14
La storia
How important is the bond between Emilia
Romagna, its inhabitants, businesses and
institutions and this ancient transport link?
Vittorio Ferorelli
The bond with the Via Emilia
is far more than skin deep in this region. It's
no exaggeration to say that, for an Emilian,
it's entirely normal to live In Parma, work in
Bologna and go to the discotheque in Rimini.
Nowadays, however, this link is becoming
increasingly tenuous due to the convenience
of motorways and bypasses, and the tendency
towards fragmentation: each city and town is
responsible (or not) for maintaining its own
little stretch so that there is a real risk of the
Via Emilia ceasing to exist as a single, integral
entity. It’s time to reaffirm its identity as a
historic road, an identity that is decidedly
more authentic than those innumerable
“strade dei vini e dei sapori” (“wine and food
itineraries”), which are almost always artificial
and imposed from on high.
Valeria Cicala
To answer a question like that
you’d need to be an expert in economics,
politics and cultural anthropology, in other
words someone like that great modern
champion of the Emilia region: Edmondo
Berselli. I’ll limit myself to a couple of
observations that are the fruit of my own
personal cultural background. I have
absolutely no doubt that the Roman culture
which grew up along this road, created in 187
BC by the consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and
from whom it gets its name, knew how to
consolidate the previous experiences of the
part of Italy that the road crosses, and which it
immediately came to identify. Have you ever
thought about the fact that this is the only
region named after the road that crosses it?
Before the road was built, the local foothills
had already played host to important
civilisations such as the Etruscans, and the
Umbrian peoples who migrated into the area
via the Apennine ridge that forms a link
between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic worlds.
And then there were the Gauls, the outsiders,
who first appeared as invaders and aggressors,
but eventually intermarried with the Etruscans
and the other Italic populations that moved
into this area as a result of Roman
colonisation. In fact, many of the settlements
along this road, which was built to defend the
local territory and towns from the Celtic
populations, date back to the Res publica and
the final phase of the war against Hannibal. As
well as being hardened soldiers, these settlers
were also farmers, and they cultivated the
fields and moulded the landscape through the
process of centuriation. The land, and
resulting commerce, produced wealth that can
still be seen in the monumental character of
many of the area’s towns and cities. The local
culture has always travelled along this road
that, thanks to its geographic position, is
crucial for the spread and absorption of a
wide range of historical experiences and
phenomena.
The Americans have Route 66 and have built
a business out of the “brand”. What do you
think is the best way to exploit the value of
the history, identity and unique nature of the
Since 187 BC,
our very own Route 66
Vittorio Ferorelli
, journalist and author who spent much of 2011 and 2012 travelling back and forth between Rimini
and Piacenza in the company of the photographer Matteo Sauli as they prepared “Al bordo della strada. Diario di
viaggio sulla Statale 9 - Via Emilia” published by Bononia University Press (English translation “At the side of the road –
Travel book along Highway 9 – via Emila" – published by Walking the line, Bologna, Italy, July 2012). He has worked at
the Istituto per i beni culturali della Regione Emilia-Romagna (Emilia-Romagna Regional Institute for cultural heritage)
since 1997. He is editor in chief of the quarterly magazine “IBC. Informazioni, commenti, inchieste sui beni culturali”
(“Information, comment and surveys on cultural heritage”), and is also responsible for the online version.
Valeria Cicala
, is employed in the information and communication office of the Emilia-Romagna Regional Institute for
cultural heritage, and writes on history and the promotion of cultural heritage.
