Italian Hours

First, I must apologize to Italian FedEx, as the fault of the package was actually with the American FedEx. Italy is split into many postal codes, this region falling under that of Perugia, or PG. Somehow FedEx's computer read PG but failed to read ITALY on the next line, and sent the package to the country with that code: Papua New Guinea. I kid not. The second copy Random House mailed out arrived without problem yesterday. Still three days later than one might expect, but not the week or more we maligned them for.

Everything is just a bit slower in this country. As a typical American obsessed with efficiency it's taken quite a bit to get used to it. Stores open at 10:30 and close again three hours later at 1:30. Everything's then closed for four hours, opening again at 5:30 until 7:30. Yes, if you add that up, it's only 5 hours of working per day. But what isn't taken into account is the way the stores open. The store owners spend at least half an hour carrying out produce or product for display in the morning. The fruit vendor has gorgeous looking fruits set up on crates. The pottery seller lines the street with millions of tsotchkes. These then half to be packed up at lunchtime (though admittedly they don't put it all away, they just pull it into the store for the siesta) and then replaced for the evening shopping. Altogether it gets closer to 7 hours or so of working.

But it's every day. They do take off Sunday afternoon, but Monday through Saturday they're open both in the morning and the afternoon. And most of these businesses are run by families, so it's not like anyone's getting a two day weekend (although some of the stores will randomly close one day during the week). It's seems like it's a good daily lifestyle, but not the best week. After a seven day week for months, I can understand why they would need a few weeks off.

We're heading towards Ferragosto, the holiday in the middle of August when nothing is open because most Italians go on vacation. We're curious whether it will be a complete shut down, as it probably once was, or whether, due to influence of the global economy, things will still operate. While I say that I think people deserve holidays and decent working hours, I also have to admit that I do appreciate how a 7-11 is always open when you need it....