Two hearts and a carousel at the foot of the Dolomites - A. Dolzan for Eco Dolomite G iocolieri, jugglers and fire eaters ; magicians, con artists ... since before the Middle Ages fairs and festivals in the streets carrying a phantasmagoria of lights, sounds and smells. Even today, the celebrations with their fairs and amusement park for one day escape the shopping malls.
E 'December 26, 2008. Much has passed since I pulled my mother's sleeve to get the cotton candy or a ride on another carousel. So much so that today governs who is no longer a "carny" but an "operator of the traveling show." Just as the Gregory family, I go to visit. Not a coincidence: they are a dynasty. Generations and connecting them to the family Zamperla oceans, the global leader in the "amusement business."
T ra a carousel ride and one of Gregory Manuel gives me a journey into his family. His grandfather, a native of Margone Vezzano over, jumped on the bandwagon of love, tying its fate to that of a woman's family Zamperla, "grew up in grass and stones." And so the father, who had an Romagnano as a painter but also changed his life for love. So Manuel was born into a family of giostrai, and since little has learned from his father in the work. The rule in this area. Where the typical family is numerous and strong.
Manuel said that every family is recognized for a while - for example, Gregori are crazy but brilliant. He had an uncle who many years ago it was enriched with horses. He had even bought 200, but then, fail. The great families of the amusement park have been few. Zamperla still remember, Knight, Orlando. And I, the wife of Manuel, a family history, which includes the "great men" as they are called in the jargon - that is prosperous, but they've always worked hard. It defended the category. Yes, because the nomads of the fun is not an easy life.
Starting expenses: the connection of electricity in the city has a flat rate of 190 € / month against an actual consumption of about 70 €, with no ability to pay for consumption. Transit on the roads has the cost of special transport. And then the law, which requires the area to circuses and traveling shows, and areas where the flat wagons. There are municipalities that would like to buy the land on which the operators remain for three months a year.
And the crisis? Amusement park, roller-coaster, Tagada ... modern names for a fast life, electronic, light. But now some are still more than a lap. Many great Italian amusement park is gone, like that of Bologna and Verona. Other, barely, to resist. Our thoughts go to Genoa, and Perugia. And Trent, who gathers a "community stabilized" the merchant of the traveling show and works on traditional festivals and county fairs.
Despite the hard times and difficulties, it is difficult to get off the bandwagon. Friends and relatives of Manuel who stopped for a stable life a nostalgic feel crazy and can not be realized. The complications of nomadic life soon followed. Manuel's wife recounts, for example, that a child attending 8 schools year, the program for her was always in or out. And in addition to school programs, swing your friends: every time a new class. At first, there was the curiosity to know the new girlfriend, but then put aside. And sometimes even the teachers called it "Gypsy."
L golden door of the trailer - "Caravan", in jargon-closes behind me. I leave Manuel and his family, ready to leave the next morning for a new square. Perhaps I'll find myself, in December. Or maybe even this summer in a village festival.
THE CAROUSEL
Pass a child on a white horse,
the following one on a baby elephant,
then passed two girls on a swan
and passes a bear, which no one is ...
Spin the carousel ...
blaze of lights ...
Flashes blue green yellow red and purple
illuminate the faces of children
... but a little girl crying, there, alone.
not climb. He lost this round.
Attender is to mount the beautiful
rabbit, wipe that look ...
calls while the music, the carousel turns ...
spends his life.
M. Antoinette Rotter (2008)