What struck me as I moved the narrow streets of Florence & Pisa that the towns looked exactly the way they were built a few hundred years ago. I recollect the comment by P. G. Wodehouse describing 'Market Blandings', a fictional village. "Sometime in the early 16th century", Wodehouse writes, "the master mason took down his tools, and said to his mates-'this is Market Blandings', and no one has touched it since." I was wondering whether this was a true state of affairs anywhere, as I have never been to England, and know for a fact that this can not happen in India, but Pisa & Florence have lived up the comment literally.
What is most heartening is that the planners in Italy have not tried to remodel these places on the lines of some hypothetical development norms, the way we try to do in India. When I was a part of the Planning Committee at Aurangabad, the planners told me that the exercise would involve planning amenities for the old city too, based on the population, and also a traffic & transportation planning based on current requirements. The exercise therefore involved earmarking places for schools, hospitals & so on in the already crowded city, and widening of streets in the old city to allow more traffic. The resultant plan paved the way for destruction of the old city - both in form & spirit.
In contrast, the Italian historic cities have tried to accommodate the present day requirements without compromising on the historic character. The streets in Florence are not wide, hence they have devised a network of one-way streets, instead of widening the existing roads. The towns now attract a large amount of tourist traffic, and the earlier houses are converted into hotels. I actually lived in such re-modelled houses in both Pisa & Florence. The conversion was done tastefully, modern amenities like electrification & plumbing was added, all without disturbing the original fabric of the building. If ever there was a demonstration of how you treat your heritage buildings, this was it.
We keep on saying that India has the greatest living heritage, but in practice, hardly any of that sentiment is visible. We need to imbibe some of the spirit of the Italains to do justice to our own heritage at home.
