The building across from our hotel in Santa Margherita

The decorations on this building are not real.  They are painted on using a technique that make them look real.  The technique goes by the French name “Trompe L’Oiel” which means roughly to fool the eye.  It is pronounced: “trum ploy”.

A close-up illustrates the point

How and why it became fashionable to use it along the north west coast of Italy could be the subject of a doctoral thesis.  What we discovered was that it is done by homeowners and landlords to increase the eye appeal of their building.  There are no tax or direct economic subsidies to the owners.  It is roughly the same as people in Pasadena spending a lot of money to do really nice landscaping in their front yards.  It works by something like peer pressure for adults.

note the shadows of the real shutters above

In many cases the original building was roughly hewn stone from the late middle ages.  They were stuccoed later as fashion changed and economics allowed.  Beginning in the mid nineteenth century with the arrival of the railroads and tourists the fashion of decorating a building with trompe l’oiel started. Probably so the buildings wouldn’t look like they were in poor fishing villages.

I like the fact that a community of people works through non government, non coercive means to achieve a common good.  Sometimes it has gotten a little out of hand.

Even the cat is painted

I wonder if a painter skilled at this type of painting could build a business in the Los Angeles area?

More Trompe L’Oeil Pictures

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