It is a very special period in Italy. Some days when everybody who can goes to the sea.
Persons leave everybody and everything that canot come together and go out for a vacation. 2 years ago I remember the old persons left alone in the cities died like flys because there was no one shop, drugstore or bar open for about a week in the towns and cities. In our region, there is a law after that year that the essential drugstores, bars and shops have to close one after other in the way that at least one is open.
Normally these are the hottest days of the summer. Yesterday we noticed 40°C when we were on our way home. It is very hard period. Even those persons that like to stay all day long under the sun can not stand it. Specially after 13:00 there is nobody off the house. In the "normal" days this street on the photo is full of cars that go to the expressway...
We were sure that all the population will pass this day on the beach and decided to go in one of the commercial centers to buy some things we needed urgently. We were surprized to find many cars just at 9 in the morning.
An hour later the commercial center was full of persons. The other surprizing thing for us was that we could not find summer clothes! All the shops changed the items for winter clothes! Incredible. Specilally if you think that it will be more or less warm weather till November here.
Anomalous year. From all points of view.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI liked your coments about Ferragosto and linked your post to my Blog!
http://yamasakis.blogspot.com/2009/08/italian-vacantions-and-ferragosto.html
bye,
Fabio
Thank you very much for the link, Fabio! I'm glad you like my blog!
ReplyDeleteFerragosto is a great event and one I enjoy when I go to Italy. Marrying an Italian wife - I have experienced several of the Italian festivals.
ReplyDeleteYou know, and I do not like it. For only reason I don't like hot days and millions of people in queue to reach the beach. :0)))
ReplyDeleteAugust 15th. It’s got to be the most dead moment in any Italian city. It’s the national holiday particular to Italy called Ferragosto. Everyone is at the beach, preparing for the night’s feast, fireworks, and camp-out under the stars. For an Italian, it is truly offensive to work on this day. When I was in grad school, my father in law once caught me trying to study on Ferragosto and I got in a lot of trouble for this. It’s not that it’s a religious holiday - it is ALSO the assumption of Mary - but rather it’s an instituted moment of rest that has roots in Ancient Roman culture. It’s the height of summer, the hottest days… Before Italy picked up the pace and joined the world economy, almost all businesses closed in August, probably because before air conditioning it was too hot to concentrate. You will find that many small businesses and stores still do close-, if not for the whole month, at least for the two central weeks that include Ferragosto.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Craig.
ReplyDeleteI think, some costumes of other cou7ntries seems strainge for foreigners but they are the wise rules of surviving created by generations and generations, as I understood.