We recently saw examples of flag symbolism in "The Power Of Symbolism", March 2024. There is also map symbolism and the "Little Italy" district of Niagara Falls, NY is an amazing example of it. Counting only places that are culturally Italian or have Italian names it literally forms a map of Italy. I am certain that this was completely unplanned as the district came together over decades.
Pine Avenue is the street diagonally across this image from Google Earth with the dots along it. Pine Avenue actually runs east-west. Pine Avenue represents the central axis of the Italian Peninsula. The green area to the left is Hyde Park, which represents the broad Po Valley across northern Italy.
The red dot at the top, on Pine Avenue near the intersection with Hyde Park Blvd, is the concentration of Italian restaurants that have long been there. On the map this represents Venice.
The blue dot to the left of the image is Italian businesses along Hyde Park Blvd including a pizzeria. This appears to be away from Pine Avenue but has to be there to represent Genoa.
The purple dot along Pine Avenue is the Como Restaurant. This was a focal point of the local Italian community for nearly a century. On the map it represents Florence. The red sauce that it was known for inadvertently represented the red roof of the Duomo.
The white line in the image is the City Market. With the traditionally Italian businesses around it this represents Rome on the map, specifically St. Peter's Square.
The green dot is the former St. Joseph's Church. On the map this represents Naples. If we turned the map upside down this would represent Venice with the church's bell tower representing the Campanile in Venice.
The blue dot in the lower right of the image is on an open green area. This is in just the right place to represent the Tyrrhenian Sea on the map.
The blue line at the lower right of the image is not on Pine Avenue. But this was the original Tops market, although next to the original building. It was started by a family with an Italian name and is in just the right place to represent Sicily on the map.
What about Sardinia? The following image, from Google Earth, shows how Sardinia, with Corsica which is French to the north. The two islands form a nearly perfect north-south line except that the center line of Corsica is set slightly to the left (west) of that of Sardinia.
Now look at the two nearby towers, with an Italian name to provide housing for the elderly. This view, from Google Earth, is looking due north. Notice how the northern tower is set slightly to the west of the southern tower. I find it absolutely amazing how these tall buildings, which represent mountainous Sardinia on the map, came together just like the two islands. Although these buildings were built too late to be aligned with Pine Avenue relative to the rest of Italy. The southern tower, in the foreground, was built when I was a child and the other when I was a teenager.
The nearby Jenss building is the local version of Rome's Colosseum, except that the Jenss building is rectangular. Images from Google Earth.
The Forum was once the "Main Street" of the Roman Empire. Look how the mostly abandoned buildings on the right of Main Street in Niagara Falls lead up to the Jenss building in exactly the same way that the Forum leads up to the Colosseum. Images from Google Earth. It is not derogatory to refer to a building as "abandoned". All ancient ruins started as abandoned buildings.
Niagara Falls, NY, has it's own version of Rome's Castel Sant Angelo. The old Nabisco silo is positioned relative to the downtown tourist district and casino exactly as the Castel Sant Angelo is positioned relative to the Vatican. Images from Google Earth and Street View.
I find "Little Italy" of Niagara Falls, NY to be as good an example of unplanned map symbolism as any to be found anywhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment