Posted by Haley Topper on Monday, May 15, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

This afternoon, I sat on the steps of the church at Duomo and observed from about 5-5:30 pm. Duomo is a piazza with different restaurants and cafes and a large church that attracts many tourists.

While people do not dress up do go to Duomo, the people of Cefalú seem to dress nicer on a daily basis (for instance, men often wear collared shirts). Because you have to have your shoulders and knees covered when you enter the church, the tourist groups may have been dressed more modestly than normal. On average, the people in Duomo tended to be older (around 50 years and up), however there was one group of children running around that caught my eye. They were playing with a soccer ball and I didn’t see any parents with them while I was observing. This makes me think that, not only is Duomo a place where locals come to hang out (kids maybe coming after school to play), but also that the town is relatively safe because parents let their young kids roam around without supervision. In America, you don’t often see kids that young playing without some sort of adult supervision.

Because Duomo is a very touristy place, there wasn’t much interaction between the people. The tourists only interacted with themselves or the groups they were with. People around the church were mostly taking pictures or in a large group learning more about the church. However, there was one thing that really stuck out to me. On the benches by the street where people can enter the piazza, there was a group of about 6-8 older men. They were clearly not tourists because they weren’t taking any pictures, but seemed like locals who were just spending time at Duomo. These were the only interactions that I saw between people during my observation. I could tell they knew each other because of how they were talking and their body language, so I concluded that they were men who come to Duomo often and just spend time people watching and talking to each other, adding to my argument that the piazza is a place where locals come to hang out. This is a very common past time for people in Europe, but not something that I see in America. I think that everyone is so fast paced in the States and because of this, no one takes the time to just sit down and relax. Additionally, with the rise in technology, people are often on their phone rather than actually talking to each other in America, and that is not something I saw with these men in Duomo.

While observing the older men having a conversation, I realized that people here don’t necessarily respect the concept of “personal space” that we do in the States. The men were very close, with some sitting on the bench itself and some sitting on the top simultaneously.

Additionally, when they talk, they use facial expressions, body movement, and body language. Their facial expressions told me a lot about what they were saying, and I feel like this is a trend I have seen all around Cefalú. While Americans also use facial expressions to communicate their feelings, it is more exaggerated here. Their body movement and language is also unique. Each man spoke with his hands, either gesturing for emphasis or using their hands to depict something. This is something that I believe Italians are known for, and I definitely saw that through my observation. Also, along with the concept of personal space, they are not shy about tapping each other’s arms or just touching each other in general. Multiple times I saw one of the men laughing, and as they laughed they would tap the arm of the other man. I thought this was interesting and somewhat strange. It showed me that they are all very comfortable with each other and probably good friends, but I’m sure that people back in the States would be a bit off put if someone was constantly touching them as they talked. I am still curious as to whether these men are actually friends, or if they got to know each other by coming to the piazza and relaxing frequently.

Because Duomo is such a touristy area due to the church, I did not observe as much interaction between the people of Cefalú as I would have hoped, however, watching the older men interact gave me insight into the lifestyle of the Italians and how big the differences are in communication in comparison to the United States.