Historically unity had existed under the Roman Empire, but even at the time, Italy had already been divided into innumerable provinces. After that, the peninsula’s population lived through a myriad of historical conflicts for supremacy. The richness of Italian lands and its strategic location in the Mediterranean enticed the expansionistic desires of many. This led to ceaselessly changing cultural influences, values, symbols, and identities, foreign powers temporarily mooring on Italian beaches until someone stronger shoved them out.

A century and a half after the founding of Italy we can reasonably ask if this Italian experiment, the unification of at least 8 or 9 individual nation-states, has actually led to a singular Italian identity.

Italians are very attached to their roots; they have a strong sense of pride for their localized heritage and for the city or area where they live or grew up, more than for the nation overall. One’s town, city, or regions generally strongly shapes a person’s personality and habits.  

Still today the differing sense of identity or ‘patriotic’ spirit is ever so evident between the North and the South, but it is also a reality between cities that are closer to each other, like Firenze and Pisa, Napoli and Salerno, Palermo and Catania. The historical influence and cultural richness of each of these cities hasn’t allowed the development of a broader and shared national identity. Beyond impacting culture, these unique traits translate into economic and demographic differences that have a very direct impact on today’s society.

In the first few months of 2020, while most were trying to understand what the Covid-19 virus was, Italy was the first western country to be overwhelmed by the appearance of this foreign threat. Initially, it seemed that cases were sprouting only in the northern region of Lombardia, but isolated cases were being identified elsewhere and people were moving around leaving the north to go back to their families in other regions. Soon, in early March, the government decided to indiscriminately quarantine the whole of Italy. The #iorestocasa (I’m staying home) decree, people were told not to leave their homes if not for essential needs i.e., food, medical, or work.

The decree was applied universally across the country and met collectively with acceptance. It was seen as a necessary measure to solve the crisis. Italians came together in solidarity, singing from their balconies, helping those in need purchase groceries, participating in communal online activities, and with a shared sense of fighting together against a foreign threat. The virus stripped cities of their inherent function as places for gathering, coming together, safely socializing, and engaging.

While the first phase of the pandemic was characterized by an apparent feeling of national unity, coming together to fight against an invisible danger, this spirit seemed to wane during the second wave of the pandemic in September. It is alarming to see the divergent reactions that have emerged between cities and regions over the past few months. The Italian government is struggling with local authorities who have different ideas on how to handle the socioeconomic impacts of the crisis, who are fighting to maintain local liberties, even if to the detriment of other regions.

Italy’s exciting diversity is a double-edged sword: being both a fascinating element of cultural richness, as well as an element that leads to political stalemates and fractures within the country. Italian cities embody these historical differences. They are apparent in the architecture, art, music, literature, food, habits, and in the people.

During this dreadful year, filled with loss, illness, and severe disruption that has shaken Italy, I set out to visually examine how Covid-19 has altered some of the country’s key cities, also taking into account how each, with its distinct history and past contributes to shaping their sense of Italian identity.

Oct. 2020, Roma | On the right, the antique Colosseum, the amphitheater completed in 80 A.D. used to host around 65,000 spectators; on the left,
Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana or Squared Colosseum was built during Mussolini’s Fascist reign, completed in 1941 during WWII.

Italy’s history, and that of most of Europe, can be traced back to the city of Rome, which has been described as the first metropolis on earth. Rome has left an impact, today, on how we think of civil organization, culture, language, art and architecture, urban development, religion, law and order, and much more.

Rome is a symbol of a flourishing city, the caput mundi – the capital of the world. It’s the model city par excellence, a prototype for modern urban centers. Rome was founded around 753 B.C., initially, kings ruled the city, but by 509 B.C. an oligarchic republic was established, ruling was concentrated in the hands of few powerful men. It reached the peak of its prominence and splendor under Emperor Augustus. During the Roman Empire Italian towns, cities and provinces were created and prospered, spreading across the peninsula and beyond great inventions like sanitation, public housing, and communal life in the forum. Rome ignited Italy’s cultural progress and civil organization.

This is probably where Italy’s divided identity was born. While neighboring France, had been unified in the single Gallic province under the Roman Empire, Italy was fragmented into small provinces. The Roman Empire created the idea of Italy as an entity, geographical, political, and as a developed society. Yet, all attempts to regain such a centralized but widespread power on the Italian peninsula failed repeatedly throughout the centuries.

Walking through Rome today takes you from antiquity to modern times. You can observe the weighty influence of the Catholic church, who affirmed its authority once the Roman Empire fell. Vatican City’s territory blends onto Roman streets, where the heart of Ecclesiastical power still resides today. You can witness the enduring impression left by Benito Mussolini and the Fascist Party dictatorship, as they endeavored to retrieve Rome’s lost grandeur, by transforming the city’s urban image.

Today, with over 2.8 million residents, Rome is the largest city in Italy and one of the top three in Europe. It is organized chaos, to many epitomizing bureaucratic lethargy and malfunction. A city of astounding beauty, to which its inhabitants are accustomed to and sometimes give for granted, hesitant and unsure of how to protect the vastness of such irreplaceable heritage.

In 2020, with its city center emptied of the hordes of visitors, Rome seemed empty, abandoned, and at the same time, it has never looked so beautiful. Wandering through the streets, hushed and isolated, the intimacy you can feel with your surroundings is indescribable. Slowly locals have reconquered their streets, rediscovering the sights they usually avoided to elude the crowds and the restaurants they hadn’t ventured to try. The touristic eateries and bars that lined Piazza Navona shuttered their doors, some, sadly, never to open again. The stairway of Piazza di Spagna deserted, invitingly calls you to venture up the 135 stone steps. The lonesome Trevi Fountain becomes the ideal location, to sit, rest, and contemplate the year that has gone by. Rome is there for you, vulnerable, revealing itself in all its majestic splendor.

Bologna is located in the south of the bountiful Po Valley region, marking the boundary between the north and the center of Italy. It is an example of how, during the Middle Ages, the configurations of many historical city centers that we see today were established.  

The end of the Roman Empire brought uncertainty and fragmentation. Across the Italian peninsula, a phenomenon of de-urbanization took place. Everyone scrambled to conquer their own territories, building fortified castles, towers, and bastions to protect themselves from invaders and foreign powers. In the Middle Ages, feudalism established as the new political norm, with local powerful men who armed themselves to protect their land.

Bologna became an independent commune, a political balance was established between nobles, clergymen, and peasants, to uphold freedom and safety. During the 1100s it gained a prominent role as northern capital of the Papal States and its influence was soon converted into architectural grandeur. The nobles of Bologna erected towers across the city: homes, status symbols, and military protections. Over 100 towers used to fill the city’s skyline, today only about 20 are visible – the Asinelli and Garisenda tower symbolically still stand dramatically in the town's heart.

With the city acquiring greater independence and strength, it thrived culturally and intellectually. Bologna is home to the most antique university in the world, its founding dates back to 1088 and is where the term university was coined. Still today, it is known as one of Italy’s main university cities – with an extensive student population that characterizes the city’s lifestyle, providing a bohemian, liberal atmosphere that can be felt while roaming the historic center’s streets.

Walking through Bologna, you can enjoy the antique terracotta detailing on top of building’s facades and the vivid red of its bricks of its houses, from the comfort of its porticoed streets. No other city in the world has as many as Bologna, which counts 38 kilometers of streets you can comfortably walk in, in any season – with rain, snow, or sun – sheltered by the structures above. Their uniqueness has been protected as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

Less known as a tourist destination than other Italian cities, Bologna, and its region of Emilia-Romagna, are definitely a stop on any gourmand’s list. The fruitfulness of its lands has created the treasured Parmigiano Reggiano, Parma’s Prosciutto, Modena’s Balsamic Vinegar, and filled pasta like Tortellini. A true Italian food heaven.

2020’s virus triggered a decline in the student population. Many non-resident students left to go to their hometowns as they could study remotely. While characteristic of the city’s urban life, students don’t contribute to a wealthier and safer lifestyle; by leaving they provided more space to permanent residents of Bologna, overall improving the quality of their lives considerably.

According to Il Sole 24 Ore, Bologna is the best Italian city to live in, in 2020. The analysis took into account over 90 factors related to wealth, environment, services, business and work, justice, safety, culture and leisure, health and demographics, as well as a number of Covid-19 related aspects. With the highest schooling and digitalization rates, Bologna climbed 13 positions in the ranking this year as it effectively managed the crisis, in the city and in its hospitals.

La Serenissima, the ‘most serene’, was the title bestowed on the treasured city of Venice, which soars above islands between an intricate pattern of canals. The magical floating is a hodgepodge of cultural influences, people from all around the world met and exchanged ideas while sipping a spritz in Piazza San Marco. Its strategic position on the Adriatic and maritime tradition were fundamental in contributing to the city’s commercial and military expansion, as well as in ensuring its independence throughout history.  

Its autonomy allowed Venice to achieve the pinnacle of its commercial relevance in the 1200s when it dominated trading on the crucial canal that connected Europe with Eastern countries. Locally it was administered with an oligarchic model that saw the richest mercantile families manage the city, headed by the Doge – leader and chief magistrate. It was one of the four main Maritime Republics, together with Amalfi, Genova, and Pisa; it was the Republic with the broadest territory thanks to its conquests on land and its strong independent regional identity. The wealth of these key maritime cities varied throughout history, but Venice’s authority can be measured with how the city was one of the top five most populated in Europe from the 1300s to the 1700s.

Beyond being an astonishingly beautiful city and lagoon, which ensured its nomination as a UNESCO world heritage site, the floating city left behind a remarkable influence on Italian culture. The Capitolare Nauticum, one of the first nautical codes was written in Venice. Moreover, the cultural richness that derived from the city’s wealth and the blending of foreign influences manifests itself in the meeting of architectural styles: Romanesque, gothic, byzantine, baroque. In music with composers such as Antonio Vivaldi, or in painting with artists like Tiziano, Tintoretto, Canaletto, or Lotto.

Nonetheless, sitting on top of water has left Venice vulnerable to floodings due to rising water tides in autumn and winter, which puts at risk the cultural heritage that this city brings to the world. Its touristic appeal has also made the city inhospitable for people to reside in. The narrow streets congested by visitors are hard to walk through and the stores have converted to offering tacky souvenirs to sightseers.  

The heart of the Renaissance was of course Florence, a city whose commercial and economic success translated into immense cultural prosperity. The city thrived under the rule of the Medici family – whose richness originated from banking. During these prosperous years the city burst with art, literature, philosophy, scientists, and architecture. Today walking through Florence is enchanting. Each street abundant with refined details, memories of a luscious past fixed on walls, doors, buildings, sculptures stand immobile, towering over travelers exploring the city.

The enormous wealth in the city originated from families like the Medici, who created the largest European bank. Cosimo De Medici was the first in the dynasty to gain political power, in 1434, followed by Piero and Lorenzo the Magnificent. They invited to court the grandmasters of the Italian Renaissance: Michelangelo Buonarroti, Filippo Brunelleschi, Sandro Botticelli, Donatello, Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo Galilei. Their work left us today with a city that is recognized as one of the most beautiful in the world, with a series of breathtakingly stunning monuments, buildings, and artworks, protected by UNESCO as world heritage since 1982.

Beyond this, Florence was key in developing the Italian language. The standards of excellence established during the Renaissance 600 years ago deeply influenced Italian and global culture. The dialect spoken and used by literary masters such as Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Francesco Petrarca, the Florentine vulgar Latin, is the ancestor of the modern Italian language. The idea of establishing a “standard” began with Dante’s theoretical script De Vulgari Eloquentia, where he discussed the idea of finding a respectable Italian (or Florentine) vernacular dialect that could respectfully utilized for literary works. It wasn’t a simple process and throughout the centuries it was lengthily debated. According to Treccani Encyclopedia, not from common use, but by a class of erudite literates, in a country with no political unity. In the mid-1800s, Alessandro Manzoni effectively contributed to turning the Florentine dialect into the Italian most used language, but further explorations on the topic date to as recently as the early 2000s.

While the city’s economy, which strongly relied on the presence of tourists, took a hard hit when Covid-19 forced Italy into lockdown, 2020 allowed Florentines to regain a newly found serenity within their city streets. Locals can peacefully roam through the hidden statues of the Boboli Gardens; they can shop at the central market whose entrance is usually inaccessible. The serene atmosphere conceals the worries of a hard year where the countless hospitality establishments that contribute to Florence’s economy, like restaurants and hotels were deeply impacted by the virus. Nevertheless, walking into the Uffizi Galleries and having the space to contemplate the brush strokes of Raffaello’s Venus, or sitting below the replica of Michelangelo’s David in front of Palazzo Vecchio to examine the magically chiseled figure, without the crowds pushing to get a better view of the artworks, are priceless moments that this year has given us the opportunity to experience.

Wedged between the Alps and the hills, the city of Torino and its royal Savoy family were critical in leading the Italian Unification. The city had long suffered the influence of neighboring France, but it had also resulted in strengthening the region’s military power. The Savoy advanced relationships with numerous Duchies – Parma, Modena, Toscana – who wanted foreign influence far away from their lands. By signing plebiscites Victor Emanuel II, gradually became King of all their lands. Marche and Umbria were then taken from the Papal States and a military expedition of the thousand men, led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, freed the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (the whole of southern Italy, including Naples and Sicily) from the Spanish Royal house of Bourbon.

The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed on March 17th, 1861, in Torino, in the first hearing of the Italian parliament. Torino became the first capital of this newly established nation, which in the following years managed to combine the region of Veneto and in 1870 the full control over the Papal States and Rome – where the capital was moved to the following year. 

In the 1900s, entrepreneurs and businessmen chose Torino as their home, making the city central for the metallurgical, mechanical, automotive, chemical, textile, and electrical industries. In 1899 Giovanni Agnelli founded FIAT - Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, in 1906 Vincenzo Lancia opened his car factory, in 1908 Camillo Olivetti started his typewriting company. Soon the city became a key industrial hub for Italy. During World War II, Torino’s industrial relevance became a target for Allied forces’ bombings. Following the war businesses boomed again, many immigrated to Torino from the south of Italy to work in the thriving automotive industries.

Beyond industrial manufacturing, Torino is also home to some widely known Italian brands such as Martini, Lavazza, Ferrero and Nutella. This allowed the city’s arts and cultural sectors to thrive, artistic movements like Arte Povera, as well as the cinema industry and publishing houses. More recently, in 2006 the city hosted the XX Winter Olympics and Paralympics, which supported the city’s internationalization. Nonetheless, Torino’s cavalier spirit led it to regress, with the city suffering from the proximity with the growing neighbor Milano.

Nowadays Torino is a melancholic city that relishes its aristocratic past. With families of noble heritage living a bourgeois lifestyle, gilded cafes with heavy steel tables where to sip warm cappuccinos, and marbled porticos that line the city streets and open onto wide, symmetrical piazzas. A lot of industrial power lost to cities where labor is cheaper, other companies were reformed, were acquired by larger international corporations, or went bankrupt.

Covid-19 deeply affected Torino’s economy and the weighty drop in sales of its businesses. Cerved researchers have calculated that it is the city that is suffering the greatest economic impact on companies’ revenues, with an estimated -14,4% to -20% decrease compared to 2019. Nevertheless, Torino still holds the potential to regain its relevance within Italy and Europe. The Slow Food movement was invented here, key banking institutions hold their headquarters and automotive pioneers are still central to the industry globally. Many innovators and entrepreneurs still come from the city and its region, business acumen and artistic and gastronomic abundance have always characterized it, offering a positive outlook for the future.

Thank you to my capstone advisor James Estrin for helping me frame and put into words the idea behind this project,

to John Smock for teaching me how to turn my passion for photography into tangible skills,

to Francesco for loving and supporting me and my ideas, for coming with me around Italy, debating the topic, and helping me always be the best at everything I do,

to my family - Ugo, Giusi, and Camillo - who inspired me every day to not settle, be ingenious and inventive, and who gave me the opportunity to pursue this degree,