II.xviii. L'alloween

"There is nothing funny about Halloween. This sarcastic festival reflects, rather, an infernal demand for revenge by children on the adult world."
- Jean Baudrillard

The tide of decontextualised, meaningless North American rituals that is submerging Europe like a continental Aqua Alta hit Bologna particularly hard on a Sunday night that should have been quieter than most, given that daylight savings time had just been invoked and it was actually an hour later than it seemed. But Ognissanti, a day when most Italians venture out to the cemeteries that since antiquity have been located far from city centres, is a holiday in Italy, and people felt no particular desire to start the solemnities of the following day earlier than necessary. The youth of Bologna were out in droves, even more than usual, and the authorities had simply decided to close Via Zamboni to traffic altogether, rather than have to deal with dispersing stubborn steeet-drunk crowds.
    For some reason, the concept of All Hallow's Eve has become somewhat muddled in transatlantic translation, much like the status of the pumpkin. Trick-or-treating would be all but impossible in a city such as Bologna where the entire population lives in apartment blocks, so the young children who are most intended to benefit from the night actually have no part in it here. Instead, bands of university students prowl the streets dressed only like zombies and witches, holding large bottles of Moretti beer in their hands, and making various sorts of street-side transactions. Some of the costumes are genuinely hard to recognize as such, owing to the huge number of punks who roam the streets in Bologna ordinarily. The idea that people of all ages can dress up as anything they wish and enjoy themselves nonetheless has not yet come across, nor has the widespread distribution of candy, or the acceptance of Halloween as an alcohol-free event for youngsters. A parent would be ill advised to let children out of the house on this night, if any, into the dark streets of Bologna. If it is meant to be a frightening night, it is.