On a recent trip to Italy, I picked up some Italian, especially since I look more like an Italian expatriate than an American of Italian descent. That must be the case, because everywhere I went, Italians kept approaching me and speaking rapidly in Italian or, in other cases, like in the grocery store, when I put my fruit directly in the basket as we do in the U.S. without weighing it and pricing it first, yelling at me.
“Allora, va bene,” became our repeated phrase. Allora literally means “so” but has come to be a “fill-in” word or phrase like “oh, well” or “anyway,” especially when used with a shrug or a sigh. Va bene means “it’s good.” We also had the occasion to use tutte or tutto frequently.
Away from my four newspapers a day, I read the International Herald Tribune and would also pick up an Italian newspaper, figuring that by knowing some Latin, a smattering of Spanish, and armed with an abridged Italian dictionary, I could decipher the story by looking at the words and pictures. If I wanted to know more, I would go down to Giuseppe, the barista around the corner, to translate, which would launch us into good discussions of what’s important to Italians and Americans.
While it wasn’t as hot there as it was here, it was still more than 100 degrees there almost every day. High temps worldwide made it seem a little like a prelude to a natural disaster of some kind, like in the movies. Did it seem that way to you here, too?
It’s not just some Americans (not our president) that are concerned about global warming and the disappearance of the ozone. They have been for a while very concerned about their environment and how auto pollution and heat increases the degradation of their ancient treasures.
I thought totally unaffordable housing and a vanished middle class was a U.S. thing, particularly Silicon Valley. I was a little surprised to learn that since the conversion of their currency from the Lire to the Euro, their middle class is shrinking as the gap between their rich and their poor widens.
I suspect that the currency conversion didn’t have anything to do with it as much as the same factors that have caused the continued widening that first alarmed people here in 1993, and is now being reported in other countries, too.
I was a little surprised to learn that Italy has its Mexicans, too. Well, actually, they’re Africans. Italy is – well, most European countries are – struggling with illegal immigration from all over, but they focus more on African immigrants when they talk about who’s unwanted. Many of the countries are trying to shut out people who they feel are an unwanted drain on their economies. Like the U.S., they find it much easier to focus on people who are different in skin color, poor, desperate, powerless and voiceless than to look at their other more wasteful and vastly more expensive policies that keep their tax money from benefiting everyone.
But there are differences, too, that I’d rather we have in common: an almost religious focus on fresh food, taking the time to prepare it well, and focus on sharing everything with family. First thing I did was clear out my refrigerator and freezer and pantry, start over, and scheduled a Sunday dinner for the clan, which we will make a regular thing.
Also, they have MUCH better coffee and cheaper. I dug out my $8 espresso pot and now make a cafe latte freddo (iced latte in Starbucks lingo) that is much cheaper and better tasting than anything Starbucks can do.
Sure, this seems superficial, but could new thinking – and acting – in these simple areas from the largest and most influential nation in the world – focusing on the quality of our lives in another measure than just money, on who is important in our lives, saving more than $2.50 on a cup of coffee – ultimately shift the impact of the negative things we’re seeing worldwide now into something more positive?
An improved, rather than degraded, environment, a more equitable, survivable economy for everyone where people don’t fall through the cracks, and the realization that we have so much in common with each other, it should be easier to embrace people, no matter what color, who want to join us?
Hmm … Allora, tutto va bene.
Columnist Dina Campeau is a wife, mother of two teens and a resident of Morgan Hill. Her work for the last seven years has focused on affordable housing and homeless issues. Her column is published each Friday. Reach her at dc******@*****er.net.
