点评:Since Val d'Orcia was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, the region has gradually come to symbolize the characteristics for which the Tuscan landscape is appreciated.
There are criticisms to be made of this identification. The main one is that the Val d'Orcia landscape was not (and therefore is not) the typical landscape of central Tuscany, but rather a particular version of it: the version of extensive cultivation, with a prevalence of bare arable land, recommended to landowners by the more abundant presence of clay in the soil.
But it's difficult to fight against the "empire" of collective representations.
However, assuming — and not conceding — that Val d'Orcia can be considered a typical landscape of central Tuscany, the Vitaleta chapel has gradually come to assume, in this context, a particular iconic value.
As it happens, there are no documents mentioning the presence of a chapel on the hill it now occupies prior to 1580, thus the late Renaissance; and furthermore, we don't know what this chapel looked like. We do know, however, that its current appearance is due to a renovation the chapel underwent in 1884, based on sixteenth-century models.
The complex of chapel, cypress trees planted around it, and bare arable land looming on all sides is so striking that it can easily overlook the chapel's lack of antiquity: appreciation for this place certainly isn't fueled primarily by historical awareness.
翻译:自2004年瓦尔德奥尔恰被列入联合国教科文组织世界遗产名录以来,该地区逐渐成为托斯卡纳景观特色的象征。
这种认定也存在一些争议。主要的争议在于,瓦尔德奥尔恰的景观并非(因此也并非)托斯卡纳中部地区的典型景观,而是一种特殊的类型:一种以粗放耕作为主的景观,裸露的耕地占主导地位,这得益于当地土壤中黏土含量较高,因此更受地主青睐。
然而,要撼动集体表象的“帝国”并非易事。
尽管如此,即便我们假设(而非承认)瓦尔德奥尔恰可以被视为托斯卡纳中部地区的典型景观,维塔莱塔小教堂也逐渐在这种背景下获得了特殊的象征意义。
事实上,没有任何文献记载在1580年之前,也就是文艺复兴晚期之前,这座山丘上曾有一座小教堂;而且,我们也不知道这座小教堂原本的模样。不过,我们知道它现在的样子是1884年根据十六世纪的建筑风格进行翻修的结果。
这座小教堂建筑群,周围环绕着柏树,四周是光秃秃的耕地,如此引人注目,以至于人们很容易忽略它缺乏历史底蕴的事实:人们对这处地方的欣赏,显然并非主要源于对历史的了解。