piazza grande .. !

Piazza is literally a square. It's a very unique concept in the Italian/Swiss parts that I have seen, probably it can be seen every where in the europe. Other parts of the world have also piazzas like the union-square of San Francisco, but not as many as in the europe. Many a times it's an area in the heart of the town, where people lounge around, look at some of the nice architecture of the various buildings surrounding it at least one of which is likely to be a church or may be throw blank stares into the sky while enjoying their coffee in of the outdoor restaurants in the piazza. Usually in a city, unless you want to be in a building or a museum or a restuarant, there is no place where one can rest for a while, enjoy the sun or feed the hungry pigeons. Piazza is the home for all those who refuse to be bound by the walls, but still want to stay in the civilization unlike going into the woods. Come summer, these piazzas become the stage for a host of exciting outdoor events - from live performances of jazz to plays to movies.

Last week I was in the Swiss Italian town Locarno for the opening ceremony of the Locarno international film festival in the piazza grande. As the name suggests, it's a magnificent square with a seating capacity of 8,000. The shape enclosed by the piazza grande is not a regular geometric one and that adds a little bit of character and taste to the place. About a month ago, this square hosted the likes of Santana, Alicia Keys for their music concerts; and was the arena for the screening of the Euro football matches live. The opening ceremony of the film festival took off with a fine drizzle from the thick clouds engulfing the whole town. As I could not find a place selling umbrellas or ponchos, I went into a pizza place and was asking for a large pizza box to cover myself and my friends. They were not very welcoming for my request for a 'solo carta per pizza grande' (in MY Italian asking for just the box of a large pizza). Rain, a perfect beginning for a movie that was set in England - "Brideshead revisited". Then as the story started unfolding, so did the clouds, giving way to the stars and making the setting even more romantic for a story based partly on love (the other part being orthodox religious traditions).

The director of the film mentioned in his opening remarks that there is nothing like a bad weather, it's just wrong clothing. Whichever way he would describe it, we watched the movie with the clothes a little wet. Well, if that is the price you pay for enjoying a movie while being in nature, it's well worth it!

The closest experience I had to this while in India was in the 5000 person capacity open air 70mm theater we had in our college in Madras. With a film every week, in all the seasons of the year, it was definitely a great time. Not knowing its true worth, I missed many movies in that OAT. Then the next experience was the half-oval amphitheater in the Caltech, laid in three rings of grass around a small 16mm screen. So small, so cozy, with a room for just 100 people. And the jasmines that lined the separation between these rings would set the ambiance for a romantic summer evening under the stars !! With my interest for the movies and the open skies, open air theaters are a heaven for me !!