Traffic signs: Men at Work in Italy

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Men at Work signs found in Italy

Trento, 1996; pict. H. De Meyer

Arizzano, vii.2003; pict. C. Vanhercke

Certainly the weathered worker from Trento shows fine detail: a clear face, trousers above the ankle, feet and a big spade.

The Arizzano find is still very good, but the man is loosing his own personality. He's weighed down under the heavy work (look at the spade) and reminds us of designs in other countries (e.g. Belgium, Cyprus, Greece). We have an identical sign from Switzerland. It's not the first time that we witness transborder contamination, but we'll have to wait for more samples in order to understand who is invading the neighbours.

Both are very nice old fashioned signs. Notice the dome-shaped heaps. You won't see that often. Most heaps on road signs are more irregularly shaped and tend to be triangular.

They feature an undulating surface. We have a sign from Spain with even stronger waves.

Parma, 1995; pict. J. Dengis

1996

Italy

Spain

Modern Italian man is close to identical to his contemporary Spanish counterpart: a woeful fact considering that we observe the same decline in the children's signs of both countries.

In the new design the only thing that still shows a trace of national identity is the heap. The rest is tasteless match-stick. Life can be hard for people studying road signs. Especially when you see what is happening in the entire Mediterranean area.