Trouble in Paradise?

Italy, as already established by millions of others, is a great country– food, people, and quality of life.  However, from people that I’ve spoken to, it sounds as though Italy might be going through growing pains associated with EU membership, the euro, and social structures that are changing at different rates.

Because I am on the dollar, I tend to think of everyone in Italy as being .3 times richer than I (the exchange rate being roughly 1 euro to 1.3 dollars) with a parallel cost of living.  However, I learned that the cost of living is a bit higher and average starting salaries are much lower– about 800 euros/month.   While costs of basic necessities vary–rent is higher in the US and we typically pay outrageous sums for health insurance–the average Italian is not living as large as I thought.

Because the typical budget is a bit tight, most families need two incomes to get by.  With childcare costing about 350 euros/month, parents with small children have a hefty additional expense.  This doesn’t necessarily get any easier once children begin school– many Italian schools apparently still send the kids home for lunch and school ends much earlier than the average work day does.   The school schedule, it seems, will have to do a lot of changing to keep up with the needs of Italy’s families.  These financial and scheduling constraints have likely contributed to Italy having the slowest population growth in Western Europe– .13% between 2000 – 2005 according to The Economist.

Regardless of whether change comes internally or externally, Italy has a lot of growing to do.  Hopefully, it will happen in such a way that preserves the heart of an excellent culture.

 

Quality of Life

Here in Lucca, a city of about 100,000 in Tuscany, life is good.  Though, as I witnessed with my hosts, people work very hard, the rhythm of life is different enough from the in the U.S. to provide time for friends, family, long walks, and longer dinners.  The city’s walls are still intact, bordering a city center that does not all cars, save those of the center’s residents.  Even so, few people drive– it is much easier to walk or take a bike.   A large path bordered by trees tops the old walls and one can find people running, biking, or walking with friends all times of day.  In the early afternoon on Saturdays, before lunch, everyone goes for a walk with their family or friends around the city center.  This walk quickly becomes stop-and-go, I saw, as our hosts kept bumping into friends and stopping to chat. 

Food here is simple and exquisite.  My new favorite meal is a pile of greens (usually arugula and a special small Italian green) topped with bits of fresh Parmesan cheese and bresola (a cured, seasoned beef sliced very thin) and drizzled with olive oil and lemon.   I try to eat this as a lighter lunch as prelude to dinners that involve several big courses.  I’m usually one of the first people to disparage American portion sizes as being grossly large.  I realized, however, that I have it wrong.  The amount of food served in America is often the same as that served in Italy.  The difference is in the timing and structure of the serving.  In the U.S. the bulk of the food comes in an entree served relatively quickly, limiting the dining experience to an hour and a half at most.  In Italy, however, the food is spread out over three courses that typically take much longer to serve.  Instead of eating quickly and going home to watch television, Italians make the meal the event, providing ample face time with friends and family.  Eating a large amount of food over the course of several hours, as Americans do on Thanksgiving, becomes a lot more forgivable.

While 12 hour workdays aren’t uncommon for my hosts, the timing of the day includes a long lunch that allows for lunch at home and perhaps a nap, and a much later dinner.  And the lack of cars, while limited to Lucca’s city center, forces people to walk to places to which most people would typically drive, allowing for more exercise and opportunities to bump into someone you know.

Lucca’s combination of size, transportation, and location is rare.  However, I hope it doesn’t change (its residents do not seem keen to see it change either) because to me this city exemplifies the best quality of life.