No, this isn't the same list I made for a recent posting in Italian. Not exactly, anyway.
I have to tell you that it's hard to come back here, to the dreary, humid weather, to the reality of having spent way too much and to how pay for it all -- and back to work and to all the normal duties and responsibilities a grown-up has. And back to the American way of organizing life, which doesn't seem so great as it used to. It's sort of joyless in a lot of ways. Or maybe it's me. I don't know.
So, #1 on the list is pretty obvious: I miss Italy because I was on vacation and could do whatever the hell I felt like doing.
2. I miss Rome and its cosmopolitan bustle -- and real Romans, who are like New Yorkers in the sense that they've seen it all, but they're not jaded and nasty. In fact, they're pretty nice and helpful.
3. I miss Siena and its coherent beauty. The people are very nice there, too, and I find their Italian very easy to understand.
4. I miss Verona. It's physically a beautiful city, but of course the people made it a kind of second home. And I will see them and the town again at Vinitaly!
5. I miss the astonishing food of Naples. Especially the seafood, which put nearly everything else I've ever had in the shade. Good as it was, it wasn't very expensive. It's worth going there for a few days just to pig out. Ignoble but true.
6. I miss the coffee. And, generally speaking, as Neapolitans will tell you, the coffee gets better and stronger as you head south. Sugar floats on top of the foam for a few seconds before it sloooowly sinks to the bottom. True, true, all true.
7. I miss the sound of the language. I found myself embarrassingly tongue-tied at times, but I love hearing it even when I'm not getting a lot of it.
8. I miss the rhythm of life. How great it is to go to pranzo -- really the big meal of the day -- from 1 or 2 till about 3 or 4, and eat like a king? And drink wine, prosecco, liqueurs, yet no one gets drunk or even a little hammered. And then dinner at 10 or later (in Naples) or about 9 in Rome (where they eat at more New York-like hours), and again you sit and eat and chat and laugh and generally feel wonderful for a couple of hours. No one's rushing you out of the trattoria to turn the table. You come in at 9, it's your table till you feel like going.
9. I miss the spontaneous generosity you see so often. Little, impulsive gifts or favors people do for you even when there's no gain in it. I come from New England, and it sure wasn't like that when I was a kid. I know there are darker, nastier sides to the Italian character (graft, crime, politics, etc.) -- but, wait, we have those things too.
10. I miss the way I felt, on this trip as on no other, like I belonged there. A combination of factors made it so, not least a warm welcome from some great people in Siena and Verona. And I was there not for a week or ten days, but a solid month, so it was easier to get into the spirit of the place.
I suspect a lot of Americans feel similarly; I met no one from our country who didn't love Italy and all it had to offer -- art, natural beauty, wonderful food and wine, and the (mostly) warm and charming people.
The Pietrantonj winemaking family of Vittorito in Abruzzo
I understand your thoughts completely. While you can create your own world here, even in Dallas, the people part is often missing!
Bentornato!
Posted by: David | August 27, 2006 at 10:43 AM
David, it's funny about the Italians -- they are always bitching about their country and each other, preferring to accentuate the negative. Maybe I would if I lived there. But to me it looks like a pretty good thing they've got going.
Posted by: Terry Hughes | August 27, 2006 at 05:13 PM
I know what you are talking about.
The farther South the more accentuated this perception. While I think this characteristic is destructive in Puglia, Campagnia and Reggio Calabria ( I spent many years speaking at Industrial Conferences regarding business creation), in Friuli, Piemonte and Lombardia I think it is a way to rationalize some long-standing difficulties.
Posted by: David | August 28, 2006 at 10:21 AM
OH MY GOSH all this describe why I miss Italy soooo well!
Posted by: Ilu | August 08, 2008 at 11:47 PM
OH MY GOSH all this describe why I miss Italy soooo well!
Posted by: Ilu | August 08, 2008 at 11:48 PM
Hey i couldt be more a agree with you, if i may add the variety of food, the different sunset in every city, il caio bella in every street, and god! pizza!
Posted by: vivian | August 13, 2009 at 07:28 PM
Ah, sweet sweet Siena. I had the AWESOME luxury of living there for 5 weeks and long to go back. The people are amazing, and if you are there long enough, you work your way into being a local. My friend and I would walk through town and be waving to friends we'd made. They take you in and welcome you completely. I love how they gather and talk, and laugh. The little old men sitting on the church steps, the women dressed as if they are going to a club or an opera, in the middle of the day...I miss it too.
Posted by: Christine | September 18, 2009 at 12:47 AM