Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Treviso, Italy Says NO to Chinese Restaurant Red Lanterns

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Treviso " three vistas" (tre visi) is a very old town  just north of  Venice, and like Venice, Treviso is filled with canals and surrounded by two rivershence its nickname, Citt` d'Acqua, or "City of Water." The two rivers, Sile and Botteniga, give rise to many canals throughout the townthough it's not quite in the league of Venice.  The frescoes  give rise to Treviso's other nickname: the Citt` Dipinta, or "painted [i.e., frescoed] city."

 

Fashion was practically born here, since Benetton was founded in Treviso. 

The seven-domed Duomo includes a Capella Malchiostro with paintings by Titian and others. The Museo Civico contains more Titian works. Meanwhile, Palazzo dei Trecento, in the Piazza dei Signori, is a palace that was restored/rebuilt after being bombed during a WWII air raid on Good Friday, 1944. Also, several villas by Palladio can be toured nearby

Obviously Treviso takes it aesthetics, it's quality of life, and it's tourism seriously. At first I thought the city fathers were being a little too much, but then I tried to get out of my American mind set, that thrives in a "mish mash", although even we have rather strict zoning, and architectural standards in certain communities.

I don't think any of us want to go traveling to enjoy the Culture of others, like going to the Great Wall of China, or the Mayan Pyramids and have a Pizza Joint obscuring the view. It sort of "spoils" the mood.

 

Thanks to Pat Gabriel

"No Lanterns", Italian City tells Chinese Community

 

Reuters
Sun May 6, 2007

ROME (Reuters) - The local government of Treviso, in northern Italy, has ordered the city's Chinese restaurants to remove red lanterns from their windows because they look too "oriental".

"It's spoiling the appearance of the city," the head of the council's town planning department, Sergio Marton, told Corriere della Sera daily.

"The Chinese put up all sorts of stuff: lanterns, lions, dragons, there's even one (establishment) that did its whole front in oriental style."

Treviso, just outside Venice in the north-eastern Veneto region, is run by the populist, anti-immigrant Northern League. The League is strongly represented in the northern third of the country, an area which the party calls Padania.

"Treviso is a city of Veneto and Padania, it's certainly not an oriental city," deputy mayor Giancarlo Gentilini said, justifying the order to take down the lanterns within ten days.

The order states that the three restaurants in question had made no formal request to the council to put up their lanterns.

"From now on we'll be making regular checks and after the lanterns we'll be looking at all the other decorations around the entrances of the oriental restaurants," Marton warned.

Last month tension between the police and the Chinese community in Milan flared up into street clashes over traffic controls in which 14 police were injured.

The Northern League was quick to capitalise on the episode, saying it proved the need for a tougher line on immigration.

 

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