This story stems from the desire to support and encourage European dialogue between Veneto and Istria, Dalmatia and Montenegro by studying and enhancing the history, the functions - legal and otherwise - and the evolution of two important architectural structures - the " padiglione "and the" loggia "- present in the Veneto and Istrian, Dalmatian and Montenegrin territories and to propose the sustainable use of the aforementioned structures for the creation of initiatives to increase the cultural and tourist offer of the territories involved. By telling this story we will disclose an identity which unites instead of dividing.

DUE CULTURE UNA IDENTITA’- TWO CULTURES ONE EUROPEAN IDENTITY STORY OF “PAVAJON” I, Italian by naturalization, of Dalmatian origin, often found myself searching for similarities in the place where I live that reminded me of home. However, it seemed impossible to find it in the “Polesine” area. One day, in a small town, “Grignano Polesine”, for the first time I saw the ”Pavajon” (pavilion). As soon as I saw it, something reminded me of my beloved Dalmatia. I had the unbeatable feeling of having in front of me something familiar, which belonged to me. Looking at it I imagined how an unrivaled ambience would have been if it had been full of people participating in parties, different venues, sumptuously laid tables, children running and dancing with mirthful laughter, painting exhibitions, poetry evenings… Was it just a dream, a flashback or maybe was it a remembrance? I fondly remember a summer on the island of” Korčula”(Dalmatia) in the town of “Blato”, where I had found myself in the midst of a popular festival. In the center of the village there was a building named “Loža” and in that building the folk group “Kumpanija” used to perform popular swords dance. The shape and the roof and location of “Pavajon di Grignano” made up an atmosphere that ultimately created a memory…. Dream or vision, certainly it was a desire to bring a fraction of my heart in the foggy “Polesine” and to forge the friendship between distant lands. To help you get an idea of what I’m talking about, I have to introduce you to the true, historically documented vicissitudes of the “Pavajon” to be left as factual knowledge to our children, European citizens, something to be proud of. History of “Pavajon” and its architectural and socio-cultural evolutions in Veneto, Istria, Dalmatia and on the Montenegrin coast :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: This story stems from the desire to support and encourage European dialogue between Veneto and Istria, Dalmatia and Montenegro by studying and enhancing the history, the functions - legal and otherwise - and the evolution of two important architectural structures - the " padiglione "and the" loggia "- present in the Veneto and Istrian, Dalmatian and Montenegrin territories and to propose the sustainable use of the aforementioned structures for the creation of initiatives to increase the cultural and tourist offer of the territories involved. In the Middle Ages, known as the period of division into small fiefdoms, the use of very similar material and organizational structures turns out to be extraordinary. The pavilions also undergo the evolution in loggias around which a lively activity of markets and fairs develops throughout the medieval European territory. Later on the Venetian Republic, in the territories under its influence, intelligently proceeded to promote and strengthen the use of these structures. What follows is that these structures have survived intact to date, testifying how distinct cultures have one unique European identity. THE EVENTS OF THE MUNICIPALITY AND PAVAJON OF GRIGNANO POLESINE The origins of “Grignano” date back to the Bronze Age; a testimony of the original inhabited center of the village dates back to 938 and concerns a donation by the Marquis Almerico and his wife Franca who left all their possessions to the Church in the Adriese territory, among which the town of “Gragnano” was mentioned as an independent municipality named Grignano. It later changed into “Grignano Polesine” by resolution dated March 25, 1867; in 1927 the municipality was abolished and incorporated into the town of Rovigo. There is a secular-old tradition in “Grignano Polesine”, situated in territory of “Polesine”, which is a collective property, unique in its kind, called "La Comuna". The “La Comuna” originates from the so-called” Vicinia” which in common language represents the village and the community of its inhabitants. The “vicinia” in the Middle Ages is a community of neighbors, located in rural and sometimes urban areas, invested with public functions, equipped with its own collective assets (‘bona comunalia or vicinalia’) and characterized by assemblies in which discussions were held regarding the management of common properties, pastures and woods. The “vicinie” often elected their own magistrates, consuls and officers specialized in supervisory functions. In the “vicinia”, during the modern era, it was the unity of the village inhabitants that allowed the farmers’ self-government of the community. Overcoming internal divisions, the “vicinia” regained firmness and kept alive the solidarity mechanisms, especially with regard to collective estates, common goods and municipal properties. The population was acting in compliance with the conservation and defense of what is now called by economists "collective ownership", in other words an ownership system in which a group of users of a resource share rights and duties towards it. The members of “La Comuna “had as a meeting and market place the so-called "Pavajon" originally a cane shed, the structure and function of which is described later in the section "Definitions and architectural context." “La Comuna” of “Grignano Polesine” is represented by an institution called "Antichi Beni Originirari" / * it literally means – the Ancient Original Goods/. As stated in the statute, the “Antichi Beni Originari” is an asset of private reason whose land is consists of about 130 hectares. The right of enjoyment of these lands belongs to the original inhabitants (called “compartecipi” - members of the group of emphyteutas). By originals we mean the male descendants of the families who at the time of the first investiture were in “Grignano “and lend their work for the reclamation of those lands, transforming them from swampy valleys to fertile agricultural properties, implementing an immense, difficult and long work of optimization of the water regime. The aforementioned right is exercised on a portion of land, equal in extension, for each member. These lands were granted to the inhabitants of the village of “Grignano”, in emphyteusis (perpetual lease), by the Benedictine Abbey of Santa Maria on the island of Pomposa which had owned it since the tenth century. The oldest document in which it is possible to find evidence of this special use dates back to 1426. In this text it is also stated that the members of the group of emphyteutas had to provide the Abbey, as a purely symbolic annual lease tax, “sei pesci cavedani e tre denari dei piccoli” (i.e. the payment had to be done both in kind and with money: six chub fish and three small denarii). From that date, therefore, the "Pavajon" in “Grignano” started to turn into a place of trading and assembly meetings. Towards the middle of the-fifteenth century, owing to some disagreements, which resulted in the non-payment of the annual lease fee by the "gregnanati" (Grignano’s inhabitants) and in the consequent non-renewal of the emphyteusis (it should have occurred in 1473), all the assets returned to the Abbey's property. With the deed dated December 3, 1494, the Rev. Father Geminiano from Modena Abbot of Pomposa, in the name and on behalf of the Abbey and Monastery of San Benedetto, granted an investiture all over again, no longer to the generic "Men of Grignano” but directly to a precise list of heads of the families, gathered to represent only those inhabitants of the town who, starting from the first investiture, contributed physically and economically to the continuous reclamation and improvement of the property. This agreement, which indisputably ratified once and for all the originals’ exclusive right to enjoy the "Comuna", was the fundamental document that saved the "Comuna de Gregnàn" from subsequent attempts of both destruction on the part of public bodies (in 1806 by Napoleon, in 1940 by the Italian State), and alleging rights of membership by some non-originals (in 1622 and 1729, a question definitively resolved by the Council of XL at the “Criminal” - i.e. Criminal Court - of the” Serenissima “Venetian Republic) In 1968, the members of the group of emphyteutas became owners of the land and continued to cultivate and provide with the same rules used at that time for the same lands that the ancestors cultivated before them. The “Pavajon of Grignano” was originally a cane hut that served as a meeting and market place for the Comuna's members. As the reclamation works were done the “Comuna” and the surrounding lands progressed, the “Pavajon “got gradually strengthened in its structure becoming in 1454 a building with walls made of poles and clay and in 1494 a brick building with a roof covered with tiles, while maintaining its original functions. The ancient building currently has a quadrangular shape with a sloping roof with wooden trusses and tiles, supported by a colonnade of twelve smooth, squat elements which rise from a parametric low wall. It has a facade with a solemn arched portal with curvilinear cymatium with, on the sides, two white stone statues depicting two male figures in classical robes: the rustic and the religious, which are the sculptural representation of the Benedictine rule Ora et labora. The one on the right in particular is of good fifteenth-century workmanship and is attributed to the workshop of “Dalle Masegne”. A memorial stone, placed in the center of the top pediment, bears the inscription "Erected in 1409, restored in 1892"; a second more recent one, reads "Fana deleta Reficere (C.Nepote) March 19, 1995 in memory of the last restoration". The "Pavajon" or pavilions see their architectural evolution in the loggias and in parallel their socio-cultural evolution from the assemblies of representatives of the inhabitants in the current fairs, markets and other commercial activities. The “Loggia” is an architectural organism open on one or more sides, supported by pillars or columns. The “Loggia” is a structure used in all times: it is possible to find examples already on the Acropolis of Athens, then in the medieval buildings, in the fifteenth-century ones, in the palaces and villas from the Renaissance onwards. The name of “Loggia” also indicates the galleries with colonnades or arches that are located above the ground floor around the courtyards of monastic complexes or in palaces and some public arcades. They were traditionally intended both for public use and for productive, commercial or assembly activities. The same architectural objects, even better preserved, can be found today in Croatia, in the regions of Istria and Dalmatia, and also on the Montenegrin coast. By telling this story we will disclose an identity which unites instead of dividing. Storyteller: Jugana Sladic Email address: jugana.sladic@majulero.it

This story is testimony of our unique European story made centuries ago which has culminated and developed under Venetian Republic. This cultural treasure was extended in countries mentioned before as Italy and Croatia, now members of the European Union and Montenegro, future member of EU. Pavajon and the Loggie are tangible proofs of the heritage that had developed around them. This heritage consists of civic and juridical customs and habits as for instance the birth of collective properties. The evolution in loggias had them become meeting places for commercial exchanges, markets that developed in today's fairs and nowadays we find throughout Europe fairs full of pavilions with the representative functions for the exhibitors. Something to be left to our children, European citizens, and to make them proud of their cultural and historic heritages which make them European culture ambassadors.