Tuba: creativity out of a crisis

Tuba-4Italy’s economic meltdown in 2009 triggered a small exodus of the country’s young. Barbara Leda is one of those that stayed. She’s a co-founder of a female collective called Tuba that’s at the heart 
of Pigneto, Rome’s growing creative hub.

It’s not immediately obvious why ceramic dildos are sitting proudly next to the literary works of celebrated female writers. Barbara Leda, one of the five owners of Libreria Tuba, insists it makes perfect sense.

‘It’s actually all about women’s creativity,’ she says, explaining that Tuba also functions as a gallery space by day and transforms into a heaving bar in the evening – not just with women.

‘We couldn’t understand why the number of books from women were never more than 30% in mainstream bookshops, so we tried to fix that in a nice place.’

After books were sold, art and photography exhibitions began to be held, giving women a platform 
for their work. It soon opened its doors to everyone.

Staying open into the night, Tuba became a spot where the young women and men of Pigneto came together to talk about creative projects, catch up on local gossip and discuss the wretched state of the Italian economy.

Books and dildos

But back to the dildos. ‘It started with us making just a few [sex toys] available simply because we thought they were designed very beautifully,’ says Leda. But there was an obvious challenge in keeping Tuba’s culture of creativity while selling objects that make most people blush and are typically sold in grubby sex shops.

‘The mainstream market for sex toys is not really well suited to women and certainly not sold in a friendly environment. I think we are the opposite. There’s nothing less threatening than books, so we had a safe and less strange place for a woman to buy a sex toy.’ Tuba now sells 70 dildos a month, ringing in €2,000 (£1,600).

She adds: ‘We’re not touching the pornography market. This is about colourful and beautiful objects in a place where everyone is talking. People think it’s funny that we are selling sex toys in Pigneto, half an hour away from where the Pope sits!’

Transformation

Tuba opened its doors in 2007, just before the first tremors of the Eurozone crisis that would go on to paralyse the country. At the time, there were only six businesses of any note in Pigneto (there are now over 50), but the lure of the location, the cheap rents and a whiff of creativity in the air convinced the founders to start Tuba while they still had their day jobs.

Pigneto has transformed in that period. An area that’s at once quintessentially Italian, yet also has the edgy crackle of a neglected but changing urban neighbourhood where three groups mix: young creatives like Leda, families with multi-generational ties to the area and a strong immigrant community.

‘There was nothing here 10 years ago. It became the only realistic place you could buy a flat in Rome, and there were spaces very well suited 
to turn into studios,’ she says.

Bermuda Triangle

As a result, Pigneto is getting younger and the economy is growing; more creatives are gravitating to its studio spaces and cheap retail sites. Pigneto stalwarts like Leda are keen to maintain the sense of community, stressing this is essential to not only propel the various businesses at such early stages, but also make living in Pigneto more stimulating.

It’s understandable why so many like Leda are fostering a sense of community. Since the European economic crisis in 2009, young southern Europeans everywhere have fled their home towns in large numbers. Leda says it had become a weekly ritual to hear of an Italian friend who had left for London, Berlin, Dublin or Buenos Aires.

Surprisingly, the group of people in Pigneto’s growing creative community have been less flighty. ‘We call it the Bermuda Triangle,’ she says. ‘Some went somewhere and came back. Others have just wanted to stay here and refused to accept all the negativity.’

Gentrification

Pigneto has undoubtedly changed as it’s become home to a new young group, but it has provoked mixed feelings.

A gentrification process that observers of creative inner city spots around the world will know well; the brisk evolution from an abandoned working class neighbourhood to a street art-adorned area of creativity, arrival of young professionals and subsequent resentment of the rising costs and damaging effect of becoming a fashionable area.

Leda defends this transformation. She is among a group of young Romans who are building something in the city; something that’s challenging, interesting and inspiring creative Italians who could be forgiven for believing it’s time to give up on Rome and even Italy.

‘The authentic people of Pigneto are very conservative, and I know some people call this gentrification, but whatever it is, it is saving the area from dying. The important thing is to respect and be conscious of the past. There is an Italian phrase for this: you have to tie a knot to history.’

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