“City Life Anymore…?”

I am now in Positano, which is right in the center of the Almalfi Coast. Yes life is good here too. I’ve even picked up a couple habits while here in Italy. For example, yesterday I was walking down the street of this tiny village/resort, and I realized I walk so slow! I was never a fast walker, but I was never a slow walker either. I was walking at the same speed as the old men on the street! That I take as a good sign as it shows I’m even more relaxed. And though I’ve always talked with my hands, now being in Italy it’s more pronounced. Before I just moved my hands everywhere, but now certain expressions elicit certain hand gestures. But other than that, Positano is relaxing, if not hot, hot, hot!! I’m burning up here! But it wouldn’t be a summer resort without the heat.

To jump back a bit, with my last 2 days in Rome, I visited the Pantheon and the Roman Forum, which where both highlights for me. My 3rd night, after watching the Portugal-Italy U-21 game, I walked around at night, seeing the too-social Spanish Steps and the Trevertine fountain. I saw other sights, but those were the main ones. After a horrible train ride-bus ride-bus ride just to get to this remote strecth of coast, I finally found my hostel, showered and treated myself to a nice dinner.

The next morning I headed to Pompei to see the ruins which were ok. I was a bit let down, but I’m glad I went and saw everything. Most of the main points of interests have been excavated to the museum in Naples…which was my next stop of the day. Now Napoli I’ve always wanted to visit just to see how it is. But if you’ve been watching international news at all, then you’ll know that the local Mafia family has control of the garbage collecting racket so nothing is getting done. Thus there’s trash everywhere. On every street corner, on the streets (some streets are actually blocked off cause there so much trash), in shops, everywhere. So it smells and there’s more crime then before. It’s a sad situation that a few individuals ruin such an otherwise amazing place. Today I just stayed at the beach all afternoon, forcing myself to not do much of anything.:) But tomorrow I go to Lago Trasimeno which is suppose to be a remote strecth of land and rather secluded…well not to bad, but very peaceful as my hostel is on a lake front. I’m staying here for 3 nights and plan on doing day trips to Siena, San Marino, Cortona, and Assisi…yeah I may have to stay a bit longer. But the nearest city (10km away) is Perugia whic is in Umbria, pretty close to the Tuscan border. Apparently I can’t get enough of Tuscany and central Italy.

But until next time, Ciao!

They say everything in Italy is beautiful, and to an extent, I would agree. Especially with the fashion. With Milano being the fashon capital of the World, it seems to all trickle down to the rest of Italy. Even the kids are into the scene. So basically there are 17-year-old high school girls that have more fashion sense than 25-year-old American girls. As for what the trends are, I’m not too into fashion to “know” what’s in and what’s out, but I’ve noticed a few things.

With the ladies, I’ve noticed tight jeans and those slippers (ballerina slipper flats?). And they wear their pants low so that their under garments show. So those too, have to be fashionable and match with the rest of their clothing. During my last night in Torino, I jokingly told Betta, “Hey look, that girl has style.” It was a joke as she was some bum/hippie/punk-looking girl. And she replied, “No, that girl has style!” I guess she was in fashion because she had her jeans tucked into her tall boots (which is the current trend for older women). Suffice to say, I started paying attention to that and sure enough, a large amount of women do that. Also, they all wear designer glasses, use designer purses, etc. But of course, anyone, including Americans, could do that. They could wear the clothes, carry the purses, etc. But Italian women (or European women in general) are able to do it with more confidence (not cockeyness) and class. They carry themselves much better than American women. So in this respect, they’re able to wear just about anything and still look fashionable.

As for the men, well a lot of the older guys wear suits, which I have a feeling are designed by Armani or some name like that (I’m pretty sure Milano’s police force has their uniforms designed by Giorgio Armani). So it’s funny to see these “professional” guys zipping around on little scooters with these star trek-looking helmets and nice suits on. As for the other guys, mainly the younger ones…I’m not too sure. If there’s one good thing about American fashion, it’s the fact that you could at least tell the difference between a man and a women. In Italy and Spain too, some times it’s a bit hard to tell as the line is a bit blurred. It’s one thing for a guy to shower, shave, smell good and wear nice clothes. It’s another thing to outdress your girlfireind and spend more time in the bathroom than her.

Maybe it’s the “Which came first? The chicken or egg?” storey here in Italy. Did all the clothing stores pop up because fashion here is so popular, or does everyone dress extremely well because ever 3rd store is a clothing store? Either way, there’s no reason to dress bad in Italy as there’s clothing stores selling anything and everything at any price by any designer (name brand or not) on every street. It’s a bit over the top. But besides in Milano, I think Italians are able to pull it off without diving into the Anna Wintour side of fashion. You know, to where it overtakes your personality and you become a snob, bitch, stuck up, etc. Also, there are provactive clothing adds EVRYWHERE. Nearly every major train station and airport I’ve been to in Italy has massive Dolce & Gabbana, Armani, Valentino, etc. adds splashed on the walls. You go down to any city’s subway and the TVs are almost always broadcasting fashion shows and cat walks. There’s also fashion magazine after fashion magazine at every newstand. And it’s not just the younger people involved in fashion…there’s plenty of older people too.

Window shopping in itself is a skill. Pay attention to any man or woman walking down the street, and you’ll notice that he or she will almost always stop at every second window to see what’s for sale. Once, in Genova, I was eating at an outdoor cafe when I noticed women stopping about 10 feet away from me every 5 seconds. I soon realized they were looking at a window display. So, to make things interesting, I decided to count how many women actually stopped by this “normal looking” window display. 22 out of 30 in 2 minutes. That’s a staggering statistic (it was a busy street).

But my opnion on this is simple. I have nothing against dressing well as I’m more inclined to take a well-dressed person more serious than a not-so-well dressed person. But of course, when it overtakes your life and personality, that’s when it might be a bit too much. The thing that fascinates me here in Italy with this subject is that the people, as a whole, seem to have fashion built into their genes (no pun intended). It’s almost effortless to them. And I’ve noticed this because I see so many American girls (especially here in Roma) try so hard to dress as well as their Italian counterparts, yet they just can’t pull it off. Put 2 dark haired girls next to each other (one Italian, one American) and dress them in the same thing and I’ll be able to point out the American 9/10 times.

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