While the new era of Gf VIP rages on Canale 5, La7 pulls the ace of the season out of its sleeve: Alessandro Barbero. After having collaborated for several years with Rai, the historic popularizer, with great popularity for his online lessons (videos and podcasts), made his debut last night with a program entirely by him, Traveling with Barbero.
What is it about? It consists of a two-part structure. The story of himself and his relationship with History during the journey that precedes the second part, or the lesson-show that has always distinguished him, recorded last July 1st at the Ancient Theater Festival of Veleia, in front of an audience of almost a thousand people.
Subject of the first episode “Democracy and Dictatorship”. But the journey focuses entirely on the word Democracy, which has always been opposed to that of Dictatorship.
“Is the opposite of Democracy Dictatorship?” “Today yes” – replies Barbero “Previously it was Monarchia”. It tells the story of Democracy, born in Greece, but decidedly distant from the concepts of tolerance and freedom. We move between the Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Age. “It is in the Renaissance that the word was rediscovered, with Tommaso Garzoni, who wrote “When the unjustly oppressed multitude drawn by anger and driven by fury decides to avenge the outrages received, democracy is immediately born, that is, the administration of the people” . From the Contemporary Age with the revolutions it was thought that something could change. We arrive at Fascism, the results of which are well known. Nowadays, Barbero’s final warning is quite clear: “Beware of the transformations that our democracy is going through today”
Dissemination, especially historical, is important. An authoritative figure like Professor Barbero was the only one possible for an offer of this type, especially with the aim of attracting young people, who have been following him on the web for some time. Traveling with Barbero has only one flaw, though: there’s too much Barbero. Someone might object: “what’s the problem? It has always been like this.” However, we must never forget that TV is made of images, it is not a podcast or a university lesson on Youtube. Perhaps it would have been necessary, especially in the second part of the program, that of the conference in Veleia, some repertoire image that would serve as a break. An example, on the same network, looking at the work of the late Andrea Purgatori on Atlantis. The magnetic voice captured the viewer, but was still supported by images. Therefore, it is not enough to copy and paste the format of a social media star. Small digression. But beyond this, as long as there is a “pop” cultural offer, so be it. It is increasingly difficult to excite and involve the public on cultural issues. Let’s not miss this opportunity (like someone else did).