thisweekinitaly.com

Making Change

I’ve mentioned the difficulty Italians seem to have in making change at
the store. This week when I gave the barber a 20 Euro bill for a 15 Euro
haircut,
he had to go next door to get change. As always in Italy, first the merchant
tries to make change from the cash register and then from his personal
wallet. When I bought an item for 3 Euros at
the market and tendered a 10 Euro bill, it was a problem. The item I
purchased
was 3 Euros for one and 5 for two. I eventually took a second one so the
lady
could more easily make the change. This problem may be exacerbated by the
fact that cash machines in Italy regularly give out 50 Euro bills and 100
Euro
bills are quite common. I’ve seen people buying a gelato cone with a 100
Euro
bill. Maybe part of the problem in making change is that merchants
constantly
have to make change for large bills.

Change in Traffic Pattern

In my end of town they changed the directions of some one way streets with
considerable advance notice and explanations. The change was to be
effective at 7:30 am on May 24. At 8:30 am nothing had changed; cars were
going the usual direction and the traffic policeman
was doing nothing. But by the afternoon the change was in effect. The
headline on the paper the next day was “Traffic in Chaos.” There were long
lines of cars in a location where traffic usually is fairly smooth. I’ve
noted in a few other contexts that Italians do not seem quick to adapt to
change.

Driving in Italy and the USA

I read an article about driving in the USA in which the author said that
the roads were very good, but the cars had so many automatic features
that drivers seemed to lose focus, and as a result there were more accidents
than there should be. I would say that the important difference, if any,
is that it is much easier to get a driver’s license in the USA than in
Italy.
Because a driver’s license is a necessity in America, the rules for getting
one are rather lax. Think of all the people in the USA that don?t speak
English but still get a license. Maybe the driver’s license test is
available
in Spanish in some states, but it surely is not available in all the foreign
languages that immigrants speak. In Italy you must go to driver’s school,
you cannot get a license before 18, and the test is much more difficult.
Also in Italy they don’t (as Florida did for my Dad) give you at age 89
a license valid for 7 years. My Dad didn’t get to use the license for 7
years; at 92 he took a shortcut home from my sister’s house driving over
all her neighbors’ lawns.

Political Sign

I saw a sign with two pictures on it. The first was an American GI and
some Italians in Rome in June 1944 as the city was liberated. The caption
“Rome June 1944, The America We Love.” The other was the famous recent
photo
of the Iraqi prisoner with a hood over his head and his hands attached
to electric wires. The caption “Baghdad April 2004, the America We Reject.”
First note that both captions are in the present tense. The poster doesn’t
speak of an America that was good in the past but bad now, but of an America
that still can be good and bad at the same time. When I talk about the
war in Iraq with Italians, they very often talk about civilian casualties.
Italy suffered many such casualties in WWII. Also the issue of torture
resonates here because torture was a tactic in the Italian Civil War of
1943-45 (where prisoners were not subject to the Geneva Convention). So
casualties of war and torture are vivid in the historical memory here in
a way they are not in the USA. What ones thinks of American policy in Iraq
is a matter of opinion; I have friends with radically different opinions
on this point. That the war in general and especially recent events in
Iraq have lowered the reputation of the USA in Italy (and Europe in general)
is a fact.

Correction

The headline I translated as speaking of “nocturnal racists” actually spoke
of “nocturnal forays.” I don’t know if the victim of these forays was
chosen for “racial reasons.” Nevertheless racism is a fact of life in Italy
today. In the past, before there were many immigrant to Italy, racism took
the form of some northern Italians calling their darker cousins from
southern
Italy “Moroccans.”

“Gee, thanks, it is just the gift I wanted”

If you visit the Vatican Museums in Rome you will see, among the displays,
items that were given to the Popes as gifts from various countries and
groups.
This week a group of auto workers from Spain gave His Holiness a new VW
Beetle (which were made in Spain until last year). If you’ve seen the Pope
recently, it is clear he won’t be tooling around Rome in his new car. Maybe
they can find a way to carry or drive it into the Vatican Museums where
it can be on display with other goodies presented to the Pope.

A Trip with the Bicycle Club

The Bicycle Club I joined is sponsoring a one-week cycling vacation at end
of June. The Club I belong to in Hanover, PA also occasionally has trips,
usually to places such as the Delaware shore. The Pistoia group is going to
the Dolomites in northern Italy. The brochure of the host hotel
describes the various mountain passes nearby, noting which ones were the
scenes of mountain stages of the Giro d’ Italia. Of the 7 routes spelled
out in the brochure, I think I could ride two of them. Riding with the
members of this club (who are not young) on their ordinary rides will
definitely be a challenge.

More about the @ sign

Despite my belief otherwise, apparently this sign does not have in English
a technical name other than “the at sign” or “the commercial at.”From
friends who sent me information about this sign, I discovered that some
trace this symbol back to 6th and
7th century Latin scribes. Others say it first arose in Italy in the 14th
or 15th century in a commercial context. In calling it “a snail” the
Italians
are part of a broad tradition of colorful names for this sign. Among other
such names are : rollmop (Czech), little monkey’s tail (Dutch), little duck
(Greek), little dog (Russian), ear (Turkish), or pig’s tail (Norwegian).

Economic News

Italy’s economy continues to be in the doldrums. An industrial leader gave
a speech recently in which he called for an end of the bickering among
labor,
management, and the government to establish a united front to take the steps
necessary to revive the economy. The speech was applauded by people from
all parts of the political spectrum. Nevertheless these divisions are so
ingrained in Italian politics that it is hard to believe that the united
front will occur.

The Invasion of the English Language

An Italian friend was lamenting that the Italians use English words at times
when there are perfectly good Italian words for the same thing. Although he
thinks the French have gone too far (passing criminal laws) in trying to
protect their language from the English invasion, he thinks the Italians
have not done enough. When I asked him why Italians used English words when
they are not necessary, he said that English is considered “chic” or
stylish. I replied that if it is a matter of style, the Italians (with
their obsession with style) are going to do what the what is stylish no
matter what anyone does to try to stop them. He laughed and agreed.

Name for @

There is, I believe, a word in English for the @ symbol; I can’t remember
what it is. The Italians have a very good word for this symbol; they call
it a snail.

Local Headline

“Constrained to Sleep with Rifle under the Bed–Racists of the Night in
Village of …» Italians in the past were very contemptuous of the racism
in the United States, but here we have a headline that might have fit in
the American south 40 years ago. I did not read the article;
the family that was the subject of harassment may have been Black or may
have been from a different immigrant group. Of course, as always in Italy,
the situation itself may be less sensational than the headline.

Soccer Scandal

As I’ve mentioned before, I have not undertaken the daunting task of trying
to understand the world of Italian soccer. It would be for me a full-time
job. I do know that there is a scandal about some players conspiring with
gamblers to set the scores and/or results of matches. It reminds me
of the old joke about the three women bragging in America about their
successful sons. The first one says, “my son is a doctor, and he is so
successful, he bought me a new Mercedes Benz.” The second one counters, “my
son is a lawyer, and he does so well that he bought me a new house.”The
third one, an immigrant from Italy, says “my boy, he-sa maka so mucha of the
money, that he-sa buy for me a new-a car and a new-a house.” The others ask
what her son does and she replies “he-sa fix-a things” Surprised that a
repairman can be so wealthy, one of the women asks, “what does he fix”? The
Italian lady replies “he-sa fix the football game, he-sa
fix the baseball game, he-sa fix the boxing match.”

A Sardinian Festival

There was a local exhibition of products from Sardinia. When you tell
an Italian that you attended such an event, he or she will ask
“did you buy such and such kind of cheese; did you taste such and such kind
of sausage.” The Italians know the products that are the specialties of all
the different regions. In the United States, Michigan is known to grow
cherries, Washington is famous for its apples etc., but there are not
specific kinds of cheeses, meats, breads, etc. that are associated strongly
with a particular state. Some Americans can talk knowledgeably about
particular wines associated with New York or California, but an
understanding of regional wines is also much more common and sophisticated
in Italy.

A Solution to a Mailing Problem

One of the challenges in Italy is finding ways to work around the endemic
inefficiencies. I often buy stamps for letters at the tobacco shop, but I
have taken packages to the post office to be weighed and then stamped with
the proper postage. I discovered this week that the tobacco store too has a
scale and a postal rate list. It really is a small postal sub-station. So
I don’t have to wait in line at the post office with packages.
Last week I saw a rare display of impatience among Italians at the post
office. There is a “take a number” system for service, but often
people who only want information by-pass the number system and go directly
to the window and ask a clerk. There was a lady whose number was shown on
the sign above the window, but before she could be served, someone butted in
front of her to ask for information. Fifteen minutes later this person was
still talking to the clerk about his problem. The women whose turn it was
finally began to complain loudly. The interloper was an old man; I’ve
noticed that older people often don’t understand the new number system.
Also older people are granted a lot of deference in Italy.

Baby on Board

You see signs with this phrase in windows on American cars. There is this
sign too in Italy–it says “Bimbo al Bordo.” When I see it, I keep
expecting to see Hugh Heffner in the driver’s seat rather than a young
parent.

Leaving a Book You Have Finished Reading for Someone Else to Find and Read

I wrote last week that I had, out of absentmindedness, developed this habit
that I then decided to adopt intentionally. A friend sent me the
interesting message below

“Hey! Many years ago, while I was traveling by train in Europe, a fellow
passenger told me that it was “tradition” to leave a book you’ve finished
reading on the seat for someone else to enjoy! Then I noticed that
occasionally someone would close the last page of a book and actually turn
to offer it to whoever was near by. At the time, the tradition seemed to
involve mostly Stephen King’s books (not exactly one of my favorite authors)
but I nonetheless got a big kick out of noticing the books and picking them
up long enough to see what language they were in ….”

So I’ve become a European by an accident of my bad memory!!

Exhibit of Art Work of Young Artists

There is such an exhibit this month in Pistoia. It is not an exhibit in
a single location. Instead these art works are dispersed throughout
various museums in Pistoia. At one museum I saw two such works. There
was an old piano in one the rooms. In front of it the young artist had hung
a large piece of very sheer cloth. Projected on this cloth was videotape
of the back of a woman playing a piano. The effect was that it looked like
there was a woman actually playing the piano. Similarly in front of a large
bed in another room there was a cloth with videotape projected of a man
sleeping. So it looked like there was a man in the actual bed. This bed is
known as “the Pope’s bed” because it is in the home of Pistoia’s one Pope
who was from the 16th century. He was a “transitional Pope”–one elected in
old age to span the period until a more suitable Pope could be agreed upon
by the various factions in the Church. He fulfilled his role well–he died
within three years.

A City to Touch

This is the name of an art exhibit in Pistoia that is specially made for
blind people. There are models of all the major buildings in town and a
town map. The map is done in relief with descriptions in braille. Similarly
the buildings have braille descriptions. So a blind person can get a
feeling for what the major buildings “look” like and how they are related to
each other.

FIAT 500

This is a little car (smaller than a Volkswagen Beetle) that was made in
Italy in the 1960s and early 1970s (perhaps even earlier). You still see a
lot of them. They are very convenient as a city car because they can
negotiate the narrow streets and fit into small parking places. The 500
refers to the 500 cc motor; today motorcycles have motors more that twice as
large as this engine. I mentioned to my friend Sam that these cars must be
very durable and reliable to still be on the road. He did not think that
they were particularly reliable, but because they are so small and simple,
it does not cost a lot to repair them.

Party for Foreign Language Students

I attended a party at a local school of foreign languages. As you might
guess the food was excellent. One of the students was also a magician. He
is also a veterinarian. As a result, he did not pull rabbits out of
the hat–he pulled out a chinchilla, a snake, and for the climax, a large
owl. There was a singer with an electronic keyboard. He sang popular songs,
but he also reeled off a few opera arias. Not the typical fare for a lounge
singer.

Trip to Ferrara

I took a trip to visit an art exhibit and a few other sites at Ferrara in
Emiglia-Romanga. This is a city that most Tuscans have never visited.
It was lovely. In the United states there are charming small towns and
exciting large cities, but there are not many cities of 90,000 or so that
are attractive to tourists. Italy s full of cities of this size that are
wonderful places to visit.

New Photos on Web Site

On web site www.bob.it.tt there are some photos (April 2004) of my bike
trip with my friend Max Hoffmann along the Via Francegina in Tuscany. It
was a wet,cloudy week, not ideal for photographs, but still you might enjoy
a quick view of these.

“Honest Officer, It Fell Off the Back of the Truck”

“It fell off the back of the truck.” This is a phrase used in USA for “hot”
goods. While bike riding recently I came across a large ornamental plant,
in its vase, in the middle of the
road. I was in the area of large plant nurseries (the major industry around
Pistoia). I took it home to my landlords and told them that this item
really
had fallen off the back of the truck. I could not use it because I have
no balcony in my apartment. We will see how it fares on their balcony.

Police on TV

When the TV shows policemen putting a suspect in the police car, if the
suspect is a terrorist or a Mafia type, the policemen are always masked.
Obviously there is a fear of retaliation against the police by these types
of groups.

The Giro d’Italia

This is the major bicycle race in Italy and lasts three weeks. It came
through Pistoia one day and close to Pistoia the day before. The day before
I took a train to Porretta Terme and then a bus to get as close as I could
to the finish of the that day’s stage. The race finished at a ski resort
at the top of a mountain. There were still patches of snow on the ground. I
had to ride about 12 miles to get there. I ended up doing a lot of walking
too because the climb was too tough for me.

Some observations:

1. There were hand-made signs along the route and slogans painted directly
on the
pavement. Many signs were in memory of Marco Pantani, the great Italian
bicyclist who died this year of a drug overdose. Interestingly, there were
also signs on the pavement mentioning famous cyclists who are not riding
in the Tour such as Lance Armstrong and Jan Ulrich.

2. Of course as I was walking my bike up the steep incline, I was being
passed by old Italian riders, fat Italian riders, women Italian riders,
etc. When I was riding I only passed one rider. This was on the way back
on a fast downhill. He was riding more slowly because he was talking
on his cell phone while flying down the mountain.

3. I have a rear view mirror attached to my helmet. This item is unknown
in Italy, and as I rode up the hill many spectators commented on my rear
view mirror. I told them it was in case I saw one of the official racers
coming up the hill; I would see him in my mirror and immediately accelerate
to stay ahead of him.

4. Because the race ended at the top of a mountain, the riders were strung
out in their arrival. After the main group of riders had finished, the
spectators
on bicycle (of whom there were many) began to ride down he mountain even
though the struggling racers were still coming up the mountain. Sometimes
spectators would go into the road and push on the back of a struggling ride
to help him up the mountain. Coming down I saw Mario Cipollini coming up.
He is a great Italian sprinter, but coming up the mountain he was like the
100 yard dash champion trying to run a marathon. In fact, he looked as
exhausted as I probably did on my way up.

Forgetting Books

Recently when, by mistake, I left a book I had completed at the Florence
airport while awaiting the arrival of a friend, I said to myself that I
would probably never look at the book again so it was not bad idea that I
forgot
it for someone else to find and read. I don’t have storage area for a
library
of books in my apartment.

Coming back from Ferrara as I left the train I
momentarily forgot to take from the train another book that I had
completed.
When I remembered the book, I decided not to go back to my seat for it.
Leaving a completed book for someone else to find and read now seems to
be a good practice for me.

Medical Examination for Joining the Bike Club

When I had my examination the doctor explained that it is required by law
in Italy and also that the bike club has a small insurance policy on its
members, and the insurance company requires that the members have a physical
exam before joining. Because I had rheumatic fever as a child, the doctor
called in a cardiologist to do an echocardiogram. This showed that my heart
was slightly enlarged which the
doctor said is not unusual for someone my age.

I did not stop to tell him
that my friends had always said that I am a “big hearted guy.”

Medical Malpractice in Italy

As far as I can tell this issue is handled differently in Italy. In the
USA a person who thinks he has been harmed by medical malpractice can file
a complaint with the administrative body that licenses doctors and/or file
a private law suit. A complaint to the administrative body could result in
sanctions against the doctor, but that body does not award monetary
compensation to the person injured.

In Italy whenever there is suspicious death (and also I think when the
family requests it), a governmental office investigates what happened. If
the investigation shows a certain level of fault, the person injured may
receive monetary damages, but these come through a procedure
of the state, not through a private law suit. This is typical of other
matters that are handled
in the USA through private lawsuits but in Italy by the government. Part of
the reason for
the difference is probably a different legal tradition in Italy: the other
part may be that
the legal system in Italy is so inefficient that it is difficult for private
parties to vindicate
their rights through this system.

Bike Lights

I mentioned recently that the flashing lights you can buy for the front
and back of your bike in Italy come in a clip-on format so you can take
them with you when you get off the bike and thus prevent their theft. I
had used lights that were screwed to a mount on my bike. I figured out
a way to screw the clip-on type into these mounts. Well, both of my clip-on
lights were recently broken off from the mounts and taken by a thief. Maybe
I’d better become an Italian use the clip-on system instead.

Arts and Crafts Fairs

I went to two arts and crafts fairs. The first was in Pistoia. It had some
artists, some craftsmen, and a nice section of artisans from Finland. These
items made up about 25% of the fair; the rest was furniture (especially
bedroom),
banks, pharmacies, sports, automobiles, etc. and even a stand for power
powers. It was clear that anyone who could pay the entry fee could have
a booth at this event.

The second was in Florence. It was national/international in scope. The
goods were of much higher quality. There were no automobiles or power
mowers.
There were, however, very many stands that sold the very same things:
rugs from Pakistan, scarves from India, carved wooden goods from Africa,
etc. These were staffed by natives from these lands. So it had an
international flair, but the items from abroad were not those of exceptional
quality or
excellence — they were the standard items from these countries that you
often see on sale in Italy at other markets too.

Joining the Bike Club

I went to a meeting of a bicycle club in Pistoia to find out about joining.
This is not a club of racers but of old guys, like me, who just take bike
rides. Of course, the Italian old guys will be much better bike riders than
I. To join, you first have to get a medical examination and bring the
certificate from the doctor to the club. This surprised me. In the USA
such a requirement
(which I have never heard of for a bike club) would be to avoid lawsuits.
That is not the case in Italy. Perhaps such clubs are required by law to
have such a requirement. All I know now is that it is costing me $55 in
medical fees to join the club. I hope the rides are fun and that I can
keep up with the other riders.

Payment of Bill

I’ve mentioned before that paying by check is uncommon in Italy. For
example,
at the doctor’s office I got a form with the doctor’s bank account number
on it. I take this form to the bank at the Post Office and pay the amount
(plus a one Euro fee) and the money is credited to the doctor’s account.
If you have to pay an organization for which you don’t have the account
number, you go to Post Office and get something like a money order except
it is not a money order that you then mail to the organization. Instead
it is handled by computer and the Post Office somehow delivers the money
to the organization. For a 80 Euro bill, this service cost me 6 Euro.
In the USA, I could have mailed a check for the cost of a postage stamp.

Now Marry Me

This is the name of a TV program. A person who wants someone else to marry
him or her comes on the program dressed in wedding attire. The other person
in the couple is brought to the TV station under a ruse that he/she is
going to be on a different type of program. When the unsuspecting “partner”
enters the studio he/she sees the mate dressed in wedding clothes. Then
the mate makes a short statement that ends “now marry me.” The surprised
partner is then taken to a room with a telephone and given some time to
think and to make a call if desired. Of course, the call, if made, is shown
on a hidden TV camera. While this person is in the room thinking, we see
the face of the other, waiting often with an anguished look of fear. I once
saw
a woman who looked so anguished, that if the guy had said no, I would have
turned off the TV immediately. I could not have watched her disappointment.

Every time I have watched, the person taken by surprise has said “yes.”
Perhaps this is not always so. But the are tremendous psychological
pressures
to say “yes.” One can easily picture an argument in the future with one
spouse saying “you tricked me into marrying you on the damm TV show.”

Last week there was a woman who was prompted to go on the show by her future
mother-in-law. My guess is that the guy immediately realized that both his
mother and his
girlfriend were behind this scheme. He was older and had gone with another
woman for 8 years before deciding not to get married. Anyway, I figure
he could get another girlfriend if he said “no”, but what if his mother
threw him out of the house. Who would cook for him, wash his clothes, make
his bed, etc. He was really “in a bind.” He said “yes.”

Taking Care of the Old Folks

Although in the USA some older people stay in their homes with help of a
hired live-in companion, this is much more common in Italy. The job of
“badante” is one of the most common for women from eastern Europe and for
Philippine women. This kind of help may be more affordable in Italy than
in the USA.I have the definite impression that far fewer Italians go
to the Senior Citizens home.

The Director in Italian Cinema

The Italians talk about films much more in terms of the directors and much
less in terms of the movie stars. In fact in the past some famous Italian
directors used mostly non professional actors in their films to give them
a greater sense of realism. Film series are either according to a subject
or according to the works of a particular director. In Pistoia this month
there is a series of films by the director Marco Bellocchio who is well
known here but probably only known to serious film buffs in the USA. When
you talk to an Italian about going to see an Italian film, his or her
response
will often depend upon who is the director of the film, not the subject
matter or the actors.

Italian Writers

Italian literature is simply not well known in the USA. After the Second
World War I would estimate that there were 10 books translated from French
into English for every book translated from Italian into English. France
was seen as the Center of European intellectual life. This in fact may
have been true but not to the extent that Italian works did not deserve
translation. When my Italian friends name the major writers in Italy of
the last 50 years, most of the names are simply unknown to me.

Losing Things

I have always been absent minded and prone to losing things, but this
tendency
has been greatly accelerated in Italy. Perhaps as I grow older, the problem
gets worse, and it is not a matter of where I live. Still I think that
living
in a foreign country may inevitably involve a level of concentration on
merely getting by which in turn leaves less mental resources for attending
to little details.