Graffito
As you may know, I am in Italy. And I thought I would take a minute to talk about graffiti, since Italy is the birthplace of graffiti. Graffiti comes from the Italian word Graffito, which refers to various writings and pictures on the walls of buildings that date back even into Roman times. Graffiti has been around since way back when. I was intrigued by the vast amounts of graffiti I encountered driving into Rome, and while taking the train. And one crew stood out as having the most noticable tags: The Hot Boys.
I haven’t yet been exposed to all of Italian Graffiti, but I felt like they were impressive enough to share with the world. Although, if you have ever been to Rome, you have most likely seen their tags, as they adorn every wall and bridge along the highway.
Graffiti in Italy has two sides to it… on one hand, I love graffiti, but on the other hand, it seems like it is a shame to draw all over these ancient places, with so much history behind them. It really bothers me to see people throw up their name in sharpie on a wall that has been there almost 2000 years. If you are going to do some graffiti, at least be artistic. Take some paint, and do a quality tag that people will appreciate. Develop a character, and do something artistic. Better yet, tag something with a message, but by all means, stop shamelessly promoting your name in a way that adds no appeal to the place you are at. Graffiti is art, so treat it as such. I am tired of seeing people simply writing their name cause it makes them feel like a badass. I’m sorry to rant, but I had to get that off of my chest. That being said, when I get home, I will try to upload all my shots of good graffiti, ie. nice tags, cool stickers, entertaining little characters etc. Probably not the best graffiti in all of Italy but definitely the best of what I saw.
