Graffiti

Italy is the home of graffiti (pl.), or graffito. They come from the Italian word graffito, meaning "scratched". Wikipedia has an interesting article on the history and origins of graffiti which dates back to ancient times. Graffiti wikipedia

What struck both of us is these ancient, beautiful buildings with graffiti all over them. Everywhere you look, more graffiti. It seems an odd contrast. I suppose what we are seeing is all relatively new, and eventually washes off the old buildings to be replaced by something else. These buildings have outlasted many generations of graffiti artists!

So I asked Johnnie to start taking photos of graffiti he sees around town as he walks. Some is gross and ugly, mean looking; other is neat but with a bold message; and then there is the lovely, artistic graffiti. I have translated some of the expressions where I can but like in the US, a lot of it is slang so the online translator programs don't teach you that stuff!

I include here some examples of graffiti around Mercogliano

Mercogliano under the bridge

Mercogliano

Mercogliano

These are more sophisticated examples from around Barcelona. There, if you get a "professional" graffiti job on your store door, then people refrain from tagging or ad-libbing. If not, then they seem to be fair game.

Some of the artwork is quite good