An Italian Lost Paradise, The Trib

Shakespeare portrayed Padua (Italy) as the ''Nursey of arts'', Galilei had here many of his best insights, but there's much more to focus on. Few kilometres far from Venice, Padua is now living a golden era of skateboarding and this is a short journey through its most famous spot, “The Trib”.

This squared and symmetrical plaza hidden between fully mirrored buildings is now the centre of  the city's skate life, a place where office-men, skaters (and police) meet up more or less everyday. Many north-est Italian skaters had to deal with its iconic rounded edges, and it's well known that once you learn how to skate those, you can skate everything. The Trib has gone by different eras, being scenery of crowded sessions and deep loneliness afternoons, so I decided to hit up some close friends to tell more about this spot.

Rider: Gabriele Riva @Gabriele.Riva 

Photography: Allessandro Brugaletta @__shit.happens

Benza, 45

It was August 1993, we noticed a building site that should have been the new city court (Tribunale in Italian, here's where the name comes from). It was so dusty but looked perfectly skateable, the ledges were brand new. We thought it was the new city court, it was meant to be a business center though. I can say that I skated the spot since day zero, the first session took place when it wasn't accessible to the public yet.

The rounded ledge is so unique, you can recognize the locals because are the ones who can skate it, and a freedom sense rises up from this big space. This is a great mix of human beings, people who work here and others who just pass by, it happens to meet every kind of social character, from the barber to the bank manager. Skaters are totally part of the frame, even if police still tries to kick us sometimes, but everyone comes back in a while.

The Trib is way different than a skatepark, it spreads the same groove that you can feel in more known skate plazas. It influenced my way to skate letting me having longer lines, mixing tricks and styles, while in the first times I used to focus more on the single trick. Oh yeah, obviously I skate the rounded ledge.

Rider: Marcello Milani @Milani_Marcello 

Photography: Allessandro Brugaletta @__shit.happens

Luca, 24

I remember my first time at The Trib 10 years ago, I just seriously stepped into skateboarding and saw the spot in a video. It looked like something from outer space, I mean, I don't know if you skated in Venice (where I come from) but I can tell it has the worst ground ever. It took like an hour to find out where to go, but once there I felt in paradise. Now I moved to Padua, so it's my local spot.

The waxed curbs are crazy and man, the rounded ledges.. everybody knows them. I must mention the flat, it's so nice, smooth, I would say magic. In the beginning I used to go to The Trib just to skate, because it's so iconic and there's a lot of space, then I really got in touch with the locals and now it happens to be there also to meet up with friends and share some beers.

It's more than a skate spot, it's an intergenerational meeting point. I can skate both with people I saw in videos when I was a kid and new talents, it hypes me, it fully represents the soul of skateboarding: sharing.

Rider: Gabriele Riva @Gabriele.Riva 

Photography: Allessandro Brugaletta @__shit.happens

Gabri, 20

I got to The Trib a few months after I started skating, a friend of mine took me there. Fun fact: during my first session ever I broke my elbow, 7 years later I'm still here. The spot has a crazy energy, I think it comes from the many generations of skaters that shredded it for so long. That's my happy place, I feel at home and the mirrored buildings around make the atmosphere surreal at sunset, even to those who don't skate. I like the 2 stairs set, that's perfect for long smoothy slappys, but I fell in love with the red jersey barrier we brought here many years ago. (We upgraded the spot with some DIY stuff)

It's today a known reality in the city and it's getting a lot of notoriety, a place where businessmen casually walk trough sweaty skaters. It might seem an easy spot to skate but it's not, if you learn how to deal with it you get that real ''street pedigree''.

Oil on Canvas, Painting of The Trib

Artist: Marcello Milani @Milani_Marcello

Come discovering Italy, we do have cookies.. and crookies! You can stay focused on the spot by checking @trib_life on IG!