Il bagno la Lanterna
A wall of three meters erected to separate women from men, is that of the historic Bath of Trieste. For once, a barrier is not synonymous with segregation. On the one hand, space for women and children (males are only allowed up to 12 years), on the other, less wide, reserved for men.
The wall cuts the beach strip in two and runs along a stretch of sea. Lantern is the only example of a seaside resort in Europe. A tradition that does not upset Trieste and popular confirmation was even sanctioned by a referendum called by the newspaper "Il Piccolo". The only voice out of the chorus is that of astrophysic Margherita Hack, which defies the idea of such a separation.
The bathing establishment, inaugurated during the Habsburg Empire, was designed to prevent "acts contrary to decency" and to safeguard the privacy of blooming girls and older ladies. Today, however, this separation in Trieste is more synonymous with freedom. In recent times, there are some proposals, say the real rather minority, that aim to transform the Lantern into a promiscuous bath, also taking in the presence of a nudist beach just a few kilometers away.
But in fact the majority of the Triestins argues that there is no inconsistency between the two tendencies; To the point that the sexist bathing establishment, having resisted the passage of Trieste from Austria to Italy, now has the vocation to appear as a sign of distinction. This separation is not lived as a segregation, and even bodies marked by age and pounds too can no longer be a handicap, but are shown more easily. With the end of the summer party comes the demolition, albeit not real, but ideal of the wall, when women and men dance late in a common space.
A wall of three meters erected to separate women from men, is that of the historic Bath of Trieste. For once, a barrier is not synonymous with segregation. On the one hand, space for women and children (males are only allowed up to 12 years), on the other, less wide, reserved for men.
The wall cuts the beach strip in two and runs along a stretch of sea. Lantern is the only example of a seaside resort in Europe. A tradition that does not upset Trieste and popular confirmation was even sanctioned by a referendum called by the newspaper "Il Piccolo". The only voice out of the chorus is that of astrophysic Margherita Hack, which defies the idea of such a separation.
The bathing establishment, inaugurated during the Habsburg Empire, was designed to prevent "acts contrary to decency" and to safeguard the privacy of blooming girls and older ladies. Today, however, this separation in Trieste is more synonymous with freedom. In recent times, there are some proposals, say the real rather minority, that aim to transform the Lantern into a promiscuous bath, also taking in the presence of a nudist beach just a few kilometers away.
But in fact the majority of the Triestins argues that there is no inconsistency between the two tendencies; To the point that the sexist bathing establishment, having resisted the passage of Trieste from Austria to Italy, now has the vocation to appear as a sign of distinction. This separation is not lived as a segregation, and even bodies marked by age and pounds too can no longer be a handicap, but are shown more easily. With the end of the summer party comes the demolition, albeit not real, but ideal of the wall, when women and men dance late in a common space.
