Posted by amalfesa on Friday, June 3, 2016 in Blog posts.

On Sunday, May 29^th, I used Cefalu’s Piazza Duomo as a place for observation.  After having spent a significant amount of time in the square already whether it be for morning cornetti at Bar Duomo or visiting the Cathedral, I knew it would provide me with ample observational material.  I initially grabbed a table in the central part of the Piazza where I was able to see the activities happening on both Corso Ruggero and the surrounding bars/shops.  However, towards the end of my visit, I did a loop around the square and stopped for a short period of time on the steps of the Cathedral.  This allowed me to view people who intended to visit the church, and I had a more birds-eye view of the entire Piazza.  When I finished taking notes, the duration of my stay was approximately 50 minutes.

The first element I would like to discuss is the interaction between tourists and bar/shop owners around Piazza Duomo.  It was very apparent upon watching the flow of people traffic which were probably not from the city.  Both based on physical appearance (I saw many European Caucasians and Asians), language (I heard German, English, and French), and, of course, accessories like cameras or go-pros.  These tourists were consistently targeted by restaurant or café employees as they walked by.  Consistently using English when they noticed a nearby “outsider,” the employees would attempt to court the tourists through buzz words like “coffee,” “pizza,” “pasta,” and others.  Unfortunately for the businesses, I rarely ever saw those seemingly desperate attempts at getting people inside actually prove to be fruitful.  This kind of action was most prevalent on the left side of Piazza Duomo (if you are facing the church).  The right side is dominated by Bar Duomo, an establishment that did not seem to need the beckoning of potentially ignorant visitors.  I saw more of an influx into the popular pastry shop and eatery than any other place in the square, the flow of people was rather diverse.  Certainly, I witnessed locals who entered the café for milliseconds and emerged with what was probably their “daily order,” but I also saw presumably “non-Sicilians” intrigued by Bar Duomo’s window display and convinced to sit and eat/drink near to my position or venture inside for the full experience.  Besides the actual element of onsite advertisement, I actually believe that most tourists are so informed today that they will not go astray from their TripAdvisor-type notes on any city.  In this way, places like Cathedral Café can’t compete with Bar Duomo’s internet prowess even if they know a few English words.

Furthermore, I witnessed a much different attitude/behavior between tourists and those who seemed to be city locals.  Towards the bottom of the Piazza, there are a series of benches along the street that are consistently surrounded by older Cefalu residents either loudly conversing and greeting others as they pass by or calmly lounging and doing some people-watching.  Their pace is slower when they move to a new spot and their conversation is livelier than the tourists who also defined Piazza Duomo on Sunday.  The non-locals (for obvious reasons) generally moved with more of a purpose and made use of their cameras or smartphones frequently.  At café tables, similar themes were present as locals seemed to engage with each other to a greater extent although this certainly varied on a case-by-case basis.  These observations led me to the all-to-often conclusion that most societies, and especially our own in America, do not put enough emphasis on interpersonal communication in the form of actual conversation.  We spend so much time on our phones that we lose the beauty of engagement found in cultures like the beautiful one here in Sicily.  Throughout this Maymester, I have felt so much freer from the grasps of technology as my phone is usually on airplane mode and we frequently have lively group meals or activities where the focus is conversation.