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

I sat on the steps of the Duomo watching tourists and locals cross through and interact in the Piazza. I was there from 5:30-6pm. At the most visual and basic level, most people wore pants and shirts, a few women were in maxi skirts or maybe a dress. The younger people and some men were wearing jeans. Everyone was white, with no indication of religion or country of origin. There were many tourists, in groups and in couples. From what I could hear, most people were speaking in Italian, but I could also hear some French and German. There is a stark difference between the locals and the tourists at this time of the evening. The locals were either sitting on benches chatting, or the occasional group of kids would run by with a soccer ball or gelato. On the other hand, the tourists were walking around, taking pictures, and sitting at the cafes having drinks. I could tell there were not locals at the café because most of them had pamphlets or cameras out on the tables. It was difficult to tell profession, except the obvious distinction between waiters and everyone else. Similarly, socioeconomic status was not as noticeable; I am making the assumption that the tourists and people in the cafes were more well off than the locals loitering around. In fact, I did see a man on a park bench who looked to be shaving his legs.

The most noticeable part of my observances was the age of people. I would estimate that the average age of people walking around or sitting was around 60 years old. Not only the locals were older, but the tourists too. There were groups of old men sitting on benches chatting, elderly couples sitting at the café or taking pictures on the steps of the Duomo. Is this a common city for people to retire? Or are younger people still at work? I saw the occasional group of children playing after school, or a couple tourist families taking pictures. Overall, I did not see any locals of a younger age group, perhaps 20-40 years old. It is interesting to watch the older people interact and sit at cafes. There were no groups of just older women, just older men. I feel like this is a safe town so I wonder what the reason behind this is. I want to explore more into the role of women in the society. But from my superficial observances at the Piazza, no one was eating; this could just be the stereotype, but in the US we assume that old people eat earlier. Not one person ordered food as far as I could see, just drinks. I am fascinated by the slow and relaxed lifestyle. People are congregated in groups, and want to socialize and relax rather than be at home by themselves. The culture here is a lot more focused on spending time with friends and family rather than finishing work and going to bed early. This specific aspect reminds me a lot of India and the Indian culture, where we meet with our family friends multiple times throughout the week just to hang out and go to parties every weekend. But the difference here is that people meet in the public space. To the locals, the piazza is not a tourist attraction, but a meeting spot. Everyone capitalizes on the good weather by sitting outside. I wonder if this type of outdoorsy, relaxed lifestyle is just in Sicily and only during this time of the year when the weather is nice or if it is common across Italy or Europe. I am interested to see more as the trip continues.

View from my seat