REPORTAGE
>> For ten days, our reporter travels through Southern Europe to understand how our European neighbors are living their deconfinement, the reopening of borders, the approach of holidays, but also to take the pulse of the local economy. A trip from Italy to Greece, passing through the Balkans and the Adriatic coast. After Ventimiglia, Milan and Venice, for the fourth stage of his European "deconfinement tour", Jean-Sébastien Soldaïni stopped at Palmanova , not far from Slovenia, a fortress built during the Renaissance and which largely depends on tourists who attracts Venice, a hundred kilometers further west.
The Forgotten Fortress
After leaving Venice, I head towards the small town of Palmanova, in the northeast of Italy. I have never heard of this place. The name inspires me and it is well located, at a motorway crossroads, which is convenient for touring the region. Surprise on arrival: the city is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a circular fortress behind which small buildings are carefully aligned. From its central square leave large avenues which perfectly divide the disc that the city draws when Palmanova is seen from the sky.
The central square seems to me oversized compared to the rest of the city. And like Saint Mark's in Venice the day before, it is almost deserted. I am looking for a "character": a notable, an elder, in short, a slightly offbeat personality who could tell me how he / she went through these three months of confinement.
The first coffee does not work, the staff are a little wary when I say that I am a journalist. But the customers of the second drink are much more talkative. Amused even by my request. One of them is a former French legionnaire who served six years in the 2nd foreign parachute regiment of Calvi. He advises me to go see a certain "Nereo": "He knows all of Italy", he laughs. "Go see it, it's on the other side of the square!"
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"This confinement will spare no one"
I cross the vast circle of gravel while contemplating the marble cathedral where a Venetian Lion nestles, a sign that it was the Doges who built it. At the back of his restaurant-bar-pastry shop, "Nereo" finishes his meal and comes to sit at my table. Behind him, on the shelves, are the best whiskeys. He proudly recalls that his establishment "was voted the best bar in Italy two years ago" and that "since then it has remained in the top ten". Strange to see this place in the middle of a historic site. In the display case, high-end pastries are displayed as works of art. The refined style of the restaurant section contrasts with the 17th century Venice ambiance of the rest of the square.
A priori well installed, Nereo says he "crossed confinement with anguish". So he remains cautious and philosopher: "It takes patience. Like drops. Drops that fall and must fill a large vase. It takes time, but it is certain that one drop after another, the vessel will fill to return to a normal situation. "
The Nereo establishment was voted best bar in Italy in 2018. © Jean-Sébastien Soldaïni for Europe 1.
His white kitchen jacket is impeccable. It must be for a reputable table. But he thinks that the chic of the places may be a handicap to relaunch his activity. Too expensive for bloodless Italians: "This confinement will spare no one. Bars known as those that are less so. Everyone is suffering. Without a doubt." He is not to be pitied, but his fear is that of a lasting isolation that sets in. There is still "fear" he says. As if the "thing" had not yet passed. Venice is 100 kilometers away and it is not a priority for anyone to visit the Slovenian border.
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Facing Slovenia, a porous border
The border is where I go. In Gorizia or Nova Gorica depending on whether you are in Italy or Slovenia. Two names for the same city crossed by the border between the two countries. The situation is perhaps an opportunity to illustrate the fact that the barriers are still somewhat present and that free movement is not as easy.
The Italian-Slovenian border crosses the town of Gorizia. © Jean-Sébastien Soldaïni for Europe 1.
Concerns about the economic consequences of the health crisis did not prevent the Italians from gradually resuming their habits after having been hit very hard by the Covid-19. Like here, in Gorizia, where a group of retirees met for aperitif time. © Jean-Sébastien Soldaïni for Europe 1.
In front of a crossing point located in a square in the center, a group of elderly gentlemen take a drink. Their decor is an old building of red bricks, surely dating from the Yugoslav era. One of the seated men is Italian, married to a Slovenian. He assures me that despite the closed border post, he can go back and forth between the two countries. "You have to have a good reason, but it works ..." Especially since the other two posts, located a few kilometers away are well open. And, if only the access to the city center is closed, it is to avoid having to have customs officers every two hundred meters.
Find the other pages of our reporter's "Logbook" across southern Europe:
>> First stage, Ventimiglia
>> Second stage, Milan
>> Third stage, Venice