centennial – WWIsunrise – 7:36, sunset – 5:29
9 hours and 53 minutes of daylight

 
Throughout Italy every town has a piazza with a WWI memorial. And I try and shoot all the various monuments, walls, commemorations. In Aprigliano, the WWI monument is how I remember Piazza Guarno; it’s how I identify the town. For me, it’s as iconic as The Eiffel, Lady Liberty, The Vatican, Cinderella’s Castle, The Pantheon, The Brandenburg.

Over the last couple of years, a number of WWI memorial images have emerged. And given the Italians penchant for pretty and romanticism, the new posters present a sanitized event; a memory wrapped in sharp whites, greens and reds. Nothing like remembering the drab khaki landscapes, the shell-blasted sludge, the blood-baths, the trench warfare with modern, digital pretty.

And talking about pretty, there’s an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee where Jerry is talking with Fred Armisen in Portland about good coffee:
Fred: Have you been to Italy?
Jerry: It’s amazing that it only functions on this level of charm.
Fred: Yeah
Jerry: Without that, it’s like a young pretty girl that never ages. That’s Italy.
Fred: Absolutely
Jerry: She never gets older; never looses her allure; and you can’t get enough of it.
Fred: Yeah
Jerry: And it survives, but all other beauty on earth fades,
Fred: Yeah
Jerry: Except Italy.
Fred: Why is that?
Jerry: I don’t know.
Fred: That is perfect, what a perfect description.

54 days till spring