Amongst the innumerable laws that crowd the Italian constitution, I’m told there’s one about pedestrians having the right of way. I, however, have never seen it happen in real life. And I’ve been keeping my eyes open.
While at university, I met Domenico, and we fast became inseparable friends. He was originally from Puglia but was studying in Venice, so in a way, he was almost as foreign as me. He just knew a lot more. Everything, in fact. But it’s something I often overlooked because I knew he’d grown up with a father who quoted Latin poets during dinner and a mother who made him learn about Doric and Ionic columns on Saturday afternoon outings.
One morning, as we crossed Campo Santa Margherita, he said, “You’re lucky we live in Venezia. In a real city you’d get run over with the way you walk in your sleep.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I frowned. Domenico was my best friend and very good at unnerving me.
“In Puglia cars speed up rather than slow down when they see you waiting to cross. Really, you’re not too good at paying attention. People from the New World always walk like you do—with half their brains turned off—as if the world were a field of daisies.”
Twelve years have passed since he made this comment, and I am still wondering what I should have said in reply. Sometimes people just knock the wind out of you.
“What do you mean?” was all that came to me at the time.
“In Italy to live well, uno deve essere sveglio, one has to be awake. Italy is a dangerous place for those who sleep. You have to keep your eyes open and look out for yourself.”
Illustration by Leo Cardini
Hmm. The day was still young, but its lesson was ripe for the picking. Since then I’ve moved to a city with cars and learned that sveglio, awake, is the highest compliment an Italian can bestow. Why? Because despite all of their socialist policies, Italians root for the survival of the fittest. They are firm believers that success should come only to those who learn to stay awake.
Time in this country has taught me that, unlike citizens from more civic cultures, Italians don’t believe in systems. In Italy, for example, policy is not seen as protection. The government is the enemy. Laws do not increase order. Signs are not to be trusted. Public service messages touch the heart of no one. Traffic laws and exact tax payments weigh lightly on the collective psyche. Bureaucracy is seen as an incurable Italian disease. If you must deal with the system, cunning is key. Domenico would often say, “If you can’t beat them, join them. And if you can’t join them, trick them. And to trick them you’ve just got to be awake. If you are, then no one will take advantage of you.”
If you’re new to Italy and still walking in your field of daisies, all this may sound a bit like paranoia. That’s what I thought. But then I said, “Fine. This is Italy. Let’s play it your way. But may I ask, just how does one go about becoming sveglio?”
Domenico liked my question. “It’s simple,” he smiled. “Make many friends and find out what they know. Knowledge is indispensable to survival.”
It did not take long for Domenico to prove his point. By that time we had reached the courtyard of Ca’ Foscari, the university building. If you plan on taking a trip there, don’t go through the main door. It’s against the law. It’s also life-threatening. The main door, which was built by Marco Polo’s first cousin, is perennially under restoration. It will fall on your head if you go near it. In many countries a similar source of public peril would be blocked off, barricaded, and guarded by the National Guard. Here they don’t even put up a warning sign. Everybody just knows not to go that way. Luckily, awake Italian students are willing to let you in on cute info like that. But I thought I’d tell you, just in case you know no students or have no sveglio friends to tell you which thresholds are safe to cross. It’s knowledge that could prove indispensable. If you do have a Domenico of your very own, do what I do, and let him cross under alcoves first.
Enjoy more of Linda Falcone’s humorous
insights on Italian culture in her two classic
books published by The Florentine Press!
