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Report on the activity of Rezzara Institute about the European Project

Ode group is made up of seven people, who work in three study groups both in Vicenza and in Schio..

The first SUBGROUP �EUROPA� is made up of eight people who meet each other every Wednesday to study habits, customs and behaviour of the European countries. The members of this study group are: Stella Calza Fiorentino and Maria Grazia Gigliotti Bertola. They have already worked at the research on Italian Chrismas� traditions. At the moment they are working at Easter Traditions.p>

The second SUBGROUP �FAMOUS WOMEN� is made up of four people who are looking for some Italian women who, although quite unknown, were very important for our country. Giuliana Cavion and Liliana Occari are the point of reference of the group. They meet every Tuesday afternoon. Chiara Sposetti helps them to find out information in internet and she translates the chosen texts.

The third SUBGROUP �NON VERBAL MESSAGES� is led by the coordinator; this group is looking for those imagines which are common to every country and whose meaning is understood even by foreign people who do not know the language. Jeannet Lengkeek and Chiara Sposetti are helping in this research

Every member of the group is working at Italian stereotypes and prejudices. Up to now we have found only one stereotype. It is the traditional saying that the inhabitants of Vicenza eat cats (�Vicentini magna gatti�) - see the enclosure.

The inhabitants of Vicenza eat cats
(Vicentini magna gatti)

According to a popular saying, the inhabitants of Vicenza eat cats because they were starving during the war. This statement is not completely right. It was first made by a Venetian doge.

The Republic of Venezia dominated Vicenza between the 1404 and 1797. During that period lots of buildings, villas and monuments in general were built in the territories around the town. Moreover, the Republic of Venezia imposed rules and behaviour on the inhabitants of Vicenza and, being the town surrounded by watercourses, Venezia gave them cats to solve the problem of mice, which were everywhere.

The town governator asked repeatedly for cats in order to kill the mice. The third time he asked for cats, the doge exclaimed: �The inhabitants of Vicenza eats cats!� Since then, the inhabitants of Vicenza have been always known as �cats eater�.