Italian Notebook

La Piazza

Italy
- Daily life in Italy is divided into two parts, la vita in casa or domestic, family life, and vita in piazza or public, social, communal life. The first is rarely experienced outside of one's own family. The second on the other hand, is the complete opposite.

Think of its components. The local church is always in the piazza, a central component of exchange and community life. The local daily mercato too is located there. People run into each other regularly . . "Oh, so you're preparing a roast for six, how nice! And who are you having over for dinner?"

Not to mention the other stores that line the piazza as well . . . "You want a bouquet of flowers?! But you're not married!"

Or the all-important farmacia . . "Caro, can you get me diarrhea pills, hemroid cream, and denture paste for Mr.Rossi?" yells the farmacist to her husband in the stock room . . with twenty neighbors waiting in line.

Now that might look like a play area for kids, but if you listen to the parents' conversations you realize its real purpose is an ad-hoc child-rearing support group . . any surprise the enoteca, wine bar, is 20 feet away?

And finally, any piazza worth its salt will often have two or more bar (cafés, in English), which in many cases are frequented by people of opposite political persuasions . . and all you wanted was un caffé! Political statement, anyone?

The flip side is that the next day at least half a dozen people ask you how your dinner went, Mr.Rossi will receive a sincere outpouring of concern over his upset stomach, you will find common ground over yesterday's soccer match with the regular from the café across the piazza. Make no mistake however, your vita in piazza does not belong to you, it belongs to the piazza and everyone in it. Why should you have any privacy in a country that doesn't even have a word for it?

--contributed by GB, Editor, Italian Notebook

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