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Italian intellectuals up in arms over hotel named after Antonio Gramsci | Italian intellectuals up in arms over hotel named after Antonio Gramsci |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Antonio Gramsci was one of the most important Marxist thinkers of the 20th century, a co-founder of the Communist party of Italy and excoriating critic of the bourgeoisie. So an upmarket 4-star hotel is possibly not the best way to mark his legacy. That, at least, is the belief of dozens of Italian intellectuals who have appealed to the mayor of Turin to "defend the name of one of our greatest fathers" and not let a hotel in the city be named after him. | |
Enraged by a report that, as well as occupying Gramsci's old home in Piazza Carlina, the hotel would bear his name, the academics, historians and architects have mobilised against the plan . | |
"It is always a cause of pain when a place that safeguards a part of our history becomes the container of something else that is trivial rather than a space in which the collective memory is cultivated," reads the letter sent to centre-left mayor Piero Fassino. "But this time the pain is atrocious because the trivialisation is directly hitting one of our fathers, a man who wrote pages which still speak to us today, a martyr who paid for the freedom of his ideas with his life." Gramsci died in 1937 harried by fascist authorities. | |
In response to the article in the newspaper La Repubblica, a spokesman for NH Hotels, the global chain that is to manage the new venue, told the Guardiansaid the choice of name had yet to be decided. "We are trying to find a name that fits from a commercial point of view and that embraces the history of the building," he said. | |
But even the suggestion that Hotel Gramsci was about to open its doors was enough to provoke maximum ire from some. One of the signatories to the mayoral appeal, art historian Tomaso Montanari, said it was depressing but not surprising that the building was being turned into a luxury hotel. | But even the suggestion that Hotel Gramsci was about to open its doors was enough to provoke maximum ire from some. One of the signatories to the mayoral appeal, art historian Tomaso Montanari, said it was depressing but not surprising that the building was being turned into a luxury hotel. |
But what was amazing, he added, writing on the website eddyburg.it, was that Gramsci's name was being used to promote it. "Thereby associating the name of he who wrote 'there cannot be perfect and complete political equality without economic equality' with a powerful symbol of luxury and inequality," said Montanari. | |
"Who would call an investment bank based in Bethlehem "Jesus Ltd"? Who would dedicate a shooting range in Delhi to Gandhi?" | "Who would call an investment bank based in Bethlehem "Jesus Ltd"? Who would dedicate a shooting range in Delhi to Gandhi?" |
A young Sardinian writing revolutionary treatises in Turin, Gramsci lived on Piazza Carlina between 1919 and 1921, during which time he helped set up L'Ordine Nuovo (the New Order), a weekly newspaper and mouthpiece for the radical politics Gramsci and his comrades espoused. | A young Sardinian writing revolutionary treatises in Turin, Gramsci lived on Piazza Carlina between 1919 and 1921, during which time he helped set up L'Ordine Nuovo (the New Order), a weekly newspaper and mouthpiece for the radical politics Gramsci and his comrades espoused. |
The five-storey hotel, classed a "4 star superior", is reportedly due to open by June. It is expected to cover more than 10,000 square metres, have 155 rooms, and facilities including a swimming pool, restaurant, gym and shops. | |
While it has irked some, the project has received the backing of the Piedmontese Antonio Gramsci Insitute, whose director, Sergio Scamuzzi, sees it as an unparalleled chance to raise Gramsci's profile both in Turin and the wider world. The hotel will house a library of his works and will be used to host conferences dedicated to his memory, he said. | |
"It's an opportunity to promote to the city and the world the figure of Antonio Gramsci, and that's partly my mission," he told the Guardian. Responding to those who view it as inappropriate, he said that, on the contrary, "a hotel produces a lot of employment" and that would have pleased a left-wing politician like Gramsci. | "It's an opportunity to promote to the city and the world the figure of Antonio Gramsci, and that's partly my mission," he told the Guardian. Responding to those who view it as inappropriate, he said that, on the contrary, "a hotel produces a lot of employment" and that would have pleased a left-wing politician like Gramsci. |
Gramsci died in 1937, aged 46. He spent much of the last part of his life imprisoned by fascist authorities under the rising star of Benito Mussolini. | Gramsci died in 1937, aged 46. He spent much of the last part of his life imprisoned by fascist authorities under the rising star of Benito Mussolini. |
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