10.12.2023

According to our experience, it is a rare thing to find a dwelling in Italy that isn’t coated in hard tile flooring and inhabited by dozens of small shatter-able trinkets. In other words, the furthest thing from child-friendly. With each weekly relocation we scramble to put everything perishable out of reach from small hands, but still they manage to fumble and drop the glass cups at the dinner table, find tiny bottles of fragrant oil in hidden corners, and bump over the large decorative vase. I fear we are leaving a trail of destruction in our wake. Just last week I celebrated, a bit too loudly, the fact that we had happened upon a seven day streak with nothing breaking. Immediately thereafter, a child, attempting to entertain herself with a clock and porcelain toy, succeeded in breaking both items. We have yet to leave a place unmarred, but I am steadfastly hoping for better outcomes at the next place. 

Beginning to feel like a bull in a china shop, I pondered whether or not Italians are simply more graceful than Americans. Maybe they never break things in this part of the world. Maybe clumsiness is a toxic American trait. But when I happen upon the parks that are teeming with children, parents, and grandparents, I observe that they are certainly not wanting for liveliness. Little children jostle into each other eagerly at the top of the lone slide while parents, crowded in to supervise from every possible angle, are saying “Aspetta! Aspetta!” (Wait, wait). “This is the European way,” a lady explains to us when we marvel aloud at the amount of people congregating in the park, and she gestures emphatically and elaborately like a true Italian. I am sure if I tried this at home I would succeed in knocking over multiple items in one grand gesture. Oh well.

We are growing braver every day in the use of our limited Italian and it certainly helps that Italians, in general, are happy to interact. It is a bit uncommon to find anyone who speaks English very well. The ones who do, inform us that they’ve learned on Netflix. 

People everywhere, old and young, male and female, stop to exclaim over our toddler “Che bellissima” (How beautiful) they gush. She returns the complement with welcoming and exuberant “hello”s and “ciao”s or a steadfastly suspicious scowl depending upon her present mood. Italians are typically quite fond of children and yet, it is a rarity to find a family with more than two. 

We particularly enjoy the parks and public spaces in which you can find people of all ages socializing. Everywhere, it seems, from the McDonalds to the school bus stops the generations are mingling. An elderly woman escorts a young child home from school in time for afternoon siesta, a group of moms and children chat together over happy meals, men from various stages of life gather morning and evening in the bars and street corners. The parks are full most evenings and in some communities they seem to function as the used toy dump. All manner of riding toys, push toys, dolls, and play kitchens are scattered throughout the park as a sort of communal toy box left in the elements. Our toy deprived children were full of rejoicing at this discovery! Better yet, all of the toys were already broken which seems appropriate for my crew of destructive Americans. I relax a bit at the visible proof that we are not the only ones! 

As we make our way north we observe that more young people are working in the bars - the Italian equivalent of a coffee shop. This is a positive sign that there is more job availability and explains why a majority of refugees end up in the northern Lombardia region of Italy. 

We anticipate our weeks ahead exploring various parts of northern Italy, including the city of Milan. The southerners let us know that Milan is just a big, boring, modern city like any other. I suppose to them it feels pretty removed from aspects of Italian culture that permeate their lives in a small southern town. We are told that the further north you go the less collectivist and more individualized the culture becomes. The industry and prices follow a rising trend as you leave the south and, according to the southerners, the food quality decreases. We are excited to experience it all for ourselves. And we are confident that whatever cultural aspects may change, as long as we are within Italian borders, there shall continue to be a plethora of pizzerias and gelaterias to fuel our journey. 

~JR