourism to implement to try and go back to "beauty". It may look too simplistic but I am convinced that we should start from simple ideas and develop them.
1) COMMUNICATE!
I find incredible that in today's world, people cannot communicate in English. English has undoubtedly become THE LANGUAGE and not being able to communicate will simply cut you out of everything. If you do not tell people you exist, people will not know. And, most of all, nobody will listen to you. Everybody in Italy MUST learn English and be able to communicate.
This BLOG is the proof that, if you think you have something to say, you will find someone ready to listen.
Communication is making guest's life simple. Nobody wants to go where their life will be difficult.
2) PREPARE YOURSELF
It's like when you are dated, you must be prepared to always look GOOD and TIDY. We must have a plan to keep our treasures ok and always ready to be visited and appreciated.
Sad to say that, if we do not have the funds to do this (and I cannot really believe we do not have funds to look after what's extremely important for our country) we have to choose what MUST be looked after. It is better to have something great that everything bad.
Show people how to do things, where to do things and guide them. You are dating someone and nobody wants to end the story after the first date.
3) BE KIND WITH PEOPLE AND UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCES
Why people come here? Because they like Italy, a place that is DIFFERENT from where they live. The difference is the reason why they are here and if there was no difference they would simply stay home.
Difference is an opportunity, not a burden to be carried and pointed out every time you see things you do not understand. Listen and learn, you will be a better man afterwards.
Then you will be ready for that...
A presto
Have a nice week end
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