PDF
Question: Describe the typical daily routine for someone from your host country. What time does everything happen? What is extremely different, and what is exactly the same?
Written by: Jen Vida
A typical daily routine for an Italian varies from city to city. In the more rural country, such as Tuscania, you’ll find a more leisurely pace. There, you’ll rarely be able to find a shop open during their afternoon siesta, on Thursday evenings, or on Sundays.
It was also interesting to see that on a Sunday, in comparison to during the week, the streets are packed with families walking around and enjoying the weather. Many elderly people can be spotted sitting outside in groups, regardless of the temperature, chatting for hours.
For those who work, their trade is often their hobby or unique talent, and there is less emphasis on their monetary incomes. It is common to go into a restaurant and strike up a conversation with the chef. Similar to other store owners, chefs have a strong passion for what they do and seek your approval. Instead of focusing on a high table turnover, they’ll easily spend hours with you, and a few drinks and free courses later, you’re like family.
Since Florence is such a commercialized city, store hours have expanded to accommodate the booming tourist business. Here, there is definitely a faster pace, and store owners aren’t as personable as those in the countryside. However, you can still find the shop with the sign on the door that reads, “If no one is here, please go to the wine shop next door.”
In general, you’ll find Italy has a smaller emphasis on technology than in America. Televisions aren’t in every room, and when they are, they are probably the smallest size available in America. Also, when walking on the streets of Florence, in comparison to New York City, you don’t see a cell phone in everyone’s hand. Instead, a higher priority is placed on household chores and being with friends and family.
In addition, their material possessions are more simplistic. They do not always have the newest and best of everything, but rather whatever gets the job done. For this reason, many activities take longer to do here than in the United States. For example, they do not have dryers, so laundry is more time consuming.
Breakfast is usually light and quick, consisting of coffee (either espresso or latte), a type of bread with Nutella, and sometimes a piece of fruit. Also, due to smaller refrigerators, they have much less storage space. Because of this, few Italians buy prepared or frozen meals, let alone keep leftovers. Therefore, their food is very fresh, and they are required to go grocery shopping almost every day.
Locals usually bring their own bags, or small suitcases to the market due to a small fee stores charge for use of plastic bags. Because many Italians walk everywhere, it’s easy for simple activities such as grocery shopping to consume a large portion of their day.
Depending on an individual’s work schedule, they either have a large lunch or dinner. This is the highlight of most afternoons and nights; with a minimum of three courses, and when the whole family is together, the meal usually lasts for at least an hour, with the salad course being served after the pasta. Lunch can be anywhere from 1:00-3:00in the afternoon, and dinner usually takes place 8:00-10:00 at night.
Comments on this entry are closed.