Road Signs - Turning Tuscan: A Step-by-Step Guide to Going Native - page 118

Road Signs
I talianroadsignsareperiodic,perfunctorygesturesthatconfirmdestinationsforpeoplewho
already know how to get there. If you try to use them to actually find some place you've
never been, you realize quickly that they were never put there for that purpose.
Here's what typically happens: on the highway you see the city you're looking for listed on
the exit sign, so you drive off cheerfully. Let's pretend we're going to Chiusdino. As you
exit, you follow the sign to Chiusdino at the first traffic circle. You come to a second traffic
circle, and once again you follow the Chiusdino signs. All is well until a few minutes later
when you come to a fork in the road. Three towns are listed on the arrows pointing left; four
others are listed on the arrows pointing right. There is no mention of Chiusdino. You make
a quick decision and take the right fork. After about twenty minutes of driving there is no
further mention of Chiusdino. Finally, you stop and ask someone if you are on the right road
for Chiusdino. He shakes his head and explains that you should have taken the left fork back
there.
It took me a while to figure out why there is no sign pointing toward Chiusdino when you
come to the fork in the road. It's because everyone already knows how to get to Chiusdino!
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In great North American cities like Chicago, New York or Toronto, the streets are named
consecutively after letters and the avenues are named after numbers. There are often sign-
posts on each corner of every intersection that let you know instantly exactly where you
stand within this utility grid (5 th Ave. and 172 nd St.) and which way you need to turn to get
exactly where you want to go. Ironically, our urban grid systems are a spin-off of the in-
vention of perspective during the Italian Renaissance. Although they are extremely efficient,
there's nothing on earth more boring than straight streets with regular intersections. So, we
go to Italy to enjoy their winding streets and gnarly urban centers that are such a delight to
the eye.
In contrast to our purely functional and ahistorical approach to naming, the Italians tie them-
selves to their past through their streets. The primary purpose of their street names and sig-
nage is commemorative. None of it was ever created to help you get around town easily.
InTuscan cities like Florence and Siena, forexample, the names ofstreets appear onplaques
that are hung every now and then on the sides of houses close to intersections. At some in-
tersections you can identify both cross-streets; at others only one is named. Still elsewhere,