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Italy - No longer the most common sight in the bigger cities, yet if you keep your eyes open you will still occasionally see him at work. Or actually hear him first, as he walks through neighborhoods hollering "ARROTINO!", indicating that it is time to bring out your knives. The arrotino (literally, whetting-stone man) still does brisk business. Many restaurants will bring their knives to him, not to mention most of the neighborhood signore, dropping theirs off on the way to the market and picking them back up after their morning rounds. His rig is always the most unbelievable contraption ever, consisting of a vespa or scooter of some sort which is heavily modified to do double duty as a form of transportation and as a motorized knife sharpening whetting-stone turning mechanism. He also is an expert scissor and umbrella repair technician, not to mention gas-stove spare part service store.
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--contributed by GB (see bio), owner of Welcome Home, quality expatriate housing in Rome since 1984.
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