_favorite things parte tre_

The Piazza. Italy is filled with piazzas. (Piazze in italiano?) Basically, they are just squares: big open spaces within surrounding buildings. Many have fountains or statues or benches…or nothing at all. All of this came originally from Pienza, and the piazza in front of the church there alongside the pope’s palace. Anyway, the piazza was a brilliant idea. Rome is full of them. Actually, you need to know your piazza’s in order to get anywhere in Roma. The streets resemble a distorted spider web, and piazzas and landmarks are what most people go by as far as directions. In Torino streets are orthogonal which makes street names much more useful, but piazzas are still really awesome. The big piazzas along Via Roma in the super-shopping district and Piazza Castello by Palazzo Madama are the biggest ones near us. On weekends (or even during weekdays) you can see various events in every piazza. On Sunday I ran into a protest, a drag show, a concert, and a kids’ bungee/trampoline set up, all within two or three piazzas. And it’s very common to come across farmer’s markets or other markets in the different piazzas. Piazza Madama Christina is crazy on Saturdays with the huge market. So exciting though. I love it.  

the piazza in Pienza! 

How confused I get when I hear native English speakers. It’s SO FUNNY! Because it’s so unexpected. The other day we were walking behind a group of three people, two women and one man. I was talking about something random, but as soon as I said anything the one woman turned around and gave me the strangest look. But then the man with here started speaking in English…with an American accent, and I totally understood. I’m sure we gave them the same look when they started talking. It’s really unexpected to hear someone speak your language here. Almost like, “What are you doing here?” Sometimes it’s really comforting though. I loved the two British ladies I heard on the way home tonight. One said something along the lines of, “Shall we look for the car then?” with a nice thick posh British accent. Cute.

The names. Everyone’s name sound so attractive here. Marina (Mari for short), Evelina (Eve), Giorgio, Gianni, Giovanni, Giulia, Marco, Matteo, Umberto, Roberto, Benedetta, Cesare, Mauro, Stefano, Francesco, Emilio... they all sound so great! Just by the name you instantly want to meet them. So interesting. Might have to put an Italian name or two in the database of baby names for later (much later…ahaha).