A Day In Decay: Italian Propaganda

I don’t neccassirily associate Italy with Communism, so I was shocked to find so many hammer and sickle logos and graffiti in every single city that I traveled in. The above plaque is actually part of a Communist bulletin board that I ran into in a small town called Montepulciano in Tuscany. For those of you uber nerds New Moon was filmed there. The entire country was covered with political graffiti, stencils, and posters. It’s interesting because you don’t find too much of that in the states. Sure you’ll run into an occasional “stop the war” bumper sticker on a minivan but seeing so many hammer and sickle’s and anti-government slogans spray painted on thousand year old buildings gave Italy a surprising twist. Here’s a collection of some of my favorite finds.

A solution starts with a revolution. italian graffiti

Converse = Nike, Fuck the cool

Not sure what he means by Erasmus. Anyone care to explain?

I’ve been saying this for years!

what’s that symbol on the left? looks like hangman meets a gun scope.

Never dominate the system.

These were all over the place. In every city I visited I saw them painted in alleys.

This is over a stencil of Obama

Bansky knockoff for a student protest group.

I only took a photo of this because it had the word porno in it. It says “Offer the master porno.” Could this be the next B/D shirt?

Not sure if this is for or against Aryans. Next time be more clear with your propaganda please!

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http://kim-t.tumblr.com/ kkkbabe

Hi,

just to clear things up a bit:
Erasmus is a pan-european foreign exchange program organised by universities and colleges.
http://www.luisnct.com Luis

It’s fun how americans surprise when come to europe and see all the political paintigs on the walls and communist and anarchist symbols all around…
some explanations on the pics:
-Erasmus is the european grant for students to allow them to study a year on another university outside their country. Usually they don’t study at all and are more like overdrunk turists partying around all the day
-The symbol like a gunscope is the neonazis and fascist one, so that symbol with hangman one… well, is obvious
Amir

thanks for the input Luis! I figured the gunscope thing was related somehow to that!
stefano

Actually the Bansky rip-off poster is by a far right group, “popolo di roma”
Amir

ah! Like i said my italian isn’t so good!
http://www.gizart.com Francesco D’Isa

I’m Italian and I live near Montepulciano (I’m from Firenze) so I cand enlighten this a bit. Anyway, I see that LUIS did a good job. Just some more notes:

* “The Master Porno” (very funny slogan btw) means a “degree in porn”. The whole slogan means “we want a degree in porn”. As a Pornpope (www.pornsaints.org) I couldn’t agree more.

* “Mai domi al sistema” means “Never surrender to the system”.

* In most of the little towns in Tuscany there are many old-fashioned Communist propaganda manifesto, because these places are historically bound to the people who fought Fascism during WW2. There are some little parties alive, with an old fashioned style and propaganda, but they are very very small, and you can find them in Tuscany and Emilia, not elsewhere. Sadly our country is most of all Fascist and Oligarchic.
Amir

Francesco,
By the way I actually stayed at Montepulciano for a few days. What a great place! We stayed at a local bed and breakfast and had a blast!
http://www.gizart.com Francesco D’Isa

Oh, it’s a wonderful place! next time you’ll come in Italy give me a shout ;) I love BD and I want to show you my art for real and give you some Pornsaints gadgets ;)
http://www.gizart.com Francesco D’Isa

Oh, and I’m a good slogan translator too.
Bujutsu

I confirm Erasmus meaning.
If you come in Venice, please tell me and I’ll show BD all the best part of my city!
Amir

Bujutsu, I was just in Venice! I’ll have to get the royal tour next time. By the way where are all the grocery stores in venice? I only found 2 and they were tiny!
Ever eat at Antica Birraria La Corte? We had some amazing pizza there.
D

When I visited Rome, there were signs everywhere! It was interesting to have coffee with a socialist, then cooking lessons from a communist, and then hear about how everyone is plotting against the fascists. One of the biggest free concerts of the year is the Primomaggio concert, in Rome on the first of May (May Day!). It’s a huge communist gathering for young people all over the country. Or at least, that was my understanding of it. There was a lot of anti-american sentiment, so I concentrated on making friends, and keeping my accent at bay.
Amir

It’s a grab bag of political views over there!
Bujutsu

I worked during carnival in front of that resturant :D
For BD author also a SPRITZ tour for free! it was a pity i didn’t known earlier…