to really "feel" a place

ph. by Nadia Sardone

Sometimes, blogging ......reading here and there , on social networks like Fb, your thoughts match others' way of thinking and it's beautiful to share the same point of view , notwithstanding distances.

Feelings, emotions, ideas have no boundaries and no distances can divide people who speak the "same language"

I adore the picture I posted taken by the architect Nadia Sardone (she is actually working in the area of Venice) because  I  could immediately  "see" through her eyes what  she felt...observing her new temporarily  world from that red bench!. 

Here what Nadia wrote commenting her picture:

"Campo S Alvise-
La prima volta che arrivai in questo Campo mi ritrovai subito stupita da ciò che si stava manifestando ai miei sensi ed alla mia vista...
e seduta su queste panchine ho chiuso per un attimo gli occhi e ascoltato ciò che accadeva intorno.
Siamo così abituati al rumore della città... al traffico veicolare... ma... a Venezia è ben diverso...
senti le onde frangersi sulla banchina. senti le onde che vengono mosse dai vaporetti... e senti il rumore delle ali dei gabbiani ed il loro richiamo..."

---- Engl:
.."The first time I arrived in this Campo( Campo Alvise) I was immediately amazed by what appeared before my eyes and my senses. 
Sitting on this bench I closed my eyes  for a while , listening waht was going around me.
We are so used to the urban traffic noise,but not in  Venice, Venice is different! 
You can hear the waves breaking on the dock, the ferry  moving through the waves..and you can even hear the flapping wings of seagulls  and their voices calling...."

That picture and Nadia's comment  recalled me  another post read a few days ago on the FB page Accademia dell'Accoglienza by Professor Giancarlo Dall'Ara about the topic of Welcome in Tourism ( a very important theme to me!)
Nadia is in Venice for business but she is a tourist as well and her reactions on that bench perfectly confirm what I found is  called  "The metaphore of the bench" :

 from FB - Accademia dell'Accoglienza:

La metafora della panchina:
 
è un luogo di sosta,
offre un punto di osservazione, una prospettiva e un punto di vista, e anche una lettura del territorio,
è un gesto di accoglienza del territorio,
simbolo di qualcosa che non si compra, di un modo gratuito di trascorrere il tempo,
ma è stata definita anche come "metafora simbolica del valore della lentezza, fermarsi lasciare scorrere il mondo guardarlo e guardare anche se stessi"
per i turisti può essere un luogo di incontro con i residenti.

-----Engl:

The metaphore of the bench:

its a place where to stay
offering a point of view, a different perspective "to read " the place
it's a welcome from a place
the symbol of something you can't buy, a way to spare time totally free,
but it has also  been considered " a simbolic metaphore of slowness,
a way to stop the world and let it flow,
 watching  it and inside yourself ,too"
To the tourist a bench can be a meeting place with the local people. 



I totally agree wit this perspective as a tourist, as a common citizen and as a tourist guide ,as well.
The best welcome is a basic key for a successful Tourism : everything, also a nice red bench in an appropriate position, can help the  tourist (and not only the tourist)to  really feel a place.