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No TAV: Davide Tidoni
No TAV. No Treno Alta Velocità. No to the High Speed Train. Over the last thirty years, these words have become common currency in Valsusa, a valley in the Western Italian Alps that has been the stage for one of Europe’s longest-standing struggles against the harmful effects of megaproject development that includes plans to drill the world’s longest railway tunnel beneath the mountains on the border between Italy and France.
Davide Tidoni’s selection of sounds from the No TAV struggle, featured in this issue of ARB’s online playlist, present a few sonic snapshots from the last four decades.
1. TGV train passing through Macon, France, 1992
The sound of a French TGV train, recorded by Comitato Habitat in Macon, France, in 1992. The recordings were used by scientists at the Politecnico University in Turin to create an audio simulation of a train travelling at high speed through the deep gullies of an Alpine valley. The simulation was presented at a university conference in February 1993, as well as in a number of public presentations in the towns of Valsusa. The presentations by Prof. Chiocchia and Prof. Cancelli were influential in convincing local residents of the valley to support the opposition to the TAV project.
Recording: Comitato Habitat, 1992
Editing: Davide Tidoni, 2025
2 Veni Creator Spiritus
Hymn to the Holy Spirit sung by “Cattolici per la vita della valle,” a faith-based group of No TAV activists, at the fence of the TAV worksite. Since 2011, the group has regularly organized and promoted vigils and prayers outside the worksite. People gathered initially at a shrine that was set up in May 2011 (and later removed by police in August 2012), then at a votive statue of Padre Pio placed near the fence of the worksite, and lastly as part of the Stations of the Cross procession that is organized in the Easter period. These prayer initiatives are also attended by non-religious people, and are framed as a secular time and place for meditation.
Voice: Gabriella Tittonel
Recording and editing: Davide Tidoni, 2020
3 No TAV Women’s Coven
A coven against the TAV held outside the fences of the worksite on July 24, 2011. “Every participant spoke their curse and their wish. The women’s muttering rose to the skies, intense and disturbing, met with curiosity, shock and disquiet. Once the murmur fell quiet, each of us took turns piercing a puppet that acted as a symbol of power and of its armed servants. The puppet was ultimately set on fire. Then there was screaming, laughing, wailing, dancing, and many other expressions of the imagination and power of women. The assault will last until victory comes and the witches and their scourge return once again.”
Voices: Donne No TAV
Recording: Movimento No TAV, 2011
Editing: Davide Tidoni, 2025
4 Gli anni d’oro di San Didero [The Golden Years of San Didero]
The last recording is a protest song against the imminent opening of a worksite near the town of San Didero. It talks about the organization and collective experience of the first presidio in San Didero, which started on December 13, 2020 and was evicted by police on the night between April 12 and 13, 2021. A rearranged version can be found in Tidoni’s broader compilation of No TAV protest songs, The Best of No TAV.
Voices: Presidio No TAV San Didero
Recording and Editing: Davide Tidoni, 2021
