Urbino Project 2011

University graduations in this old city are all about the individual student. In one fell swoop they take a final exam, graduate wearing a corona of live laurel and are doused in Champagne.

URBINO, Italy – The piazza was already pulsing with energy from newly graduated students as Pasquale Massaro’s brother and closest friends got off the bus and began the walk to the college of languages where Massaro would be taking his final test in the University of Urbino.

Pasquale Massaro and his closest friends after he received his diploma.

They arrived in the waiting room where Massaro and the rest of his family and friends were already waiting.  The atmosphere was excited, as if “Paky” Massaro had already passed his exam.  Despite the high stakes of the exam, only a few short minutes away, Massaro showed little, if any fear.  He radiated confidence and pride.  After a little while, they were led into the testing room where Massaro took center stage in front of a panel of professors while his entourage sat in chairs set up in the back of the room to watch the exam.

Graduations ceremonies in Italy are quite different from those in the States.  Instead of a painfully long and scripted procession with the entire class lined up to receive diplomas, the students schedule individual times with the commissioner of their department when they will take their final exam,  delivered orally, then if they pass, will be awarded their diplomas on the spot and are free to leave without having to listen to any longwinded speeches.

To receive his degree in language and foreign literature, Massaro was to engage two of the professors in a discussion concerning the differences between the type of Spanish spoken in Argentina and that which is spoken in Spain.  He was undoubtedly well prepared as he dominated the discussion and any trepidation he may have had quickly vanished. His voice grew stronger with every word, aided by the constant nods of agreement from the professors.

Pasquale poses for a picture as he is showered with confetti.

After about 10 minutes, the professors seemed satisfied and asked Massaro and company to leave the room as they reviewed their notes.  A few minutes later, the company was ushered back in and Massaro was presented with his diploma as he shook the commissioner’s hand.  His family and friends erupted into applause and everyone offered their congratulations.

The celebrations quickly spilled out onto Via Veneto, bottles of champagne were popped and Paky was showered in confetti as he donned his laurel crown.  He ripped off individual leaves and gave them to all present, symbolizing good luck.  The party began making its way down the street towards the town square, with Massaro’s friends yelling the lyrics to the unofficial graduation song at the top of their lungs, “Dottore, dottore, dottore del buco del eu culo, vaffancu, vaffancu,” which is not a very old tradition here in Urbino. The younger crowds seemed to have created its vulgar lyrics.

“I feel like you have no more problems,” exclaimed Massaro, “so, so happy! But I feel also quite strange because I’ve finished the university. I should find a job and you know, it’s difficult here in Italy.”

As they arrived in the town square, Massaro’s group did a great job of making the biggest scene possible, yelling and spraying champagne everywhere and finally throwing the newly graduated Paky into the fountain, a traditional practice here in Urbino until the mayor had it banned. But Paky’s friends were far too caught up in the moment to recognize the rules.

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A group of University of Urbino students effectively took over a classroom that they now use as their base of operation for political action. Instead of using social media, they prefer to communicate in the old Italian way – face-to-face over coffee or a slow meal.

URBINO, Italy – Eight university students cram into an apartment here to prepare a pasta dinner. Nearly four hours pass as they engage in boisterous conversation over drinks and smokes. Their demeanor is playful, as are some of the issues being discussed. They debate whose region of Italy has the best food, wine and dialect. Other subjects are political, and more serious. They are interested in what their American visitors think about President Obama, the occupation in Gaza and the war in Libya.

Throughout the evening, everyone is engaged in conversation. Not once was anyone called away to tweet, update a status, or refresh a smart phone. This may seem odd in the twenty-first century, but it reflects the Italian lifestyle. Social media just can’t do justice to a good Italian conversation.

These students, along with some 50 others, constitute an activist group known as the “Assemblea Permanente.” The group also calls itself C1, after the university classroom the students defiantly occupied and gained possession of five years ago. Due to their efforts, student activism is still very much alive in Urbino, as it has been since the tumultuous 1960s.

But in one important way, their movement differs from the new style of student activism that is emerging around the world. The advent of technology and social media has revolutionized the way youth movements organize and disseminate information. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are believed to have played a significant role in the protests throughout North Africa and the Middle East (NY Times: Social Media in Saudi Arabia). However, this is not the Urbino style of interaction, nor does it find much favor with the members of C1.

Mattia Trusso, a senior member of the student movement in Urbino, says the group avoids electronic communication at all costs. “I prefer to discuss for an hour with a single person and try to influence our points of view, than reach 5,000 people just by clicking a button,” he explains. “This kind of exchange of information is cold; you’ve got only a screen. When you talk about something – especially Italians – you don’t just talk with the voice but with the whole body.”

Trusso believes face-to-face conversations are vital to any social movement. “I mean if you have the same idea as me, and we want to reach a target, we have to stay close,” he says. “You’ve got a bedrock of ideas that can give you the possibility of building or setting up something of importance, as we are trying to do here.”

The student movement here occasionally holds formal assemblies in the C1 space. However, more often than not the decisions are reached over a cup of coffee, a meal, or a late night drink in the square. Some members say it’s difficult to separate their political and personal lives. Many of them are from other parts of the country, and live together while attending the University of Urbino. This creates a strong sense of family within the group. “If someone is not here for a long period you know that you have the influence of that person in your own decisions,” Trusso says.

This constant closeness can lead to conflicts within the group, but the students say their disagreements ultimately improve C1’s dynamic strength. “If you have an argument with people and the day after you are together with each point of view different from before because you have discussed about it – I mean I think it’s a great thing,” he says.

The local reliance on face-to-face conversations may be unique to small cities like Urbino. In fact, young people in other areas of Italy rely heavily on social media sites. In a country where traditional media outlets are largely controlled by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, online forums allow people to share alternative information and opinions about the latest news.

Mary Wieder, an international-communications entrepreneur writing on the blog SocialMediaToday, argues that social media sites played a vital role in a national referendum a few weeks ago. An overwhelming majority of voters approved measures that countered the prime minister’s conservative position on privatization of water, nuclear power and an issue of law.

“These recent election results show how social media is one communication still controlled by the public sphere,” she wrote. “Regardless of how many media channels Berlusconi may own, the Italian people have been expressing their disgust and disappointment in Italy’s current state of affairs via social media.”

In contrast, Trusso credits the physical layout of Urbino, and the central piazza in particular, as the source of a rich public discourse. “I’m sure in another place this would be very difficult to set up,” he says. “That’s one of the powers of this place, that it can give you the opportunity to be strictly connected with other people.”

Regardless of the issue at hand, Trusso says to create change any movement must work along two paths. First, you work with the rules and representatives of democracy. Secondly, with the streets. “Everything is born and grows in the streets,” he says. “If you don’t know the street you lose the contact with reality and the world.”

Students have been at the helm of social and political activism here since the 1960s, mostly around educational issues. In 1968, the Minister of Education called for a reform of the university system. His proposal resulted in increased fees and restricted enrollment.

In response, young people organized occupations throughout the major cities. On March 1, some 4,000 students clashed with police officers at the Piazza di Spagna in Rome. Hundreds were injured on both sides, and the students were ultimately forced to retreat. This would become known as the Battle of Valle Giulia (Worker and Student Protests in Italy).

In recent years, the movement in Urbino has grown significantly. Even as it expands, the group maintains its reverence for personal interaction. “If you don’t work with the society and talk with the people every day, you can be ruled in an easy way like every King has done in the past,” Trusso concludes. “You don’t have to be ruled, you have to rule.”

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The C-1 Autogestita is a student-run political group at the University of Urbino. They take action on a variety of problems, from national, local and University issues.

URBINO, Italy – On a warm Sunday afternoon pedestrians  crowded into the Piazza Repubblica scattered as a small car screeched across the cobblestones, its horn blaring while scruffy students hung from the windows waving flags and screaming slogans.

They were the cheering section for one side of a controversial national election that had citizens across the country deciding three volatile propositions: privatizing the water supply, approving nuclear power, and ending the immunity of politicians like Prime Minister Silvio Burlesconi from prosecution while in office. The issues generated a huge turnout, with the water and power ideas failing miserably, and the politicians being held accountable.

Mattia Trusso wears his C-1 Autogestita shirt for their event. The group hosted a Palestinian rap group to create debate among the guests.

But while it was a big weekend for Italy it was just another day on campus for the screaming students. They were all members of C-1 Autogestita, a student-run political activist group at the University of Urbino.  A close-knit band of 50 young men and women from across the country, they manage to squeeze in studies and parties between what seems to be their main interest: The political issues of the day.

“This lifestyle makes you crazy,” laughed Mattia Trusso, a 26-year-old sociology major, “I think it’s harder than a job sometimes.”

C1 began in 2006, members said, when about 15 politically-minded students boldly invaded the university’s Magistrar Building and squatted in classroom ‘C1’, claiming it as their headquarters.  After a brief eviction, they squatted again, eventually gaining official recognition from the university.

Since then C-1 has grown to about 50 students who make the room their second home. Its walls are covered with posters and banners that tell the group’s history of activism, as well as its current events such as a recent trip to Rome to protest financial cuts to universities. Amenities are utilitarian; in one corner students can rest on couches or take a study break, while in another a coat rack and shelves store belongings.

Andrea Grassia, a 22-year-old Italian language and literature student, said he “did everything” in the C1 room.

C-1 members live like a family, sharing apartments, food and free time. Outside of their political life, they stay close to each other.

“I had fun, I (smoked), I had discussions for hours and hours about politics, I reorganized lessons and every kind of art and showings of pictures and films,” Grassia said. “I also remember sometimes we spent all our nights drinking.”

But the C-1 members have never forgotten their mission. Urbino’s student body hails from across the nation and represents a variety of political opinions, so the room serves as a community space, a headquarters to plan events and a resource for local residents as well as students.

“Lots of people refer to this room to get information, to be informed,” Trusso said. “When that (began to happen) it was the symbol that this room started to be like a house for us.”

The growth in membership is important, Trusso said, because it has allowed C-1 to expand their involvement from just university issues to local and national topics.

A few weeks after the national referendum – a resounding victory for the C-1 positions – the group hosted a Palestinian rap group to publicize the story of Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni, who was raped and killed in the Gaza Strip by Palestinians in April 2011.

“It was the first time a Palestinian people or organization has raped a person that was well known there to work and to help them,” Trusso said.

C1 members set up a stage for artists then manned stands to hand out information and to sell sausage and eggplant sandwiches to raise funds. But Trusso said the most important part of the evening was to create debate.

“If someone says ‘these crazy guys are bringing a group of terrorist singers,’ I will be happy, because it got them to listen for five minutes,” Trusso said.

And while the group doesn’t represent all opinions on the campus, as  24-year-old sociology student Mattia “Junior” Maurizi pointed out, they can unite the campus on  one burning issue issues:  a voice for the students in the community’s decision-making.

“The city … they don’t look at us as citizens, to have rights,” Maurizi said. “It’s a general trend of C1 — to try to let people understand that we are not a wallet to empty.”

One of C-1’s dreams, he said, is to convince Urbino’s city government to allow one student on the communal council.

“That way, this huge community of inhabitants and students starts to be connected,” Trusso said. “One of the effects of this no dialogue is the patrolling of (weekly) Thursday night with lots of police … because we’ve got five to six kinds of police.”

To the tourists that flock to this beautiful Renaissance city in the central Italian mountains, each day rolls by like a mirror image of the previous one, filled with beauty and art. But Trusso said those visitors don’t see the problems just beneath the surface, which is why these politically-minded students will continue to take a stand on the controversial issues and to inform the campus and community.

“If you don’t work with the society and talk with the people every day, you can be ruled in an easy way like every king has done in the past,” Trusso said. “You don’t have to be ruled, you have to rule.”

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