Posted by petruccj on Wednesday, June 1, 2016 in Blog posts.

Its 1 pm, and I am sitting in Piazza Garibaldi eating lunch at Porta Terra Ristorante/Pizzeria with Alana. It’s a dreary day, which explains why the town has been so busy for the past two hours. Though there are still many people walking around the square, it is easy to tell that it is time for the afternoon siesta, where all the shop owners and employees leave to take a break. This siesta causes most stores to close from 1pm to 4 pm.

Seated in the bar section of the restaurant are a couple of locals drinking coffee. They are all facing out towards the square observing the tourists passing by. Alana and I appear to be one of the only groups of people at the restaurant actually eating lunch. One other group eating consists of a couple most likely in their mid 60s. I immediately assume they are tourists, as they do not show the more relaxed posture and mannerisms I have seen from the locals I have encountered over the last 3.5 weeks. They are seated in a more upright and uptight manner rather than the laid back, slouched, legs-crossed style I have seen many times when out to lunch.

Seated to my left are two men who appear to be locals. They are dressed in t-shirts, denim jackets and sneakers. Unlike Alana and I, they are not eating lunch, only drinking beer, and eating chips. One man was most likely in his 60s whereas the other was probably in his 30s or 40s. Though they both looked upset, they both show a more slouched, relaxed body position. It is interesting to note that they left at separate times without a true goodbye to one another.

One the other side of our table is a man who is most likely in his 50s. Dressed very well, I assume he comes from a higher socioeconomic class. He is wearing ray-bans, a navy polo, white jeans and beige sneakers. I assume he is waiting for someone, however he just sat there for 20 minutes without ordering anything. All of a sudden though, he got up and went to sit next to a guy at one of the tables outside of the bar portion of the restaurant where they sell gelato. The man he sits next to is dressed in a black Adidas tracksuit and is wearing sunglasses. Though they seemed to be good friends, they spoke very quietly and did so without looking at one another. A third man who appeared to be in his 30s joins them. He is wearing white sneakers, jeans and a grey cardigan with a white t-shirt underneath. He and the man I had originally been observing launch into what seemed like a very important conversation. Both are lurched forward towards one another and are speaking in a very hushed tone. The original man I was observing seems very eager and anxious, and gets up quickly when a car shows up to pick him up. After that the two men seem to relax and each pull out a cigarette.

Throughout observing this conversation, I could not shake the sense that I somehow knew these people. At first I could not figure out why I felt this sense of familiarity, but soon realized I actually had seen most of them before. The woman who picked up the agitated man was the woman who sold me the bags I got for my sister and myself. I also realized that I knew the man the original guy was talking to who was wearing the cardigan. He is one of the managers of the sushi bar that I have been to a couple of times. I then saw the man I bought my dad’s belt from walking with the woman I had gotten my shoes from. Apart from realizing how much of a shopping problem I have, I feel like I finally understood just how small of a town Cefalu really is. Here everyone appears to know everybody and know everyone’s business. From my observations I also felt as if I got a true sense of just how much of a calm and relaxed vibe this town has. Though people are very put together, the way they linger at bars and interact with one another emanates a sense of tranquility.